Immaculate Conception High School to Remain Open

Immaculate Conception High School’s fate has been decided – for at least another year. The high school will remain operational for the 2014-15 school year.

In early June, the Archdiocese of Newark announced that the school would permanently shut its doors on June 30.

They originally stated that “without massive changes in enrollment,” keeping the school open, “would only result in the school continuing to incur a large debt.” This debt was expected to “increase total liabilities to more than $1.2 million.”

When the Immaculate Conception High School community heard about the possibility of losing their school after 89 years of operation, they mobilized and fought back.

ICHS math teacher and three season coach Carlos Franco developed a GoFundMe page to collect donations, and in its first few days the page had already raised thousands of dollars.

As of July 15, thanks to the efforts of roughly 900 people, the “Keep Immaculate Conception HS Open,” GoFundMe page was able to raise nearly $480,000 in 1 month.

According to The Montclair Times, Archbishop of Newark John J. Myers “announced his decision to keep the school open,” in a letter to William Slattery, ICHS Board of Trustees Chairman.

Archbishop Myers also applauded “the school community's efforts to keep the school in operation for the 2014-2015 school year and insure long-term stability,” reports The Montclair Times.

As a latest development for the GoFundMe page, a post by Kevin Cummings, President & CEO of Investors Bank stated, “The fight is not over! Investors Bank has agreed to match the next $30,000 that is donated to the Save IC fund!”

Should this happen, the money raised would put the donation page over the originally set limit of $500,000 – half the school’s potential debt, a goal originally derived by Franco.