Wildwood Catholic High School in North Wildwood will remain open.
But the fate of St. Joseph High School in Hammonton appears bleaker.
Both schools were slated to close June 30, but Principal Joe Cray and Sister Sheila Murphy of Wildwood Catholic issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the school will open for the 2020-21 school year.
Wildwood Catholic friends, family and alumni raised more than $1 million since April to help keep the school open.
“We needed to make this happen,” Cray said. “Everyone went above and beyond these past two months. It was truly incredible and inspiring.”
Wildwood Catholic will now be known as Wildwood Catholic Academy, which merges the high school with Cape Trinity Catholic Elementary School to form a pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade school.
“We’ve been working the last year and a half on bringing our two schools together as one,” Cray said. “It’s been an incredible experience, having families (of both schools) work together and build one stronger community.”
Meanwhile, the news at St. Joe was not so hopeful Thursday.
St. Joe Strong, a group formed to save the school, said in a statement Thursday the diocese declined their bid to save the high school and St. Joseph Elementary School.
The statement said a task force wants to buy the elementary school building on Third Street and the athletic fields on Wood Street, both in Hammonton, and operate an independent, private school with no relation to the diocese.
St. Joe Strong said a final announcement on the fate of the school is expected Friday.
“Obviously, closing the schools would be devastating to our students, parents, alumni, supporters, faculty, staff and local parishioners,” the statement said.
The diocese announced in April that Wildwood Catholic and St. Joseph would close at the end of the school year. Almost immediately, students, parents, friends and alumni began to raise money and develop plans to keep both schools open.
“Doing what we did in the last six weeks during a global pandemic,” Cray said, “that showed us (people) are committed to Catholic education. Families are struggling, and their businesses are not fully open yet.”
Both schools are integral parts of their communities. Wildwood Catholic opened in 1948. St. Joe opened in 1935.
The fate of the two schools will have a huge impact on New Jersey high school sports. The Wildwood Catholic boys basketball team has won three straight Cape-Atlantic League championships and won the South Jersey Non-Public B title in March.
The St. Joe football team is one of New Jersey’s best, with 20 state championships since the state Non-Public playoffs began in 1993. St. Joe coach Paul Sacco has a South Jersey record 335 career wins.
The Rev. Dennis J. Sullivan, bishop of the Camden Diocese, in a June 1 letter to Wildwood Catholic said he was impressed with Wildwood Catholic’s fundraising and its plan to rebrand itself as a preK-12 school.
Cray said Wildwood Catholic Academy’s enrollment should be about 400 students.
“We’ve all sacrificed so much and given our time, talent and energy to this great enterprise,” Wildwood Catholic President the Rev. Joseph Wallace said. “We are eternally grateful to Bishop Sullivan for having faith in us.”
This is the second time Wildwood Catholic has rallied to save itself. The school also almost closed in 2010.
Sullivan indicated in his letter the school will not be allowed to rally a third time.
“It is UNFAIR to the families of Wildwood and Cape May County for this to happen a third time,” Sullivan wrote in the letter.
Cray said Wildwood Catholic families, alumni and friends now have time to take one deep breath.
“We have to keep pushing on,” he said. “The work that’s been done in the last six weeks is not slowing down.”
