Lots of tears as St. Peter Claver school in OTR closes

St. Peter Claver school is closing.

The Latin School for Boys in Over-the-Rhine will transfer its students to St. Joseph School on Ezzard Charles Drive next year. St. Peter's last day was Friday.

"It was economics more than anything," said school president Barry Williams. Consolidating with St. Joseph – St. Peter will still run a Latin-based after school program for boys in grades five through eight – was a middle ground that allows St. Peter to carry on its mission.

During the final assembly Friday, it was a chain reaction of tears, Williams said. One person started, "then a room of 55 people started crying all at one time. ... A lot of them were tears of joy. I don't think I've been hugged so many times in one day in my entire life."

St. Peter Claver was the vision of Rev. Albert Lauer, a Catholic priest who dreamed of helping poor boys in Over-the-Rhine get a better start, according to Enquirer archives. The school motto is "Duc in aultum," or "Put out into the deep," a reference to Luke 5:4, when Jesus tells his disciple, Simon, to re-cast his fishing nets after Simon had been fishing all day to no avail.

The motto is a tribute to perseverance, a reminder that blessings come at unexpected times from unexpected places.

Nationwide, enrollment at Catholic schools is declining. At their peak in the 1960s, Catholic schools boasted more than 5.2 million students across the U.S., according to data from the National Catholic Educational Association.

This year, that number is closer to 1.9 million.

St. Peter Claver opened in 2001 with 30 students. Its final enrollment, grades K-8, was 25. There were six employees total, including Williams and a nearly full-time maintenance man.

About half found other jobs already, Williams said. The rest are searching now.

St. Peter Claver's mission was to serve the poor, and as such, the school relied heavily on philanthropy. Nearly every student was on scholarship, and each year, the school had to raise private donations of more than $300,000 to stay afloat, Williams said.

"We were always skating by," he said.

Now, Williams is still seeking donations, but they'll go toward the after school program, he said. His hope is it will eventually spread to other schools in the inner city.

Williams was with St. Peter Claver from the start, first as a volunteer tutor and board member, lastly as president. It became his family.

"I'm going to miss those kids so bad it's terrible," he said. "... I really do love being with the kids and helping them and teaching them. Helping them form their character."

For the school, though, the road has long been rough. In the first week of the first year, the principal got sick and resigned.

In the first month, 14 students were either expelled or suspended and did not return.

In the second semester, February 2002, Father Lauer was diagnosed with cancer. He died eight months later.

Still, the school carried on.

And even now, it's not the end, Williams said.

"We're closing, but we aren't going away," he said.

To donate to St. Peter Claver's after-school program, send a check to St. Peter Claver Latin School, P.O. Box 14686, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45250.