The Cambridge Matignon School, a Catholic high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that's been part of the community for decades, is set to close at the end of the school year.
In a letter sent to families, Cambridge Matignon Board of Trustees President Marc-Anthony Hourihan cited financial limitations and changing student demographics as the reason for the closure.
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"While all members of our school leadership group have exhausted all options to continue forward, we have not been able to secure the funds necessary to support the long-term sustainability of the school," Hourihan wrote.
The school is a 75-year-old independent college preparatory school, according to its website, and caters to local as well as international students. As of the end of the 2022 school year it served around 350 students, according to enrollment data reported to the state Department of Education.
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"We didn't have the confidence that we could finish next year," Hourihan told NBC10 Boston. "Unfortunately, we were faced with the choice of, 'Do you close at the end of this year in an orderly fashion, or do you go into next year knowing you could run out of money in the middle of the year?'"
The archdiocese said a school closing announcement is "always difficult" and praised the work done at the school.
"...the team at Matignon has done a fine job focused on working to insure a smooth and seamless transition for students, families, faculty, and staff. This includes honoring the substantial history that is Matignon and its decades of excellence," a spokesperson said.
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Student's in Theano Joseph's senior class will be the last to graduate from the school.
"We got a new headmaster, renovations, all these new things coming, so we didn't think it was going to happen this year," Joseph said.
He expressed sympathy for his friends who are underclassmen.
"They don't have a school to go to," he said. "It's tough, because I brought some people to the school, and some of them are freshman, and they have to go three years to another high school. They done have a stable high school they can stay for four years."
This marks the third Catholic school in the area that has announced it will close at the end of the year. Mount Alvernia High School in Newton previously announced that it will be merging with Fontbonne Academy in Milton, while Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River is closing for good.
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