By James Windell
It was supposed to be the St. Basil Catholic School Board’s final meeting.
But the May 27, 2025 meeting, at which several parents attended, went from an emotional outpouring from parents and Board members, some of whom no longer send their children to the school that is closing on June 5, to a sudden and unexpected ray of hope for the future.
Both Board members and parents at the meeting spoke about the significant problems that led to parents withdrawing their children from the school and then refusing to re-enroll them for the 2025-2026 school year. As a result, it was apparent that less than 20 children planned to enroll for this fall. That forced St. Basil and the diocese to announce recently that the school would permanently close in June.
Richard Hardy, the one representative from the St. Basil parish, and a key player in the meetings between the parish, parents and school administrators, accepted and acknowledged that mistakes were made in operating the school.
“I made mistakes,” Hardy said more than once. He accepted some degree of responsibility for not listening to parents’ complaints and their legitimate concerns.
Although some people at the meeting expressed concern that closing the school might doom the church in the future, others said that many Catholic Churches survive without running a school.
Early in the meeting, when parents were talking about their anger, bitterness and resentment at the wav things have played out, one parent raised a question that later gained some traction. “If the decision was made to close the school,” a woman asked, “couldn’t that decision be reversed?”
That question would be revisited as the meeting was winding down.
Board member Sean Russell, who said that he was frequently torn in his dual role as parent of a school-age child and School Board member, raised the possibility of reopening the school in a limited way. “Might we have a pre-K to, say, second grade school?” he asked.
That question resonated with some people in the meeting. For instance, Michelle Woodham recalled that there have been many successful fundraising activities in the past and perhaps it could be feasible to raise the funds to support having a school that didn’t try to do too much.
Many people at the meeting agreed that re-opening for a few children may be a way of retaining the present principal, Jennifer Marcheschi, who most agreed is an exemplary principal.
After more brainstorming on the concept of starting the school as a smaller, more compact school, it was decided that a task force would be formed of parents and Board members who would explore the idea of keeping the school going somehow.
While Rick Hardy, who is the Pastoral Associate for the Collaborative, said he would have to discuss this with Fr. Evelio Ramirez, Parish Pastor, he himself supported the idea.
There was concern about giving parents false hope about the school reopening, however, it was decided that the community could be told that a task force would begin meeting to consider options for the future.
Michelle Woodham appeared to be the nominal head of the task force, but Rick Hardy, Lois Brigham, School Board Presidet, and others present indicated that they would like to attend any meetings of the task force.
Although this glimmer of optimism was encouraging to most of the people in the room, there were others who reminded the group of what led to the decision to close the school. The problems that led to parents’ reluctance to re-enroll their children, some parents stated, would have to be solved before any future plans to reopen the school could be properly addressed.
