Hudson Catholic High School (Hudson, Massachusetts)

Hudson Catholic High School was a coeducational Catholic school in Hudson, Massachusetts, USA. It is within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. On March 29, 2009, the parents and students were told that the high school would close in June, after it graduated its 50th class. On June 4, 2009 the school officially closed.

Education and sports

In 2002, the principal of Hudson Catholic High School said the small class size of the school drew parents and students. "Every student becomes a person rather than someone lost in the hallways." The school, with 216 students, was planning at the time for a new building.^[2]

In 2004, the school had 217 students, 18 teachers, and a full set of 14 varsity sports teams, including a boys' hockey program begun in 2000; that sport had been last played at the school in the mid-1980s. According to the athletic director, the school was losing prospective students to Central Massachusetts athletic power St. John's and nearby public schools such as Hudson and Marlborough because it did not have a hockey team. In 2004, more than 70% of Hudson's students participated in a varsity sport.^[3]

In May 2007, the school graduated 38 students. Both the salutatorian and valedictorian of the class planned to go to Boston University on four-year, full-tuition scholarships, having received the Cardinal Humberto Medeiros Scholarship, which that university gives annually to academic achievers from Boston archdiocesan high schools.^[4]

In August 2008, the school administration announced that it would no longer compete in football in the Colonial Athletic League. Between 15 and 20 students were playing in football games, compared to between 40 and 75 for opponents; the team won one game and lost nine the previous season. In addition, the school moved to a new division, 3A, in hockey; the school team was 0-18 the prior season, playing as a cooperative team with Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School.^[5]

Tuition for the 2008-2009 school year was $7,700.^[6]

2009 closing

For the 2008-2009 school year, the school had an enrollment of 120, down from 200 in 2004. On March 29, 2009, the parents and students were told that the high school would close in June. The archdiocese plans to move St. Michael's Elementary School to the building and site now used for the high school, starting in Fall 2009.^[7]

Archdiocese Associate Superintendent Bill McKersie said the decision was due to decreasing enrollment, with only 15 incoming freshmen for Fall 2009.^[7] Citing a projected budget deficit of $375,000 and a declining enrollment, officials told parents and students that it would take $500,000 to keep the school alive in the first year, and that the decision to close the school was final.^[8]

Other

• In 1991, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor A. Paul Cellucci was barred by the Archdiocese of Boston from giving the commencement address at the school, from which Cellucci had graduated in 1966 because of Cellucci's position favoring abortion rights.^[9]
• In 1997, a fund-raising effort took in more than $100,000 to provide an elevator at the school, to make the building handicapped-accessible.^[10]
• The school's motto is Esse Quam Videri, a Latin phrase which translates as To be rather than to seem.

References

External links

• Hudson Catholic High School website
• "Help Save Hudson Catholic" (Facebook page)
• Marvin Pave (November 18, 1990). "Hopkins Cultivates Winners at Hudson Catholic with Fewer Girls at School, Team Still a Contender". Boston Globe.