St. Rita School Garners Another Anonymous Donation – This Time for $250K

In less than two months, the very bleak situation facing St. Rita Catholic School in Fairfax has morphed into something completely different.

Slated-for-closure in late February by the Archdiocese of San Francisco because of a dire financial situation that only looked to get worse, the school has been overwhelmed with private donations, particularly a pair of anonymous donations, one for $200,000 that helped spur a matching campaign, and a new one – for $250,000 – from an anonymous donor this week.

St. Rita School Principal Carol Arritola said school officials received word from Fiduciary Trust Bank in San Mateo that one of its customers asked them to send a $250,000 check to the Save St. Rita School fundraising campaign. 

“We were just blown for sure,” Arritola said. “It’s just amazing how far we’ve come.”

Arritola said school officials have used the previous $200,000 donation, along with $65,000 in private donations raised over the past two months, along with $70,000 from the school's endowment fund, to pay off the $330,000 deficit they'd projected for the 2012-2013 school year. 

The additional $250,000 will be out into a reserve account to be drawn for the 2013-2014 year, but only if the school falls short of its enrollment goals. The school dwindling enrollment, coupled with the large percentage of students who relied on financial aid and therefore didn't pay the school’s full $7,615 tuition.

School officials hope to have 120 students enrolled next year, and 88 current students have re-registered for next year with a handful of new students enrolling over the past two weeks.

The latest big donation check arrives at the tail end of an emotional rollercoaster for the parents, students and teachers of the school. In late February, Rev. Ken Weare, the church's pastor, informed them that the church’s 56-year-old K-8 Catholic school would close at the end of the current school year because of financial trouble.

The shutdown would have sent its 25 teachers and staff looking for new jobs and its 133 students – minus the 23 graduating 8th graders – looking for new schools.

Parents quickly rallied, hosting a series of meetings to put together a strategy to both raise money and find a way to make their case to Monsignor James Tarantino, the archdiocese’s vicar for administration, and Maureen Huntington, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, to give the school a chance to stave off closure.

Jack Grehan, a St. Rita's parent and a member of the school's advisory board, recounted the day’s events for the nearly 200 people gathered in the church.

“It was truly an incredible experience,” he said. 

The 411: Donations to the campaign for St. Rita School may be made by mailing a check to St. Rita School, 102 Marinda Drive, Fairfax 94930.

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