Official: No More Catholic Schools in Manayunk

Update: 2:30 p.m.

Due to poor enrollment figures, the proposed regional Catholic in Manayunk will never open.

St. Blaise Regional Catholic School announced on its website Monday morning that registration never exceeded 155—far short of the 250 students needed to open the school.

", we cannot provide the quality Catholic education you expect and deserve for your children with a shortfall of 100 students. Therefore, it will not be possible for Saint Blaise Regional School to open in September," the note said.

"We understand the pain that this decision brings to all of you who have registered in good faith for Saint Blaise. We had all hoped to work with you to build a strong Catholic school for the children of East Falls and Manayunk."

(UPDATE) Despite the school closure, the daycare at Holy Child will remain open, district spokesperson Kenneth Gavin said Monday.

The that Holy Child Catholic School in Manayunk would merge with St. Bridget's in East Falls at the Manayunk site. St. Bridget's had a 2011-12 enrollment of 198 students, and Holy Child had 213, the archdiocese said. Tuition would increase for some of those enrolled compared to the existing schools, parents reported.

Previously, Manayunk parishes merged its parochial schools at Holy Child. The archdiocese it chose the Manayunk school. However, St. Bridget's this move.

After extending the original registration deadline past March 30, the schools continued to encourage families to enroll. However, as the archdiocese stated in a news release Monday, the schools never earned enough support to pay for education.

"The sponsoring parishes would not have been able to afford teachers' salaries or to administer the school with the programs promised," the archdiocese said.

The June 18 letter noted that families who registered at St. Blaise would receive their money back via mail. The archdiocese provided a list of schools that these families could attend:

• in Andorra
• Our Mother of Consolation in Chestnut Hill
• St. Philip Neri in Lafayette Hill
• St. Genevieve in Flourtown
• St. Margaret in Narberth
• St. Francis Xavier in Philadelphia

Although would-be St. Blaise students will be given first priority at the these schools, the families will still have to re-register.

"We understand that this is a difficult time and we wish it were possible to expedite the registration process for you with one of the alternate schools listed above. Since registration fees vary from school to school, however, it is not possible to do so," the letter said.

Click here to read the full letter.