MILLTOWN — The dismissal bell at Our Lady of Lourdes School (OLOL) rang for the last time on June 14.
The 11 a.m. sounding was met with hugs and tears, as many shared lasting memories of their time at the Catholic school on Cleveland Avenue. The Diocese of Metuchen announced recently that the school would close for good in June.
“There is always hope. Everything happens for a reason,” said Sister Elizabeth Halaj, who was in her second year as principal at OLOL. “We touched [our students’] lives. … Their time was not wasted here, and whatever they learned here, it will follow them to where they will go in their successes. Everything will be OK.”
Sister Elizabeth, who taught at the school from 1999-2006, sat in her office an hour after dismissal on June 14, speaking to teachers as they streamed in and out.
Earlier that day, a traditional 9 a.m. Mass signaled the last day of school for the 163 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade.
“The children sang a little louder and with more enthusiasm this year,” Sister Elizabeth said with a smile. “We also held a special ceremony for the seventhgraders, since they wouldn’t have a chance to step up to the eighth grade next year at the school.”
The community learned in May that the school would be closing for financial reasons associated with declining enrollment.
“Seven years ago, we saw the same issues,” parent Tammy Sullivan recalled. “We rallied and worked together, and the diocese kept the doors open. However, we had 163 students this year, but we were seeing an enrollment of 112 students for this September. That is when Father [Edward A. Czarcinski] met with the diocese.”
Sullivan said three generations of her family attended OLOL.
“My mom and I attended the school, and four of my children attended the school from pre-K to seventh grade. … My two youngest didn’t get a chance to attend the school that their siblings attended,” she said. “I think it is worse for the seventhgraders, because they now have to split up.”
Her daughter Emily, 13, who just graduated from seventh grade, said the whole ordeal is “sad.” She and another classmate will attend Milltown’s Joyce Kilmer School next year.
“I’ve attended [OLOL] since I was 3 years old, and now we are going to be apart,” she said. “The school is like a family, and it’s like our family is breaking up. We are all real close.”
Since finding out the school would be closing, Emily’s class of 12 students became closer, engaging in activities at Crabiel Park or making T-shirts that read “Class of 2014.”
Other classes held pajama days and barbecues.
“Each individual class did something on their own,” Tammy Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s mom Ann Marie Simons remembers when the school was housed in a little red farmhouse on the same property. The oldest of five siblings and several cousins who went to the school, Simons attended from 1950-59.
“It faced Willow Street and it was a two-story house with red shingles,” she said. “The classes at the time were doubled; first- and second-grade [classes] met together and so on.”
The school operated in a farmhouse from 1942-57, when the current school building was dedicated.
“We were always a family,” Simons said. “We would walk home for a one-hour lunch and walk back to school. There were only nuns who taught at the school until the new building came in September 1957. That is when they acquired layteachers for each class.”
Simons recalled her father, uncles and others at the parish organizing fundraisers for the new school building in the 1950s. The pastor at the time promised the eighthgraders they would graduate in the new building. And although the auditorium was concrete with no stage, the pastor kept his promise.
“My cousin was in that class, and the pictures in the background are brick mortar,” Simons said with a laugh.
In September 1957, school officials dedicated the building. That year, 29 students graduated.
“Soon after, it became a much larger school, and twice as many people attended in the 1960s,” she said.
Simons felt badly for the school’s current employees and children.
“Like anything, we will deal with it and we will move forward stronger,” she said.
Tom Olson of Milltown said his five children went through OLOL.
“My last child graduated in 2010, so we have been in the school for a long time,” he said, adding that he remains an active volunteer with the parish.
Olson and his wife enrolled their children at OLOL because they wanted their children to learn in a small setting with a good reputation.
“It was a place where everybody knew each other, they made good friends and knew the teachers very well,” he said.
Though he understands why the school had to close, he said many are saddened to see it go.
“The same issue happened in 2006, but we pooled together to keep the school going. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough to keep it going,” Olson said.
He said his grown children often came back to participate in holiday fundraisers. One of his daughters got married at the parish a few weeks ago, and another is getting married there in September.
“We’ll survive. The parish is still there, and the focus will now be on the parish, to keep it a vibrant place as we move forward,” he said.
Contact Kathy Chang at kchang@gmnews.com.