St. Thomas school cuts grades

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Declining enrollment has prompted St. Thomas Christian Academy to eliminate its firstthrough eighth-grade classes, school officials said Monday.

However, the Salmon Street school will continue to operate its preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as a kindergarten program.

"We don't have a deficit now, but if we continue to operate beyond this year, we would put ourselves in one next year," said Academy Executive Director Robert Sanger. "We didn't want to do that."

Sanger said that the school's board of trustees decided to discontinue its program because the school's projected enrollment was 44 students for the 2008-09 school year.

The enrollment goal for the 2007-08 school year was 110 students, with a 10 percent increase each year, until the school achieved financial stability, according to the school's strategic plan on its Web site.

Sanger said the school has 93 students currently enrolled, with one class per grade level.

He added that he didn't know why the school's enrollment for the upcoming school year was so low.

The closings will affect 55 students. Fifteen teachers and staff members will lose their jobs, he said.

Sanger, who came to the school in August, said that he is hopeful that the school can reopen in the future.

He said St. Thomas might restart its first-grade curriculum in a year or two, and then build from there, gradually opening up grades year by year.

"This is a time for regrouping, restructuring, and rebuilding," Sanger said.

Established in 1972, St. Thomas Christian Academy is a mission of St. Thomas Lutheran Church, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.