Driscoll's final graduation; we hope to be there

The end, alas, is almost here for Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison.

Today is the final day of classes for seniors, who will be practicing for the school's final graduation on Sunday. A week from now will be the last day of classes for everyone else, then exams and faculty checkout and luncheon on May 29.

And then ...

Nothing seems to rip at the heartstrings of the community more than the closing of a school. I remember well, even though it was 25 years ago, the closing of Arlington High School in Arlington Heights. There, parents, alumni and supporters battled in the school board room and in the courtroom to stop the inevitable.

Driscoll supporters fought the good fight, too. They didn't sue anyone, but after the school's intended closing was announced April 2, they raised almost $1 million in three weeks. They also presented an operating plan to the Christian Brothers, who run the school for the Joliet Diocese.

We have to walk the line on these stories and make sure we represent all sides, but I'll have to admit my heart was with Driscoll, hoping it would become the little school that could stay open.

But with an enrollment of about 300 students and declining, and saying millions more would need to be pumped into the school, the Brothers pulled the plug.

We've been covering Driscoll for decades, and I'd have to acknowledge much of our focus has been on its storied football program and its amazing run of seven consecutive state championships. But as the story of the closing and the efforts to stop it played out, I learned of the passion people had for the tiny school. "Driscoll is more than football," one parent titled a letter to our Fence Post column. It was a moving letter about how her son had been nurtured, not just as an athlete, but into a well-rounded human being by the "Driscoll family."

So, we have a few more stories to tell about Driscoll. Sportswriter Kevin Schmit's column, which we moved from the sports page to the front news section of today's paper, captures the essence of the famed Driscoll-Montini athletic rivalry. And how it will be a little empty for everyone when they play their final baseball game today.

We also had planned, as we have every year that I can recall, to be at Driscoll's graduation ceremony. But that plan hit a little snag. Apparently concerned that there might be widespread and potentially intrusive media interest in Driscoll's final days, the school has barred the media from attending graduation.

I understand the sentiment. It will undoubtedly be an emotional and bittersweet occasion for the students, parents and faculty. Demand for tickets as been extraordinarily high. But as I pointed out, when I appealed that decision to the Driscoll administration, this is an opportunity for the Daily Herald, frankly, to do what it does best: Chronicle the benchmarks of the people and the institutions that make up the fabric of the community we cover. We've been doing that for a while for Driscoll; why stop now? If you go to dailyherald.com and plug in "driscoll," you get 841 stories that have at least a mention of Driscoll, and that's going back only to September 2007.

Our hope, I said, was to try to capture the flavor of Sunday's graduation by sending a reporter and a photographer to shoot and videotape the proceedings.

Even if we're denied access, we'll still do the best we can to give justice to Driscoll's final days. In fact, I'm very excited about a story reporter Beth Mistretta, who has provided the lion's share of the reporting on the Driscoll closing, is working on for this weekend: A snapshot of Driscoll's highlights and achievements in its 43 years. We hope it will be quite a keepsake.

Just as I hope will be our coverage of the final Driscoll graduation.

jdavis@dailyherald.com