Lackawanna, NY (WBEN) Two Catholic elementary schools become one as the school year starts this week. Catholic Academy is consolidating with OLV Elementary.
Principal Mary Szlosek says the merger came about back in February. “Father David LiPuma and I received a phone call from people at the diocese looking for a partnership because Catholic Academy School building needed significant repair and they were not going to be able to fix it and be ready to open in September and so they asked if we would form this partnership. We gladly did that and went right to work with that. It really is an alignment with the mission and vision that Father Baker set forth for us. So it was a natural fit,” says Szlosek.
She says the consolidation has been challenging, fun, exciting, and exhausting-all at the same time. “Back in March, we did some shadow days so that the students got to know one another. All of the Catholic Academy students came and spent a day with their classmates or the same grade-level students here at OLV, and the faculty members came along. And right from the start, the kids connected, and they would see one another on the athletic fields,” says Szlosek. She adds they shared school events and went to a Bisons game together. “We really started building friendships and relationships as soon as we knew that this was happening. So that piece has fallen into a wonderful way. Last night we celebrated our traditional backpack blessing with all of the students here and their parents, and the energy was just extremely positive.”…