Students, Parents Raise Money to Save Manchester School

Parents and children are raising money in an effort to save the Assumption School in Manchester, a Catholic school in danger of closing due to declining enrollment.

Some suspect the demographics have changed and there may no longer be a need for three schools that serve pre-Kindergarten through eighth-grade students in town.

Sixth grader JoAnna Beaudry set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for the school.

"We're a big family. I love my teachers," JoAnna said Friday.

Assumption school alumna Amy Davis, whose daughter also attends the school, said a lot of parents were caught off-guard by announcements that the schooling have to close.

"We've been told that the church won't give us any more money and that we're running out of money, and they can't keep us open," Davis said.

Davis said there's a rift between the school and its parish and archdiocese, which helps fund it.

"What they fail to realize is that that the parents and our children are what's going to build this congregation," she explained.

A school board member told NBC Connecticut the goal is to boost enrollment from 108 students to 150 by the end of the school year, or to raise at least $75,000. It's unclear what will occur if neither goal is met.

"There are some parents that have gone to homeschooling. There is the public and the magnet, there are many alternatives," said parent Rosemary Hills.

But those alternatives are not ideal for many parents. Davis explained that the 54-year-old school is a special place with a lot to offer.

"I graduated from here, I was married here, [my daughter] was christened here, we had her first communion here," she said. "You know, we're not only part of the school but we are also parishioners."

The school board member said closing altogether is a last resort; the more likely outcome would be narrowing the grade levels to focus on early childhood education, for example.

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