Bishop accepts plan for school

January 30, 2020, WORCESTER, MA -- The Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Worcester announced today that Bishop McManus has accepted the proposed privatization of St. Bernard’s Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg. The decision came following a presentation of a fiscally responsible business plan for the school and the announcement that the new school’s board has commitments for more than $1 million towards the $2 million goal announced last year.
 
“I thank God that this collaborative effort by those who wished to support St. Bernard’s will continue to provide the  option for families of Catholic secondary education in North Worcester County,” said Bishop McManus. “It took a significant investment of over $700,000 by the diocese during this current school year to give everyone time to develop a plan and secure donor commitments for the future. Thankfully fundraising efforts are seeing positive results, since the diocese demonstrated in its public financial report this month that it cannot invest any additional funds to the school’s operation next school year.”
 
The Bishop and other members of the Diocese of Worcester including Dr. David Perda, Superintendent, and Paul Schasel, director of the Office of Fiscal Affairs, met today with Nicholas Pelletier representing the newly formed Board of Trustees for the private school, who demonstrated the financial and programmatic capacity to successfully transition to a viable secondary school. That plan relies heavily on donations from Bernardian alumni as well as the community until the school can increase enrollment. Representatives of the Diocesan Catholic School Board, the current school administration and the Diocesan Finance Council also participated.
 
“This current year’s operational commitment and the planning for this transition have kept a singular focus, which was to provide a quality Catholic education for St. Bernard’s students to the best of everyone’s ability,” noted Dr. David Perda, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the diocese. “Everyone has been committed to assuring that this new venture would be in the students’ best interest to prepare them in life, otherwise there was no reason to move forward.”
 
The agreement will be formalized pending a Memo of Understanding among the various parties involved, including the Diocese of Worcester which owns the school buildings; St. Bernard Parish at St. Camillus Church which canonically owns the land for the Bernardian Bowl, the Activity Center and the playing fields; and the new St. Bernard’s High School Corporation.  Fr. Joseph Dolan, St. Bernard pastor, is part of the new Board of Trustees and will provide pastoral assistance to maintain the school’s Catholic mission to teach and practice the Catholic faith.
 
Although the Bishop made clear that the diocese cannot assist with operational funds in the new school, it will assist in a variety of other ways. The diocese is offering a “triple net” lease for $1 a year for the school to be housed on the current campus. St. Bernard students will still be eligible to apply for available diocesan financial aid as in the past. St. Bernard students who are currently supported by the Adopt-a-Student (AAS) program will continue to be assisted in accordance with that program’s guidelines, although AAS will not be accepting new applicants from St. Bernard’s.