Our Lady of Miracles school in Gustine to close its doors

Our Lady of Miracles School in Gustine will not reopen for the upcoming school year, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno confirmed Thursday.

The diocese’s bishop, the Rev. Armando Ochoa, told school officials and the parish pastor the school will close on Aug. 1, according to a news release from the Office of Catholic Education in Fresno.

The school first opened in 1952. It closed in 1968, then reopened in 1979, according to its website.

The school struggled in recent years to keep a principal for more than one or two years, the release said.

The school also faced shrinking enrollment. About 90 students were enrolled for the upcoming school year, which was set to start Aug. 20.

But parents said the school did not enforce a registration deadline, and some planned to enroll their children in August.

“The enrollment issue was a hard pill to swallow,” said Krista Duarte, an alumna of Our Lady of Miracles who had two children enrolled in the school. “If there had been a statement that said they needed the paperwork or the school was going to close, maybe it would’ve been a different story.”

The school’s teachers and staff will be given hiring preference at other Catholic schools in the area, said Mona Faulkner, the school superintendent of the Fresno diocese. Five full-time and one part-time teacher worked at the school. It was unclear how many staff members worked there.

Duarte said parents received an email more than a week ago informing them about the issue of keeping a principal.

Parents on Tuesday received an email saying there would be a meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue.

“Nothing was said about it being urgent,” Duarte said. “We thought the meeting was just about the new principal, not about the school closing.”

Parents and students attended the meeting Wednesday night at the parish center for the Shrine of Our Lady of Miracles. Faulkner told parents she will work with Catholic schools in the area to “ensure a welcomed place” for Our Lady of Miracles students in the upcoming school year.

Gustine Mayor Dennis Brazil said he found out about the closure Wednesday night on Facebook and was shocked.

“There’s a way to communicate and find out what are the needs, what does it take to run the school in order to keep the school going,” Brazil said.

He said that in the past he has attended the school’s fundraising events, which seemed successful. “I’m shocked if the reason (for the closure) was financial,” he said.

Duarte, who graduated from eighth grade at Our Lady of Miracles in 2001, said the high turnover rate of principals and staff was common for the school. But recently, the school managed to retain a few of its teachers for a longer time.

Having a faith-based education growing up was important to Duarte, and it’s important to her and her husband that their children get that same experience.

“We take our faith very seriously. We want to make sure our children have the same values instilled in them,” she said. “This was something I was looking forward to as a parent, for my children to have the same experience. It’s heart wrenching.”

Duarte hopes there is some way the school can still open as scheduled.

“I hope the diocese sees what this will do not only to our school but to our parish and the community,” she said.

A candlelight prayer vigil was scheduled to take place Thursday evening at the school.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Our Lady of Miracles school in Gustine to close its doors."