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Star of the Sea School principal David Gallagher spoke to Catholic San Francisco after school recessed April 4, a day after Star pastor Father Joseph Illo and the archdiocese announced that the K-8 school would suspend operations at the end of the school year to give time to develop a classical education model. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Updated April 5, 2019, 11:17 a.m., with new comment from Father Illo.
April 4, 2019
Christina Gray
Catholic San FranciscoStar of the Sea School parents and staff expressed shock and sadness at news that the more than century-old parochial school in San Francisco’s Richmond District will temporarily close at the end of this school year.
An announcement by the school and the archdiocese late in the day April 3 cited “unforeseen circumstances” stemming from the school’s transition to a classical education model.
“I’m disheartened they made a final decision about this without talking to parents about it first,” Ashwin Bhat told Catholic San Francisco at the start of the school day April 4. “The kids are the losers in this.”
His daughter graduated from the K-8 school and his son is now in the sixth grade.
“I’m Hindu but I send my children here because the community is so strong,” Bhat said.
Two mothers who had just dropped off their children spoke to the paper but declined to give their names.
“We heard this might be coming but we didn’t think it would really happen,” one commented. “Sad for teachers and staff."
“I was surprised it got to this point,” the other parent said.
Monica Hallquist, who was dropping off her third grader at the school door, said she knew nothing about the closing but was circumspect about the news.
“There is a reason for everything,” she said, adding that she homeschooled her daughter after her first school, St. Charles Borromeo School, closed in 2017 because of low enrollment. She decided to send her daughter to Star this year but will be looking for another school for fourth grade in the fall.
Hallquist said she supports the classical academy concept. Common Core has “no business” at a Catholic school, she said, adding that many Catholic moms have chosen to home-school rather than send their kids to school with a Common Core curriculum.
“What God puts into your head in Catholic school, Common Core takes out,” she said. She sees a “right order” to educating students regardless of faith.
Star principal David Gallagher appeared at the door as the paper was speaking with Hallquist. Still surprised by the news, he had just come from a school general assembly and parents and teachers were seen leaving the front door with tears in their eyes.
Gallagher and Hallquist hugged as he explained to her that the parish would do a feasibility study to see if there was a market for a classical education academy in San Francisco. He said financial assistance might be available from the parish for a year if she wants to enroll her daughter in another Catholic school.
“People could see this coming,” Gallagher said. “Students have been trickling out and trickling out. The writing was on the wall.”
He said the archdiocese “made the final call and said this is not going to work right now.”
“Yes, I’m disappointed,” Gallagher said, noting that he will be out of work on July 1 when his contract ends. He said the school's 15 other teachers will be, too.
“We love you and will miss you,” Hallquist said to the principal.
Two preschool parents - a father and a mother, both Catholic - stopped to drop their kids off and agreed to be interviewed without giving their names or being photographed.
“One person is to blame,” shouted the father from the school gate.
The woman said the announcement was “extremely sad” and that her family had been part of the school for seven years. “It is a wonderful community of amazing families and wonderful teachers who are close to one another,” she said. She described a schoolyard “packed with happy parents and happy students" every day. “Then Father Illo came.”
“One person destroyed a community of over 100 years,” she said, referring to Star pastor Father Joseph Illo.
The preschool father said he had no issue with the curriculum change but rejected what he called the authoritarian manner of handling it. “Our position is that it is not a rejection of faith but of the manner it has been forced upon us,” he said.
Both parents said that they would be sending their kids to public schools in the fall.
In response to a request for comment from Catholic San Francisco, Father Illo said, "Much of what has been posted on social media, especially about the March 7 parents' meeting, is inaccurate, out of context, or simply false, and much of it from anonymous sources.
"Many parishioners and other parents eagerly want what the parish has to offer in the way of Catholic education," he added. "They are expressing hurt and frustration over the negativity that has led to the suspension of classes."
Father Illo also said that many parents were excited about a classical curriculum "but what some could simply not accept was reintegrating the school as a ministry of the parish."