Aug. 26--About 130 St. Elizabeth School students have enrolled at Holy Angels School in the week since the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that St. Elizabeth would abruptly close because of lead paint and that students and staff would be transferred to the nearby building.
Repair crews discovered the paint in St. Elizabeth's 4052 S. Wabash Ave. campus about three weeks before the start of the new school year Monday, during "much-needed improvements over the summer," said Susan Burritt, archdiocese spokeswoman. Though crews tried to remedy the paint problem quickly, St. Elizabeth's closing was announced five days before students were due back.
St. Elizabeth originally had about 200 students, Burritt said, but families were not forced to enroll at Holy Angels. The 70 remaining have either enrolled elsewhere or have not yet decided, she said. Families have through the week of Labor Day to register.
Though all St. Elizabeth teachers were offered employment at Holy Angels, two opted out, said Catholic schools interim Superintendent Mary Kearney. The question of whether to hire all of the newly combined office staff is still being worked out, but Kearney said St. Elizabeth's new principal, Siobhan Cafferty, is leading a combined Holy Angels. The principal of Holy Angels resigned last month for a job in Indiana, Kearney said.
Though the new school is essentially two schools under one roof, the classes combine all students. "Holy Angels students will have classes with St. Elizabeth students each day," Kearney said in an email
The new setup shuttered a school that had been open since 1885. Kearney said the closing is not permanent, but it could be if that's what parents, staff and administrators decide.
A plan to consolidate the two schools plus students from a third parish, St. Ambrose Catholic Church at 1012 E. 47th St., was already in motion before the paint discovery. That idea is still on the table, Kearney said. Consolidation talks will begin in October, similar to the process that led to consolidation of four Catholic schools on the Northwest Side -- St. Cornelius, St. Pascal, Our Lady of Victory and St. Tarcissus -- that concluded this summer.
At St. Elizabeth's Sunday Mass, parishioner William Higginbotham said people were "very upset." The 67-year-old went to the school, as did his three children and grandson.
"They talked about the lead paint (at Mass), but they've been talking about the merger for quite some time," Higginbotham said, adding that it was first mentioned about a year ago. "After Mass, we stayed for a good 30 minutes asking questions. It's kind of weird the way it happened."
rcrosby@tribpub.com
