St. Mary's School in Pompton Lakes, NJ has been designated as one of the many Catholic Schools to permanently close at the end of this school year. 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in many ways. As adults, we are able to understand the rationale behind the extreme measures that have been taken to protect our communities, but children cannot. They are young, innocent, and scared. Our children are not scared of the virus, but scared that they will never see their beloved teachers, friends, or classrooms again. During a time when our whole world is in a continuous state of uncertainty and instability, we have few things we rely on: family, friends, and above all our Faith. Our community of faith has been ripped away from us and our children. 

Our children cannot fully comprehend why their school, their center of faith and education, has been so abruptly removed from their lives. They have been forced to conform to remote learning, and continue this way with no end in sight. Now, that center of faith and learning is closing its doors to our children permanently and these children will never return to walk the halls of St. Mary's School again. Our children, attending Pre-K through 8th grade, are being forced to feel the emotional and psychological impacts of not only being separated from their classmates and teachers for months, but they now face the permanent loss of stability and security of their school, at a time when they need it most. 

According to an email sent to parents on May 16th, the Diocese of Paterson, the Superintendent of Schools, Mary Baier, Bishop Serratelli, Bishop Sweeney, St. Mary's Friars, the banks, the finance committee and trustees, made the unfortunate decision, amid worldwide turmoil, to shatter what was left of our children's security and permanently close down our beloved St. Mary's School, devastating our children and entire community. 

St. Mary's School is our children's home away from home, a beacon of light and love for every family in the history of this church community. To us, St. Mary's School is FAMILY. I implore you now to speak up for us, for our children, for our entire St. Mary's community. Please tell the Archdiocese this is NOT the time to displace our children and declare permanent closures. We love our school and will fight to keep it open. We will fight to ensure our children have the ability to maintain continuity and consistency. This is our number one priority! We will stand together to keep what we love and fight to continue to provide the best faith-based education to our children. We implore all of you, Father Gonzalo and Superintendent Baier, give us the opportunity to save our school. 

Our fight is not over. It has just begun. Pray for our children and that our Catholic leaders do the right thing and reconsider this devastating decision. 

For more information about our school visit us on Facebook.

Emails can be sent to:

mabaier.diocese@patdioschools.org Mary, Baier, Superintendent of Paterson Catholic Schools 

gonzaloofm@stmarys-pompton.org - Father Gonzalo, Pastor of St. Mary's School

shepherd@patersondiocese.org -Bishops Sweeney and Serratelli of Diocese of Paterson

cscala@stmarys-pompton.org - Carol Scala, Director of Finances

Please take a moment to support us with this endeavor. 

Thank you.