Our Lady of Destiny, St. Zachary schools in Des Plaines to partner up
Officials from two Catholic elementary schools in Des Plaines are being tasked with combining elements from both schools in preparation for their consolidation at the end of the year.
What's less clear is the extent of their new partnership.
The planned closure of Our Lady of Destiny, announced by Archdiocese of Chicago school officials Wednesday, is one part of a diocese-wide school restructuring plan that calls for the closure of nine elementary schools throughout Cook and Lake counties.
Most schools on that list - from St. Peter in Skokie to St. Lawrence O'Toole in south suburban Matteson - are outright closures.
Others, like Our Lady of Destiny, are being matched up with a nearby school in an effort to "merge students and traditions" - in this case, St. Zachary School, also in Des Plaines, archdiocese officials said.
"I love my school. We're all brokenhearted. We're all committed to good education," Our Lady of Destiny Principal Linda Chorazy said Thursday.
But, she added, "Our name will die when the school closes. I guess the archdiocese has a new definition of a merger."
Indeed, for parents and students at Our Lady of Destiny, 1880 Ash St., the closure means looking for a new place to go: whether across town to St. Zachary, another Catholic or private school, or a public school.
Officials at St. Zachary, 567 W. Algonquin Road, say they hope to provide a welcoming home for Our Lady of Destiny families.
"I've been thinking a lot in the last 24 hours and praying for the families," said St. Zachary Principal Catherine Determann. "I would like them to know, and my families as well, that we are a wonderful community, just as Our Lady of Destiny has been a wonderful community. We are very hopeful they will find us open to their ideas and their gifts, and our intention is to build a wonderful Catholic identity school, still in Des Plaines."
Determann said she and others at St. Zachary have been brainstorming ways students and parents at both schools can get to know each other over the next several months, including open houses, shadow days, and sports scrimmages in the St. Zachary gym or outside. Our Lady of Destiny classes - or even the whole school - could also come to St. Zachary to spend an entire day, she said.
Determann said she and Chorazy, as well as both school's boards, would work together to blend "the best from both."
"The ideas are being generated here because right now we aren't in the pain the people are at Our Lady of Destiny. We want to give them the opportunity to feel what they feel," Determann said. "We're not only to be all about St. Zachary traditions, but we want to know what's made Our Lady of Destiny special to them."
Tom McGrath, chief operating officer for the archdiocese's schools, said the partnership of the two Des Plaines schools is the result of conversations of parish pastors at three Des Plaines churches - St. Zachary, St. Stephen Protomartyr and St. Mary - to collaborate and share traditions. The last two churches are involved in governance of Our Lady of Destiny, following a merger of their schools 20 years ago.
Families that decide to come to St. Zachary could save on tuition. For the current school year, tuition for one child at St. Zachary is $4,175, compared to $4,950 at Our Lady of Destiny.
It's unknown whether any of the current teachers or staff at Our Lady of Destiny will be hired at St. Zachary. Staffing needs change all the time, and much of it depends on enrollment, officials say.
St. Zachary currently has 166 students; Our Lady of Destiny has 126. Determann said her school would be able to accommodate more students.
If and when she needs to hire additional teachers, preference will be given to Our Lady of Destiny teachers or others affected by closures at other archdiocese schools, she added.
The future of the Our Lady of Destiny school building is unknown. The archdiocese leaves it up to local parish leaders to decide what to do with school buildings that have closed.
Our Lady of Destiny is housed on the church grounds of St. Stephen Protomartyr. St. Mary's old school, at 794 Pearson St., has remained vacant since the consolidation that formed Our Lady of Destiny.
Officials from the churches didn't respond or couldn't be reached for comment.