More details about Immaculate Conception School, set to close this spring

Photo by Steven

More details are emerging about the upcoming closure of the Immaculate Conception School on 13th Street.

This past week, the Archdiocese of New York announced that 12 Catholic schools will cease operations at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

In a letter to parishioners dated Wednesday, Immaculate Conception pastor Father Kevin Nelan said that the school, down to 135 students in K-8, was expected to lose around $900,000 over the past two years.

"The parish can no longer sustain such deficits," he wrote.

Our Town talked with parents about the closing.

"A lot of the parents are shell shocked," said Carolyn Colon, a mom of a seventh-grade son who also runs the parish Scouting program. She said it comes at a particularly difficult time because parents in seventh grade were starting to scout for high schools and getting ready to take the Catholic school high school admission test early in the 8th grade. "We'll be losing the one person we thought could help us through the admission process," she said, referring to 8th-grade teacher Joan Wise.

And what about the future of the school building between Avenue A and First Avenue?

"I'm sure some vultures [will be] coming around," said Father Nelan. But he said since it shares a lot of facilities with the church, it would be hard to separate. He said he could see renting out the gym to someone like neighborhood pickleballers looking for space. But of the school building, he said, "We'd hope we can help the non-profits and stay in the religion business."

Immaculate Conception School is closing

Photo by Steven

The Archdiocese of New York announced this week that 12 Catholic schools will cease operations at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, including Immaculate Conception on 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

This is the last Catholic grade school (serving students K-8) in the East Village.

Per NY1:

There was a shift in demographics and lower enrollment at the schools that are closing, according to officials. This was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Archdiocese reported spending between $500 million and $700 million to support the schools closing, which they say is unsustainable.

The school dates to 1864 (find a PDF with history here), part of the Immaculate Conception church when it was at 505 E. 14th St. The church, on the north side of 14th, was demolished in the 1940s to make way for Stuy Town. 

The school's current building was completed in 1945. Per Wikipedia: 

In 1943 the parish took over the chapel and hospital buildings now known as Church of the Immaculate Conception and Clergy Houses, completed in 1896 to designs by Barney and Chapman and formerly owned by Grace Church. This existing facility was expanded with a four-story brick convent and parochial school at 415-419 E. 13th St. and 414-416 E. 14th St. ... and completed in 1945.

The archdiocese shut down St. Brigid School, founded in 1856, at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.  The St. Brigid School building remains on the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue B. In 2022, a handful of NYC public school teachers who received medical or religious exemptions to the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate were working remotely from the school.