1 /5 Cristina Serra: I went to tour this catholic preschool last week, and was so excited to send my 2 year old to their EC2 class in August. I’ve had several NON Catholic friends tell me they have sent all their children here. The tour went well, the administrator, Phyllis Steele, told us there was plenty of availability and that they’d even be considering adding a second 2 year old class. For all intents and purposes, they acted like it would be no problem enrolling us. Other parishioners in the church have told me they have never once heard of anyone being denied admission in all their years at St. Jerome. I was so excited my son would get to go to this wonderful school and beautiful facility.
I applied right away, the Wednesday after our tour. For some background: I am a devout Catholic. My husband and I were married in the Catholic Church almost 6 years ago. I have brought my son to mass on Sundays since he was born, we go every Sunday. I go to daily mass on Mondays and Wednesdays when I can make it. I was baptized, first communion and confirmed in the Catholic Church. I had my son baptized in the same Catholic Church I was baptized in as a baby (St. Catherine Di Siena). It’s been so important to me to raise my son Catholic, and give him a Catholic education. My parents were immigrants but raised us with Catholicism at the center of our lives.
I submitted his shots records, my son is fully vaccinated and up to date on all shots until 2026. I submitted the 1-page application along with birth certificate. Again, Phyllis seemed nice and welcoming during this conversation.
Today I received an email saying he was Denied admission. I called the administrator because I am simply just SHOCKED to my core. Phyllis’ demeanor had changed completely, from warm and welcoming to cold and short: I was treated like a criminal on the phone. I asked her what was the reason, to which she was rude and said she could not disclose. I asked about reapplying, was it the schedule I chose - to which she flat out told me no. That reapplying wouldn’t change their decision. I have zero criminal record or anything by the way, but was treated like a criminal. In short, she basically said “no need to ever reapply again.” You would think there must be some grave or egregious reason as to why they would deny my child a Catholic education? She would not give me a reason.
She confirmed to me over the phone, it was not due to availability. Of course it wasn’t, they had just told me how abundant the availability was with my timing.
What I do think happened is that this was racially motivated by prejudices and/or our political affiliations. It just so happens that within the timeframe where we were seemingly being accepted to then getting denied, I also posted on my socials a pro-Trump post. I am 1000% certain now that this decision was racially motivated against families of immigrants, and because of our political beliefs. Every single person within the church and Diocese I have spoken to has stated that “something is very off here. This is not normal. Everyone gets accepted, even Non-Catholics.”
We haven’t done anything wrong. We are a normal, hard-working family. I have an MBA and as a daughter of immigrants, I have worked very hard and made many sacrifices so that I could give my son the opportunities that my immigrant parents were not able to give me growing up. Parishioners at St. Jerome’s have advised me to demand an answer as to why Phyllis Steele and this school feel that my son does not deserve a chance to to attend their pre-school.
I will continue to fight for my son, who deserves the same opportunities as others and I will not stop fighting until I receive an answer as to why we were denied and told to never re-apply. (We are not criminals, again). We have been faithful Catholics all of our lives and sending our son to a Catholic school was so very important to us.
St. Jerome’s should be utterly ashamed of themselves, and disgusted at their hypocrisy that they are still enrolling non-Catholics, but for some reason have denied a Catholic child.
