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STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY — The families at St. Joseph School were in a position familiar to many Catholics: The parish school they loved was shutting down.

They found out in November through a leak on social media, weeks before it was officially announced by the Archdiocese of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

St. Joseph, about 60 miles south of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in unincorporated Zell, is the smallest school in the archdiocese. It has 27 pupils — total — in kindergarten through fifth grades.

Still, the news came as a shock.

“There was no fear of them closing in my mind,� said Ciara Thomas, whose 8-year-old son is in second grade.

The number of Catholic schools has been declining since a post-World War II peak, when nuns filled most teaching positions. Many parishes subsidize school operations, an unsustainable imposition, church leaders have said.

In the past two years, since the rollout of the archdiocese’s “All Things New� downsizing initiative, six grade schools have shuttered. Three more, including St. Joseph, will have their last day next month.

“It was apparent that it would become increasingly challenging to support the school without doing so at the expense of St. Joseph Zell parish and its other ministries,� Lisa Shea, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, said in an email.

Decisions about school closures are often met with anger, sadness and resignation. But at St. Joseph, those feelings were followed by a resolve to save the school.

Parents quickly mobilized. A school with a 161-year history, one that had sent more than two dozen graduates to religious life as priests or nuns, was worth fighting for, they thought. They met with their pastor, the Rev. Ryan Weber, and other church leaders to plead their case.

When those efforts went nowhere, the parents dove into research, studying alternative models of Catholic education across the country. They could keep the community they loved at St. Joseph, they decided, but operate as an independent Catholic school outside the archdiocese.

Thomas, who also has a 2-year-old, was all in.

“I had questions, but I was excited,� she said. “I thought, ‘I won’t have to send my kids somewhere else.’�

Most of the school’s 17 families echoed her sentiments in a survey sent home in January. The pastor agreed that classrooms could be used rent-free and the parish would cover utilities.

A board of directors was formed. They set their first goal: The new St. Joseph’s would need 14 students to enroll by the end of March to proceed to Phase 2.

They had eight weeks.

Multi-age classrooms

St. Joseph’s small-town roots run deep. Its annual liver-dumpling dinner draws folks from across Ste. Genevieve County. Next door to the school is the Zell Volunteer Fire Department. And surrounding the building are acres of farmland.

“You can see the cows through the windows,� said Lisa Kertz, who teaches first and second grades. “You can smell the cows at recess.�

The school fits in three rooms in a single hallway that sits above a portion of the parish’s multipurpose room. That space also serves as a cafeteria and gym.

Everyone attends morning Mass together. All the students eat lunch at the same time. On Mondays and Fridays, volunteers serve a hot meal. The rest of the week, students brown-bag it.

“It’s so awesome to see the different ages interacting together,� Kertz said.

She has been at St. Joseph for the past eight years of her 26-year career and often has sets of siblings in her room. Sometimes, she has to “play Mom,� she said, diffusing squabbles at school that started over the breakfast table. But that contributes to the family feel.

Her students raise butterflies and grow vegetables in a garden tower. They learn about “math magic� and biodiversity. And they each have their own Bible.

In the hallway, essays titled “I love my Catholic school!� hang on the wall. “It’s always so fun to get to do all kinds of things for God,� one student wrote.

When the board planning the independent school asked her if she would stay on, Kertz was game. It would be a risk — the other two teachers were getting a jump on job-hunting — but she was intrigued by the possibilities.

“It sounded exciting,� she said. “The twist on it, especially.�

In addition to traditional students, the future St. Joseph would welcome homeschoolers, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for project-based lessons in subjects like science and social studies. They would learn alongside the full-time students.

No Plan B

When Mary Beth Orrick was searching for a preschool for her older son a couple years ago, a friend told her about St. Joseph.

Orrick was skeptical. She’s not Catholic.

“I had imposter syndrome,� she said.

One visit was all it took for her to enroll Elias, now 5.

“I’ve never been more welcomed into a community,� she said. “We fell in love immediately.�

Elias will be in kindergarten this fall. Orrick was determined that it would be at St. Joseph, so she joined the seven-member board of directors in January.

“It went from zero to 100 so fast,� she said.

In the first few weeks, she logged as many hours as she puts into her day job, pulling together five binders full of information: financial plans, curriculum ideas, timelines. She didn’t bother with a Plan B for Elias. She wouldn’t need it, she believed.

The board launched a marketing campaign with yard signs and on social media. “Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we prepare to begin a new chapter of Catholic education in our part of rural Missouri,� an early Facebook post read.

Parents hosted an open-house breakfast and held a rummage sale to fundraise. It would take almost $170,000 to run the school in its first year, they estimated.

Matt Blumenfeld, another parent on the board, sent out more than 200 emails soliciting local businesses for donations. He secured a $40,000 grant.

“We’re going to be very lean and very dependent on volunteers,� Blumenfeld said at a board meeting in mid-March.

Spirits were high at the gathering. Ten full-time students had already registered, and several others had expressed interest. The board had a week and a half to secure four more commitments.

They got three.

Losing steam

The St. Joseph’s parents faced long odds. Few schools have been brought back from the brink of a closure. Parents and alumni rallied in 2021 to save two archdiocesan high schools in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½: Rosati-Kain for girls and St. Mary’s for boys. Both now operate as independent Catholic high schools. And St. James the Greater grade school in Dogtown extended its life by a couple of years after a heavy fundraising push. It ultimately was closed in 2019.

At St. Joseph, the board met again on April 3. As always, they opened with a prayer. They recapped everything they had accomplished in such a short time. They had been ready to take a leap of faith, but not quite enough families were willing to leap with them.

“We just lost steam along the way,� said Shelly Mueller, who has a daughter at St. Joseph and a son who is a graduate.

The board of directors, many in tears, .

“It’s a great school,� said Mueller. “It’s a huge loss.�

In a Facebook post a week after the meeting, the board wrote, “We are heartbroken that we will be unable to continue the tradition of Catholic education in Zell next year.�

In the fall, the pupils at St. Joseph will head in different directions: some to the neighboring Catholic schools, Valle and St. Agnes. Some to public school. And some to homeschool.

Tina Blumenfeld, Matt’s wife, will most likely teach their 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter at home, as she does their older children.

She hasn’t given up all hope.

“God will open a door,� she said. “Who knows? Maybe the opportunity will come to re-create this.�