The Archdiocese of Baltimore will close Cardinal Gibbons along with 12 other schools
as part of its consolidation of the Catholic School system.
The reorganization will displace over 2,100 students and 325 teachers in the Archdiocese, 359 of those students from Cardinal Gibbons. The Cardinal Gibbons School will work with its students and families to facilitate their relocation. According to the Archdiocese’s plan, 24 schools have been designated as “receiving schools,” accepting those students being displaced.
According to Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien the reorganization comes on the recommendations of a long-term strategy report, and represents an effort to “stop and regroup” in the face of chronic financial problems that are threatening the Archdiocese’s school system.
“I wish there were a painless way to do this,” said Archbishop O’Brien. “It’s going to be quite painful. It’s going to have a ripple effect beyond what we can predict.”
The Cardinal Gibbons School opened in 1962, on the former St. Mary’s Industrial School grounds, in the Morrell Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. The all-boys high school on Wilkens Avenue became part of the Brothers of the Christian Schools Baltimore District network in 1997.
Please keep all members of this Lasallian community in your prayers as they seek a new school for their education or continued ministry in this difficult economic time.
Adapted from articles written by:
Liz Farmer, 3/3/2010
Maryland Daily Record – www.mddailyrecord.com
Arthur Hirsch, 3/4/2010
The Baltimore Sun – www.baltimoresun.com