Studio City Catholic School to Close : Declining Enrollment Blamed for Fiscal Difficulties at Our Lady of Corvallis High

Our Lady of Corvallis, the San Fernando Valley’s first Roman Catholic high school, will close its doors next June because of decreasing enrollment and changing demographics, school officials said Wednesday.

Administrators of the 45-year-old Studio City campus said it is not feasible to continue operating the four-year girls’ school in the face of increasing financial difficulty, even though they had contracted to lease the school property until 1992 from the owner, the Sacred Heart of Mary religious order.

Shortage of Nuns for Staff

The order severed its ties to the school in 1981 because not enough nuns were available to staff it, said Sister Kathleen Keleman, a spokeswoman for the order. When a group of parents and lay persons took over operation of the school, the order stipulated in the lease that the board of directors find another campus site. But administrators said they were unable to find another location.

“This was an extremely hard and painful decision we had to make,” said John D. Wiley, president of the school’s board of directors. “We’re still hoping for a miracle. But, unless an angel, or angels, come forward, we’ll have to close.”

Wiley said the operating costs for the school this year will erode its reserve fund, which contains $75,000 to $85,000. “We’ll have nothing left to fall back on,” he said. “That’s why we have to close it now.”

Wiley said relocating the school would cost $3 million to $5 million.

“We went back to have discussions with the sisters, and asked them if they could change their minds and give us a long-term lease with an option to buy,” Wiley said. “But they adamantly said no. They said they had other plans with the land at the end of the lease. We also went to the Archdiocese to see if we could get some support, but we were refused.”

Officials of the Sacred Hart of Mary were unavailable for comment. Keleman would only say that discussions were under way to determine the fate of the property.

The enrollment of the school had decreased from 425 students, which is capacity, to 250 students this school year.

Shutdown Rumored for Years

Mary Scott, an administrative assistant at the school, said the prospect of closure has hovered over the school like a cloud for several years. “The incessant rumors that the school was going to close didn’t help our enrollment at all,” she said.

Another blow to the school came when Notre Dame High School, a former boy’s school, switched to a coeducational program about four years ago. “They took a large portion of our population,” Scott said. “That type of school seems to be more popular.”

“This is not something we want to do, but we don’t have any other option,” Scott said.

Principal Christine Thranow said the demographics of the East Valley have changed in recent years and that there are not enough Catholic teen-agers to fill Catholic high schools in the Valley.