St. Louis Review
By Laura Kosta,
ST. LOUIS – St. Joseph School in Zell will close at the end of the 2024-25 school year, the archdiocese announced Dec. 16.
This year, the school in Ste. Genevieve County has 27 students in grades K-5. The projected enrollment for the 2025-26 year is also less than 30 students.
Seven current students are children or grandchildren of St. Joseph parishioners. Twenty-two parish families are enrolled in the parish school of religion.
The total education programs of the parish include the K-5 elementary school, preschool, latchkey afterschool program, PSR and summer camp. One hundred percent of the income from the preschool, PSR and summer camp, as well as 88% of the overall income of the parish budget, are spent on the elementary school to make up its operating deficit.
Within three years, it is projected the parish would reach a point where both the parish and school would be financially unsustainable, St. Joseph pastor Father Ryan Weber said.
After consultation with the finance council, parish leaders, parishioners and school parents, Father Weber recommended the school’s closure. Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski accepted the recommendation.
St. Joseph’s preschool program will remain open, and the parish plans to hire a religion education coordinator to oversee the PSR, which volunteers have previously run. The parish is also developing other faith formation and family outreach ideas to best serve its parishioners, Father Weber said.
The archdiocese will provide placement assistance to St. Joseph faculty and staff members. It will also work with the school’s 17 current families who wish to transfer to a nearby Catholic school. Scholarships from the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation, which 10 students receive, will follow the students to their next Catholic school.
St. Joseph School was founded in 1863. In a statement, Archbishop Rozanski expressed his gratitude for the teachers, administrators and staff of St. Joseph School, parents and all who share their gifts in parish and diocesan schools.
“Please keep all who are affected by the closing of St. Joseph School in your prayers, as I am keeping them in mine,” he said.