St. Anastasia graduations are finished, report cards are distributed and on Tuesday, June 23rd the school year was completed. The doors of St. Anastasia School were closed and will reopen again in September as the Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy.

Parishioners have asked various questions about this transition. And so at our Parish Assembly a few weeks ago, a member of the Academy’s Board gave a very thorough update on the Academy. But since the majority of parishioners did not attend the Assembly ,we priests felt it important to take opportunities to inform you of this transition from the pulpit and in the bulletin.
As Catholics we have a shared responsibility to pass on the Faith to our young people. Parents and Parish work together for this goal. Parishes such as ours have traditionally sponsored a Catholic School and a Parish School of Religion. However Catholic Schools have had to adapt to many changes in recent decades, from shifting demographics, lower enrollment, increase costs, smaller families and a smaller Catholic population. These are outside forces we can do nothing about. They are not the fault of anyone. Seeing this struggle, the Diocese still wants to uphold and preserve the vision and value of Catholic education. How? Some years ago the Diocese faced a similar dilemma with the Catholic Diocesan High Schools. As a solution the Diocese put the high Schools in the hands of lay Boards of Directors and this model proved successful. So that is the model the Diocese is introducing in some of the elementary schools including St. Anastasia School.

The Governance of the Academy will be in the hands of a Board of Directors, at present there are 6 members on the Board 5 of which are parishioners. Each will have a tenure of 3 years. The Principal will be responsible to them. They will be appointed by a top tier of governance. This top-tier has 3 members, Bishop Caggiano the Vicar General, the Pastor and the Superintendent of Schools. The Board of Directors will be responsible to them.

To operate this new Academy, one needs a Charter from the State of New York. The Academy has received this Charter. But note the Academy is not a charter school. A charter school is a public school; the Academy is a catholic School. The Academy will have a new name. Why? To show that it is distinct from the parish and the new name indicates a fresh start. We submitted 3 names to the Bishop and he made the selection.

What will be the Parish’s involvement with the Academy be? The Pastor’s role as one of the top-tier members will be to ensure the Catholic identity of the Academy. He will collaborate with the Principal and Parish Director of Religious Education to review the religion curriculum.

The priests and the director of religious education will continue to go regularly into the classrooms for religious instruction. In fact at the end –of-the-year staff meeting staff members started putting together presentations that will include instruction, prayer services and media presentations on specific topics.

The Parish Director of Religious Education will continue to coordinate the sacramental programs preparing students for Penance, First Communion and Confirmation. The Parish Religious Education program will continue for our children who attend public schools.

The Academy will be financially independent from the Parish. In fact the Bishop explicitly states in his letter that there is to be no direct parish subsidy to the Academy. However there will be an indirect subsidy to the Academy. Our parish and every parish in the Diocese will be taxed 2% of its annual weekly collections. This money will be distributed to the academies and schools according to their enrollment. Besides that aid, the Academy will operate on its tuition and fund raisers.

The Parish will lease the school building to the Academy this year for $1.00. But it will retain use of the building for parish needs; in particular, the Parish Religious Education program on Wednesdays, the Senior Leisure Club on Tuesday afternoons and the Parish “Celebrate Summer” Program for 6 weeks in the summer.

The Parish Staff is very happy and supportive of this transition. It assures the continuation of Catholic education here in the Douglaston/ Little Neck area and it will build on the excellent academic education given at St. Anastasia School for the past eighty years. The Board of Directors is professional, hardworking and enthusiastic. We sup- port them and look forward to an effective collaboration. They have hired a principal, Mr. Robert DiNardo and he in turn has selected his Faculty for the coming year. Registration will be possible during the summer and we hope parishioners will spread the news of the Academy to their neighbors and friends. We all pray for the success of the new Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy.