After seeking input from parishioners and school parents, Guardian Angels Catholic School in Chaska will not reopen next school year. The school faces declining enrollment and costly building repairs, Guardian Angels officials said Feb. 18.
But leaders at the prekindergarten-to-grade-eight school and parish, as well as those at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, are looking to the future, and they say the closing might best be understood as an indeterminate “pause” for Catholic school education in the Chaska area. The area’s population growth indicates that it could eventually again support a school.
In Feb. 18 letters to parishioners and school families, Guardian Angels pastor Father Tony VanderLoop said one possibility is a regional school supported by multiple Catholic parishes.
Guardian Angels parish and school are located in the idyllic Minnesota River bluffs southwest of the Twin Cities, but Chaska’s older housing stock and geographic location, some distance from U.S. Highway 212 and against the river in the lower reaches of the bluffs, has put the school at a disadvantage when it comes to leveraging the area’s population growth. Areas just three miles away, around St. Nicholas parish in Carver and higher in the river bluffs along U.S. Highway 212, are seeing more housing development, Father VanderLoop said.
Meanwhile, Guardian Angels Catholic School’s 108-year-old building requires costly repairs, Father VanderLoop told The Catholic Spirt. One-half of the front steps is badly damaged and barricaded off. The brick façade needs repairs, the three-story building has one area for bathrooms and heating is uneven. The general perception is that the building does not fare well when compared with neighboring Catholic and public schools, Father VanderLoop said, and its state of disrepair has contributed to enrollment decline.
Lynn Arnal, business administrator at both Guardian Angels and St. Nicholas parishes, said decisions about whether to keep the school open have been difficult and emotional. What to do with the school building after it closes will be worked out in the months ahead, she said.
While the school’s challenges predated the COVID-19 pandemic, that, too, has impacted the school and parish, in part with lower offertory gifts, Arnal said. A COVID-related, $116,000 federal Paycheck Protection Program loan helped Guardian Angels pay salaries. With the school’s retention of teachers and staff and under terms of the program, the federal government forgave that loan last month.
But the school has faced a steady decline in enrollment, Arnal said. About 20 years ago, the school had 300 students. Now, there are 64 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and 16 in preschool.
Years of operating deficits at the school prompted two parish capital campaigns in the last seven years. Parishioners decided that both campaigns should be devoted largely to paying down debt, and not to doing more repairs at the school, Arnal said.
In January, Father VanderLoop held three town hall meetings about Guardian Angels school — two online and one in person. In a Feb. 9 letter to parishioners and Catholic school families, he summarized 97 responses received at the events.
Fifty of those responding said the school shouldn’t close, 40 said it should, and seven were undecided or had no response, Father VanderLoop said. But several comments among those who felt the school should remain open included caveats that would be difficult to meet, such as one person suggesting a minimum of 100 pre-enrolled students paying full tuition and the steps being repaired.
Father VanderLoop said there is hope that the growing area will support a regional school. He highlighted that hope at the town hall meetings.
“I emphasized that parents are the primary educators of their children, no matter what we offer. What will move the needle?” he asked, to prompt more involvement in the faith, including within the area’s growing Latino community.
“That’s what will move families from the inside out,” he said, “and be motivated to attend a Catholic school.”
Guardian Angels parish offers school families scholarships to continue Catholic education
As students and teachers adjust to the announcement that Guardian Angels Catholic School in Chaska is closing, they can be assured that help is at hand.
The school’s 64 kindergarten through eighth-grade students and 16 preschoolers can continue their education at Catholic schools in the area, including seven miles away at St. Hubert Catholic School in Chanhassen, which has 535 students, or Shakopee Area Catholic School in Shakopee, with 508 students. Holy Family High School in Victoria is eight miles away.
Guardian Angels has the lowest Catholic school tuition in its area. To help school families transition to other Catholic schools, Guardian Angels parish is offering annual scholarships and support allowing existing students to continue paying tuition at their current levels.
“The closure of Guardian Angels Catholic School does not mean the end of Catholic school education for local families,” Father Tony VanderLoop, pastor of Guardian Angels, said in letters to parish and school families.
The school’s 13 faculty and staff members can get help searching for work in Catholic schools from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for the Mission of Catholic Education. Guardian Angels parish also is offering severance packages to help the teachers bridge into new jobs, Father VanderLoop said.
Lynn Arnal, business administrator for Guardian Angels and St. Nicholas parish in nearby Carver, said meetings will be held with each teacher and staff member at Guardian Angels, “to talk about the great things they have done. We are very grateful for our wonderful teachers.”
Guardian Angels marks the first school closing in the archdiocese since St. Bernard in Cologne in 2015, said Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education in the archdiocese.
Two years ago, St. Mark’s Catholic School in St. Paul announced a restructuring because of rising costs and declining enrollment. Parish and school officials suspended kindergarten through eighth grades but retained the preschool.
The closure comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has challenged schools across the country financially and with efforts to keep students and staff safe. But Catholic schools in the archdiocese have succeeded in safely offering in-person learning, and enrollment since March 2020 has grown 4.4% over last year, with 27,000 students currently in 91 elementary and high schools, Slattery said.
Guardian Angels’ news is difficult and prayers are encouraged for all impacted by the upcoming closure, Slattery said.
“While the parish takes a pause on operating a Catholic school, we hope that existing families will utilize the resources provided by the parish and other partners to find a home in other Catholic school options in the region,” he said.
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