Saint Joseph of the Palisades High School

Saint Joseph of the Palisades High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in West New York, in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 291 students and 19.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.0. On February 27, 2009, it was announced the school would close at the end of the 2008-09 school year due to dwindling enrollment. History St. Joseph of the Palisades was established in 1931. The school had been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools since 1961. This high school was also a member of the National Honor Society and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Prior to 1972, the school was divided by gender with a girls' teaching department and a boys' teaching department. Under the guidance of Father Gerald Walsh, the two departments merged to become the co-ed school located at 5400 Broadway Avenue, West New York, New Jersey. By 2009, the student body numbered 222. The school's budget shortfall was $400,000, and the parish was in debt for $1.5 million, incurred as a result of supporting the school. Because the school required at least 275 students to remain financially solvent, final permission to close the school was granted in a February 12 letter from Archbishop of Newark John J. Myers to the Rev. Monsignor Gregory K. Studerus, pastor of St. Joseph of the Palisades Church, who informed the school's advisory board February 25. At the time, it was the latest of many Catholic schools in the county to fall on such hard times. Students and former students expressed opposition to the closure, and a protest was held to express this.