Middletown's Mater Dei Prep to close doors after 50 years

MIDDLETOWN (WABC) -- Mater Dei Prep, a Middletown fixture for 50 years, will close its doors in June soon after celebrating its golden anniversary.

The Catholic high school has 340 students and employs 48 faculty members.

Father Jeff Kegley, pastor of Saint Mary Parish, wrote a letter to parents and students on the school's website, explaining that Mater Dei has been running "large financial deficits" while enrollment numbers have not stabilized to support the school's viability.

"It is with great sadness that I inform you that Mater Dei Prep will close at the end of this school year," Fr. Kegley wrote. "It had been the hope of the Parish Finance Council and myself that these trends could be reversed. However, the 2014-2015 projected loss is close to $1 million."

Kegley says classes and activities will continue as planned until the end of June.

There is talk among parents and alumni of raising money in an effort to keep the school, which was founded in 1946, open.

Fr. Kegley emphasizes that the closing of the high school will not impact the parish's elementary school, Saint Mary School, which has enrollment of 680 students.