BERWYN, Ill. (WLS) — Two catholic schools in the Chicago area are closing because of the end of a tax break that funded scholarships, the Chicago Archdiocese said.
The pastors at Saint Frances of Rome School in Cicero and Saint Odilo School in Berwyn announced Thursday both schools will shut down at the end of the school year.
The news took Christine Clark, the mother of a St. Frances of Rome Catholic School student, by surprise late Thursday.
“I read the email at work at 3:30,” Clark said. “I was in tears. My daughter was ballistic. She was crying her heart out.”
Clark said she was the among the parents notified by the Archdiocese of Chicago that the two schools will close in June.
Greg Richmond, the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, issued a statement, saying in part, “We are doing all that we can to keep our schools open, but the loss of the scholarship program will hurt.”
The shuttered “Invest in Kids” scholarship …