By Rob Spahr, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
MIDDLETOWN – On Tuesday morning, Maria Carrillo thought that she would be graduating from Mater Dei Prep with the rest of her friends next year.
After school she even boasted to someone at Dunkin’ Donuts about how much she loved her school and that he should “definitely send his children there.”
When Carrillo arrived home in Keansburg, she found out that not only was it unlikely that the man’s children would graduate from Mater Dei, but also that she, too, would likely have to find somewhere else to graduate from.
Father Jeff Kegley – the pastor of St. Mary Parish – announced in a letter to parents on Tuesday that due to a severe, multi-year financial deficit the coed Catholic high school would close in June at the end of its current school year.
“Over the many years, Mater Dei Prep has been running large financial deficits and enrollment numbers have not stabilized to the point of sufficiently supporting the school’s viability,” Kegley wrote. “It had been the hope of the Parish Finance Council and myself that these trends could be reversed. However, the 2014-2015 projected loss is close to one million dollars.”
The news came as a shock to the Mater Dei community, especially its students.
“We were very blindsided to be honest with you,” Carrillo said. “When I got home and saw on Twitter that the school would be closing, I thought it was just a rumor. But when the post went up on our website, it was devastating.”
Mater Dei Prep, which currently has an enrollment of 340 students and a staff of 48 faculty and other employees, is scheduled to celebrate its 50th anniversary the last weekend in May, just days before the graduation of what could be the school’s final graduating class.
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