Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, thanked Russell L. Carson and the Board of Trustees of the Partnership for Inner-City Education (Partnership Schools) for the decade of outstanding service they provided to seven Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York. With the expiration of the 10-year operating agreement between the Archdiocese of New York and Partnership Schools, the schools will once again fall under the operational control of the local Catholic school region in which the school resides.

“We have a debt that we can never repay to Russ Carson and the Partnership Schools, as well as their loyal benefactors, for guiding these schools during the past ten years, enabling thousands of students to receive a first-class, faith based, excellent education,” said Cardinal Dolan. “The Archdiocese of New York is proud of what they have accomplished, and now stands ready to carry on that work. We’ve learned much from the 10-year Partnership experiment.”

The seven schools in question – Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart, and Saint Athanasius in the Bronx, and Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary, Our Lady Queen of Angels, Saint Charles Borromeo, and Saint Mark the Evangelist in Manhattan – will now return to regional schools within the archdiocese effective July 1, 2024. The schools will re-open on schedule in September.

Including the former Partnership Schools, the archdiocese oversees 55 regional elementary schools, plus 25 parish-based schools, educating a total of 29,582 elementary students throughout the three boroughs and seven northern counties that comprise the archdiocese. Each of these schools provides outstanding academic and spiritual formation for its students.

Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York, praised the Partnership Schools and promised the archdiocese was prepared to once again oversee the work of education at these seven schools. “Our focus must always be on the boys and girls entrusted by their parents to our care. Together with our amazing teachers, principals, and administrators, we are ready to incorporate the Partnership Schools back into our system and carry on the sacred task of ensuring that our schools are both academically excellent with sound teachers of the faith. Thanks to our loyal parents, benefactors, alumni, and priests. We need you more than ever!”