Four suburban Catholic schools to close in June

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced that five Catholic schools - four of which are in the suburbs - will close their doors for good at the end of the 2017-2018 school year due to low enrollment and financial problems.

The suburban schools set to close are St. Cyprian School in River Grove, Holy Cross School in Deerfield, Incarnation School in Palos Heights and Our Lady of the Ridge School in Chicago Ridge. Along with St. Michael School in Chicago, which will also close at the end of the school year, they have a combined current enrollment of 605 students who will now have to find new schools to attend next year.

The schools, which serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade faced falling enrollment over recent years, which forced the Archdiocese and local parishes to set hundreds of thousands in fundraising goals for each school and try to recruit more students. Efforts to save the schools fell short of those targets, however, and they will permanently close on June 30.

"We realize these closures have a difficult impact on families and are committed to working with them through this transition to find them the right next school for their children," said Dr. Jim Rigg, Superintendent of Catholic Schools. "I commend the dedicated leaders, faculty and staff of St. Cyprian School, Holy Cross School, Incarnation School, St. Michael School and Our Lady of the Ridge School for their tireless work to foster academically rigorous and faith-filled communities. We are dedicated to working with them to secure future employment within the Archdiocesan school system."