Catholic bishop absent from meeting despite community outreach
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
BORDENTOWN CITY — A community coalition of parents and alumni revealed its financial, leadership and marketing plan to save the historic St. Mary School on Tuesday night.
However, Bishop David O’Connell of the Catholic Diocese of Trenton, which oversees the school and announced its closing earlier this month, missed the meeting.
”I am extremely disappointed with what I heard,” Bordentown City Mayor James Lynch to the Register-News.
”This is indeed a tragedy for the St. Mary’s parish as well as Bordentown City,” Mayor Lynch said. “At the very least, the bishop should have the courtesy to meet with this committee.”
The eight members of the Save St. Mary School Committee, which hosted the Town Hall meeting March 26, are: Bryan Bowers for finance; Mark Laccetti for accounting; Andrew Miles for Catholic mission; Jackie Aladich for fundraising and board liaison; Cathi Schaber, PTA liaison; Randy Carpenter, fundraising; Rose Mary Burden, for education; and David Burden for strategy and marketing.
”The very people that we must appeal for help refuse to hear us,” Mr. Miles said. “Tonight, we are gathered to try and understand the reasons that join this community to support of our plans to move us forward.”
The public meeting took place inside the Carslake Community Center where approximately 150 parents, teachers and alumni gathered to question: “Why is St. Mary School closing?”
St. Mary School was founded in 1888 and has run as a private coeducational Roman Catholic day school in Bordentown City ever since. It serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the school.
”St. Mary School represents (more than) 120 years of teaching and inspiring children in the Catholic tradition,” Mr. Burden said. “At the end of the day, this is what it is all about.”
And according to the committee, on March 8, the Diocese of Trenton suddenly announced St. Mary School would be closing in June due to declining enrollments, despite Bishop O’Connell’s promise no school would be closed this year or at least until completion of a comprehensive Diocese-wide school sustainability study took place in May.
Mr. Burden, of Columbus, said it has been an “incredibly difficult” since the announcement and that Bishop O’Connell has not granted the committee opportunity for dialogue.
Mr. Burden said led the presentation, which he described as “difficult . . . There are some things in here that are quite troubling, quite frankly.”
The committee, composed of volunteers, conducted its own investigation after the announcement that St. Mary School would close. The group has since developed a strategic plan that would return the school to solvency and position it for a sustainable future.
According to Mr. Burden, it is important officials do not put a “Band-Aid” on the financial problem, but position the school for long-term “viability.”
The committee proposed what it called a five-point plan — immediate changes in financial administration and the addition of volunteer leaders for admissions and fundraising; urgent (yet sustainable) cost-cutting and budget reductions; solidification of its base (holding current enrollment); implementation of an aggressive admissions marketing plan; and implementation of an aggressive fundraising plan, including an annual fund and capital campaign.
The committee’s plan includes immediate changes in leadership and administration, replacing them with volunteers starting with a new business manager, new admissions director, new advancement director and new school (advisory) board members. The current academic and spiritual leadership would remain in place.
According to Mr. Burden, it takes $900,000 to operate the school. The committee believes it can reduce that figure by $50,000.
The committee had numerous additional ideas, including trimming staff; recruiting at charter and international schools; utilizing more grants opportunities; engaging alumni who have been “ignored” over the years, creating an alumni association, creating an annual fund and giving alumni a chance to sponsor a student; having a capital campaign for significant infrastructure improvement; and changing academics — with some people noting that had never been done.
Additional ideas included utilizing corporate partners and renting the school’s facilities for income.
Mr. Burden said, “This school can be saved. It can run itself.”
The audience applauded.
A Facebook campaign was started March 9. The Save St. Mary School in Bordentown, New Jersey, page has attracted more than 1,200 followers as of press time.
A fundraising account has been set up with a link letting people know all donations are tax deductible.
”I think we knew there were problems, but I don’t think we were aware they were nearly as significant as they were — as catastrophic as they were — as impending as they were,” Mr. Burden.
He also presented a timeline of events over the past two weeks. Starting March 8 with the postmarked letter from Father Michael Burns announcing the school closure. March 9, a press release was issued by the Diocese of Trenton to local media announcing the closure.
March 11, letters started arriving home. March 12, the Diocesan had a presentation to the school community, according to the timeline. There was also a meeting with the Diocese tentatively scheduled for the week of April 8 and parents were encouraged to register for school for the next year.
March 15, the first written request for a meeting date and venue was denied by the Diocese, according to the Save St. Mary School Committee timeline. March 21, the second written request for a meeting venue is denied by the Diocese.
A letter is sent home by Principal Frank McAneny to families and parents that registrations were no longer being accepted.
A request for comment regarding Tuesday night’s grassroots meeting to Save St. Mary School was not answered by the office of the Diocese of Trenton prior to press time on Wednesday.
”There is a much, much deeper story behind all of this,” Mr. Burden.
According to Mr. Burden, there has been a salary and benefit costs increase of 35 percent from 2004 to 2012 with a 26 percent increase since 2008. Enrollment is decreasing and costs increasing with total operating costs an additional 14 percent.
”At the end of the day, if your school is losing money, you can’t increase salaries,” Mr. Burden said, noting that his wife, his mother and mother-in-law are teachers.
Jen Vare, from Levittown, Pennsylvania, who is a kindergarten teacher at St. Mary, voiced her concerns.
”With all due respect, I appreciate your proposal tonight,” Ms. Vare said. “I also want to stand up for the teachers tonight here that we took a pay freeze for three years so I, please, would ask you to look over those numbers and make sure it’s not looking like we took extra benefits. The benefits were imposed on us, and we did not take a pay raise.”
According to Mr. Burden, St. Mary School tuition is below the “competitive norm.” For one child, the tuition is $4,000; two children, $5,800; three children, $7,300.
For St. Paul in Burlington for one child, the tuition is $3,995; two children $6,395; three children $8,495. For St. Ann in Lawrenceville for one child, the tuition is $4,425; two children, $8,520; three children, $12,280.
There is a $200,000 debt to the Diocese, which represents $50,000 from the annual assessment and $150,000 in insurance premiums and benefits, Mr. Burden stated.
”Considering that there are other parishes in this region that are up to over a million dollars in debt that have operating losses year after year that go up to over $300,000, this is not a big number,” Mr. Burden said. “It’s only a big number if it’s positioned as a big number.”
He added, “I heard multiple times that we never missed a payment to the Diocese until this year. We always made our appeal number so much so that we actually got credits back, usually about $10,000 for over-delivering on the annual appeals. So the first year we can’t make our payments, they shut the doors?”
Mr. Burden questioned why the school wasn’t advised to invest more.
”We expect more from a large office who is supposed to be looking out for us,” Mr. Burden said.
According to Mr. Burden, it was “poor financial leadership” from a business administration that has no financial education or expertise, starting with the parish priest, business manager and bookkeeper.
”We have no vision or long-term strategy,” Mr. Burden said. “We don’t have endowment,” Mr. Burden said. “We don’t have an investment plan.”
”There is an abject fear of debt with Father Mike,” Mr. Burden said. “He doesn’t want debt. He doesn’t believe in debt. I think that is a wonderful philosophy to have, but not when you are running a million dollar enterprise in the year 2013.”
Calling out “negligent financial stewardship,” Mr. Burden said. “We found a complete lack of internal accounting processing and controls at the parish level.
According to Mr. Burden, the parish did not file 1099s for vendors; facility members were charged for benefits that for the past seven years they were not receiving; there was pension fund withholding that was not transferred to trustees; facility members were eligible for but not enrolled in free life insurance; administrators were being overpaid for sick and out-of-office time; there was negligence toward cemetery business affairs; potential misuse of maintenance funds; and potential misuse of appropriation of school collections.
”We have a business manager (Deacon David Harris) who refuses to work on the business affairs,” Mr. Burden said.
The Register-News was unable to reach Mr. Harris as of press time on Wednesday regarding the allegation.
Mr. Burden said an additional business administrator, Larry Denny, was hired to try to handle matters.
”He is a good man, and given the opportunity can make the school work,” Mr. Burden said of Mr. Denny on Wednesday.
”We are a church first, and the church is a family, and you support family,” said Janine Pettit, of Hamilton, at the Town Hall meeting.
She said the Diocese needs to make a “commitment to Catholic education.”
”I’m so disappointed that the bishop doesn’t see the greater picture of the St. Mary’s community,” Ms. Pettit said.
Alumni Hannah Roselli, 16, of Bordentown Township, offered to help.
”There is no other school that would have prepared me better for high school than St. Mary School,” said Hannah, who graduated in 2011.
Asked Cecelia Masella, of Columbus, who is a retired teacher and has grandchildren attending the school, “What can we do to support whatever it is you are doing to do?”
Ms. Masella offered to volunteer her services.
According to Mr. Burden, there are options — legal and nonlegal.
The committee is willing to accept legal advice, but Mr. Burden said no one wants to this to become a legal battle.
”We need to know that we have your support,” Mr. Burden said.
”It seems to me they knew the problems existed and did nothing to correct them,” Mayor Lynch said. “An investigation should seriously be conducted.”
”I have never seen a matter handled so insensitively before in my life especially one that includes a community,” Mr. Burden said.
Anyone who would like to contact the committee can reach them at [email protected].

