By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — It’s official: St. Leo the Great School is closing its doors in June at the completion of the academic year.
The Diocese of Providence’s Catholic School Office issued a press release on Friday announcing the closure of St. Leo the Great “due to rapidly declining enrollment and increasing operational costs.”

The school, which has been open for 67 years, serves children in kindergarten through grade 8.
The press release further stated that another area Catholic school, Sacred Heart School in East Providence, is “facing similar challenges” and “will know their status for the next school year in April.”
The press release stated that the Rev. Kevin Fisette, pastor of St. Leo the Great Parish, had written to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin requesting that its school close at the end of the school year in June 2008 due to “declining enrollment and skyrocketing costs such as heat and salaries.” The request was approved this week, the news release added.
According to the press release, the announcement follows meetings with parents and school officials in December and January. Parents were notified of the closing through a letter sent home with students Thursday afternoon. Faculty and staff were notified on Thursday afternoon as well and will receive “priority application status” at other Catholic schools in the state, according to the Diocese.
According to the Catholic School Office, St. Leo the Great two weeks ago reported 92 paid registrations for the 2008-09 school year, well short of their minimum of 165. Those figures, coupled with the prospect of continued decreasing enrollment, creates a situation in which it is financially impossible for the school to operate, the news release stated.
Since 2004, enrollment at St. Leo has plummeted from an enrollment of 318 The school accommodates up to 400 students.
“We have been working for months to increase enrollment ... so the school would remain financially viable,” Fisette wrote to parents. “Unfortunately, those tireless efforts did not generate the minimum enrollment required to maintain the school’s viability. We were left with no other option but to close the school this June.”
In the same letter, Fisette made assurances that every effort would be undertaken to place students at other Catholic schools. The school will host an open house on Tuesday, March 25, at 6:30 p.m. at which area Catholic schools will be on hand to discuss their programs.
Fisette was unavailable for comment Friday, but school principal Lisa Lepore said, “It’s a very sad day” as she stood outside at dismissal time. She said students in grades four through eight had been given the news in an assembly the previous day. “There was a lot of sadness,” she said.  Younger students were kept out of the assembly so as not to upset them.
Lepore said enrollment at the co-educational school had been in steady decline for the past few years. “I think the economy has a lot to do with it. People just don’t have the money,” she said.
For several months, rumors had been swirling about the possible closure of the 67-year-old Catholic school on Cottage Street. Still, according to a group of parents who were gathered outside at dismissal time, there had still been a sense of hope that the close-knit neighborhood school would somehow find a way to stay open.
Debby Walsh, an active member of the school’s PTO, said parents had been willing to press on with events such as the upcoming May 3 dinner dance and “silent auction” that was intended to be a fundraiser.
She said, however, that any profits from this event will now be put toward a “teacher appreciation” fund.
Walsh, whose granddaughter is a fourth-grader at the school, said she and other parents also intend to make sure that other events that had been scheduled for the remainder of the year take place as planned. “We want them to go out with a bang,” she said.
Walsh said her granddaughter, Ariana, will likely attend St. Cecelia’s School, a short distance up the street from St. Leo’s. Two of her best friends, however, plan on attending St. Theresa’s School, which is further away on Newport Avenue. “It’s too bad, because these girls have been together since kindergarten,” Walsh said.
While there are several other Catholic schools nearby to absorb the students from St. Leo’s, Walsh feels “they’re not going to find this atmosphere in any other school.” She credits the staff, and particularly Lepore, for being “wonderful ... she put her heart and soul into this school.”
Terri Smith, the parent of a third grade student, expressed sadness at the school’s closing because she had liked the teaching staff and the atmosphere. Despite the warnings, Smith said she and other parents “were hoping it would stay open.” She said the school had “taught the foundation on how to be a human being.”
Jeanne Howard, whose daughter is also in third grade, agreed with Smith, saying she had been pleased with the school and its caring staff.
As causes for declining enrollment, both women pointed to a weak economy and the rising costs of school tuition, approximately $4,000. “A lot of people are saving for tuition at private high schools,” Smith noted.
Still, several of the parents said that the news of the impending closing back in December was the death knell for the school, since many parents were fearful about enrolling their children at a school that had the potential of not being open for the upcoming academic year.