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Catholic School Closing Its Doors After Nearly 90 Years

OAKMONT (KDKA) – St. Irenaeus Catholic Elementary School in Oakmont is closing after nearly 90 years.

Parents had been fighting to keep the St. Irenaus School open, but with dwindling enrollment. It was a battle that would not be won.

"We're really sad. We put a lot of time, a lot of effort," Carla Spadacene, a parent, said.

Fr. George Dalton asked permission from Bishop David Zubik to close the K-8 school at the end of the school year.

"I grant permission at your request to close the K-8 program at Saint Irenaeus School, effective at the end of the 2014-2015 school year," Bishop Zubik said. "In doing so, I also want to recognize the tremendous efforts of so many parents and parishioners who have worked hard over the past number of years in support of the school."

The announcement was made at Mass over the weekend.

"In my homily today, I said, 'We should be proud that for 88 years we've had this school that's such a vibrant and important part of parish life,'" Fr. Dalton said.

A spokesperson for the diocese said parents were hoping to get the student body up to 100, but instead, it dropped even lower.

"Eighty students there in 2012, now there's 44 and it's just not viable anymore," Fr. Ron Lengwin said. "Education becomes ineffective at that point when there's so few students over so many classes. And then, it's a real financial burden on the parish."

"It's understandable. We're not arguing with the reasons. I'm not arguing with the reasons. Had the issue been addressed five years ago, we wouldn't be in this position," Spadacene said.

Eleven teachers are affected by the closure. Fr. Dalton said the preschool, which currently has 30 students, will remain open.

"We will still have a good strong preschool program here and we're looking into the possibility of expanding it into an early childhood education program," Fr. Dalton said.

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