Melinda Mader, principal of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School, stands in the hallway of the school in Albuquerque on Wednesday. The Catholic school has been educating for 74 years, and will be closing its doors in May.
Students work in the classroom at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School last month. The Nob Hill school for kindergartners through eighth grade will close in May after nearly 75 years of serving students. School leaders say the closure is due to declining enrollment. School supporters say parochial schools better educate students, at less than half the costs of public schools.
Melinda Mader, principal of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School, steps outside of the school on Wednesday. The decision to close the school, she said, was “probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my career.”
Students work in a classroom at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School on Wednesday. Just 54 students attend the Nob Hill parochial school, which is the primary reason for its leaders’ decision to shutter the school’s doors.
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School has been educating for 74 years, and will be closing its doors in May 2024.
