July 23, 2015

Dear Parents,
As you are aware, work has begun to create the new Pope Francis High School through the merger of Holyoke
Catholic and Cathedral high schools.
Since the beginning of March, teams of individuals including school leadership, faculty, diocesan employees and other
professionals have been hard at work. This summer your faculty and staff have been spending some of their off time
helping to advise Dr. Gagliarducci and the architects on possible designs for our new high school.
Back in the spring, many of you attended one of the informational meetings that Dr. Paul Gagliarducci and I held
about the future of secondary education in our diocese. During those meetings and during others held with our
faculty members, the issue of operating the school at one or two sites came to the forefront.
At that time, Dr. Gagliarducci mentioned that it was our desire not to create too many transitions for our students --especially those who would be members of the classes of 2018, 2019 or 2020. However since that time, weve received
a more accurate appraisal of our enrollment numbers and projections, and feel that the possibility of merging both
facilities into one site with the formal creation of Pope Francis High School in September 2016 may in fact be the best
approach.
One clear advantage would be bringing together both student bodies sooner rather than later, but there is more for
us to consider as well. The smaller enrollment at the Wilbraham site may not present the most effective educational
environment for our students. And although there would be rental savings on the Wilbraham site, we need to be
assured the Chicopee campus will serve as an adequate temporary site for two years.
Therefore, I have asked, Dr. Gagliarducci, the school administrators, our enrollment team and the diocesan financial
office to make a recommendation to me regarding the feasibility of coming together in the Chicopee campus for
September 2016 until the new school is built in 2018.
Although no decisions have been made, I felt that it was important for you be advised of this possibility as soon as
possible. I hope to have this recommendation by the end of September. Prior to that, we will hold parent information
meetings in September to provide you with our progress on the merger and to hear your concerns.
Wishing you a blessed remainder of the summer,
In Christ,

(Most Rev.) Mitchell T. Rozanski

Bishop of Springfield