After 114 years, St. Mary School in St. Clair is closing at the end of this school year. The school will not be enrolling students for the 2020-2021 school year, but current students will finish out the year.
The Archdiocese of Detroit announced the closing this week and said St. Mary church members were told of the closing in late February and Father Michael Zuelch called it a “deeply difficult decision” that was made in consultation with many stakeholders, including both local and regional leadership.
According to the Archdiocese, the reason for the closing was a combination of rising costs and declining enrollment. The school currently has 48 students. In recent years, the school has changed from a traditional preschool through eighth-grade school to a Montessori-style school with grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. St. Mary Catholic Parish in St. Clair has had a school on its grounds since 1906. Other Catholic elementary and middle schools in the geographic region, the Blue Water Vicariate, are enrolling for the 2020-2021 school year. Those include St. Edward in Lakeport, St. Mary/McCormick in Port Huron, Holy Cross in Marine City, Immaculate Conception in Ira Township, and St. Augustine in Richmond. Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.
