Claremont
The name of the school has not been decided and many of the details including tuition and curriculum still need to be worked out.
However, at a meeting on Monday night, attended by about 15 parishioners, the Rev. Shawn Therrien, pastor at St. Mary, said conversations about reopening a school have been ongoing for four years. He said Bishop Peter Libasci has given his approval and there is “full diocesan support.” A web site is being developed with software to allow for online registration, which is expected to begin before Christmas.
Since St. Mary, which served grades K-8, closed in 2009, the New England Classical Academy has leased the three-story brick building.
Academy Executive Director Liz Wilber said on Monday she learned of the plans to reopen a Catholic school in August and informed the parents of NECA’s 100 students.
As for what NECA will do next year, Wilber said that has not been decided but they are in the process of considering options.
“We don’t have a solid plan right now but we have been looking for a new building,” Wilber said. “Hopefully, we will stay in Claremont, but that is not absolutely definite.”
At Monday’s meeting, intended to recruit volunteers to serve on a school committee, Therrien expressed complete confidence in the viability of the new parish school.
“My vision is a school that is classical with excellence in math and science and also a place where families participate,” he said. “Our vision is the vision of the church; to be totally Catholic.”
Tuition will depend on the number of students and how much money can be raised. The diocese is also committed to offering some financial support. The goal is for an initial enrollment of at least 40 students.
Therrien said he will be going through the school building and the gymnasium, also on Central Street, in the coming weeks with contractors to see what needs to be repaired before the school opens.
Longer term, he plans to meet with an architect to develop a 10-year maintenance plan.
“I know we can accomplish this and it will be successful,” Therrien said.
Claremont has nearly 200-year history, though not consecutive, in Catholic education, dating to the 1820s, when the Rev. Virgil Barber started the Claremont Catholic Academy in the top floor of the Old St. Mary Church on Plains Road, though it only operated for a few years.
The parish moved to Central Street when the new church opened in 1873. It would eventually buy four Greek revival houses including the school building in 1885. Five years later, St. Mary School opened. A Catholic high school was built in 1957 on Hanover Street but closed in the early 1970s and today is Disnard Elementary School.
Anyone who could not make last night’s meeting but is interested in serving on the school committee is asked to call the parish office at 603-542-9518 within the next week.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached pogclmt@gmail.com
