ADVERTISEMENT

St Joe's closing at end of school year

USD24

Well-Known Member
Gold Member
May 29, 2001
5,138
4,539
113
54
Joliet
Just heard that St Joe's is closing at the end of the school year. That is too bad. They were never much of a football power, but had some incredible hoops teams over the years.
 
Seems like a yearly thing now with private schools closing, I'm sure there are others that are in tenuous positions right now. The next few years will be interesting.
 
Seems like they have been on life support at best for the last decade or so, but it is still tough to hear any school being closed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gene K.
That is extremely unfortunate. Options for education is always a good thing and the private options, especially grade schools, are dwindiling.
 
That is extremely unfortunate. Options for education is always a good thing and the private options, especially grade schools, are dwindiling.
True, but clearly many families weren't sending their kids to St. Joes any longer.
 
copied from google so I can't vouch for accuracy:

Address: Western Suburbs, 10900 W Cermak Rd, Westchester, IL 60154
Enrollment: 185 (2020-2021)
Tuition: 10,400 USD
The school obviously was a hoops power for a long time,
I remember when Driscoll was a grid power and then it closed and Montini became the grid power.
Is there a nearby Catholic school to st. Joseph that could get their current underclassmen?
 
  • Like
Reactions: crusader_of_90
The school obviously was a hoops power for a long time,
I remember when Driscoll was a grid power and then it closed and Montini became the grid power.
Is there a nearby Catholic school to st. Joseph that could get their current underclassmen?
I'm guessing that St. Mel might benefit from the closing (and they desperately need it).
 
The school obviously was a hoops power for a long time,
I remember when Driscoll was a grid power and then it closed and Montini became the grid power.
Is there a nearby Catholic school to st. Joseph that could get their current underclassmen?
Montini/Fenwick are 7 miles and Naz 3 miles away.
 
Correct about Coach Ping. They survived on the kids he brought in for a couple years after his death but when they stopped going there, there was no way they could survive. I’m guessing Naz will get a good share of the students wishing to remain in Catholic school.
 
Last edited:
Correct about Coach Ping. They survived on the kids he brought in for a couple years but when they stopped going there, their was no way they could survive. I’m guessing Naz will get a good share of the students wishing to remain in Catholic school.
Maybe students yes but I'd imagine most athletes are already somewhere else.
 
Correct about Coach Ping. They survived on the kids he brought in for a couple years but when they stopped going there, their was no way they could survive. I’m guessing Naz will get a good share of the students wishing to remain in Catholic school.
Naz won’t see much influx.
 
So where does this leave the conference? Down to 23 teams right now? Will others drop?
 
If Im the privates in the Metro, I'd jump to the CCL/ESCC group.

CMC revival 2022!
 
That's what I thought you were saying, but it was so surprising to me to read that statement that I thought I must be wrong. I have alot of connections with CCHS and I've never heard that.
I may not have worded it correctly but the few families I know who have kids their have expressed interest in playing CCL teams for some stronger competition. You obviously know more then me on this so I’ll take your word for it.
 
go get IC And Francis

Administration and coaching staffs at both schools too soft for the CCL.

Since St. Joe is a CB of DeLaSalle school, Montini might see a decent influx. This isn't the Driscoll debacle, Joe's was in trouble for years and strong private school enrollment is up with Covid. This was a merciful ending where Driscoll was a bit more like an execution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gene K.
Administration and coaching staffs at both schools too soft for the CCL.

Since St. Joe is a CB of DeLaSalle school, Montini might see a decent influx. This isn't the Driscoll debacle, Joe's was in trouble for years and strong private school enrollment is up with Covid. This was a merciful ending where Driscoll was a bit more like an execution.
Totally agree on Driscoll. That was such a crazy day. Even when they raise the funds, they still would not let them try to stay open. Execution is about the right description.
 
Since St. Joe is a CB of DeLaSalle school, Montini might see a decent influx.
I can see where the two Lasallian schools could cooperate to make it easy for Chargers to become Broncos, and perhaps that will help a few to find their way out to Lombard. However, keep in mind that Joe's is small to begin with, and a healthy percentage of its 185 students will be graduating and not part of the group of Chargers looking for a new high school. Another healthy percentage of current underclassmen and juniors will likely land in public schools. Lastly, I'm guessing that most of Joe's students come from points east and north of the school (not west and closer to Montini), and that most of the remaining Joe's current 9th-11th graders could find closer private schools (Walther, Naz, Trinity, Fenwick, Providence St Mel, Cristo Rey, etc.) to attend than Montini. Heck, IC is a closer western option than Montini for those Chargers living in the Hillside/Bellwood/Maywood area.
 
I can see where the two Lasallian schools could cooperate to make it easy for Chargers to become Broncos, and perhaps that will help a few to find their way out to Lombard. However, keep in mind that Joe's is small to begin with, and a healthy percentage of its 185 students will be graduating and not part of the group of Chargers looking for a new high school. Another healthy percentage of current underclassmen and juniors will likely land in public schools. Lastly, I'm guessing that most of Joe's students come from points east and north of the school (not west and closer to Montini), and that most of the remaining Joe's current 9th-11th graders could find closer private schools (Walther, Naz, Trinity, Fenwick, Providence St Mel, Cristo Rey, etc.) to attend than Montini. Heck, IC is a closer western option than Montini for those Chargers living in the Hillside/Bellwood/Maywood area.
Good in-depth explanation.
 
I can see where the two Lasallian schools could cooperate to make it easy for Chargers to become Broncos, and perhaps that will help a few to find their way out to Lombard. However, keep in mind that Joe's is small to begin with, and a healthy percentage of its 185 students will be graduating and not part of the group of Chargers looking for a new high school. Another healthy percentage of current underclassmen and juniors will likely land in public schools. Lastly, I'm guessing that most of Joe's students come from points east and north of the school (not west and closer to Montini), and that most of the remaining Joe's current 9th-11th graders could find closer private schools (Walther, Naz, Trinity, Fenwick, Providence St Mel, Cristo Rey, etc.) to attend than Montini. Heck, IC is a closer western option than Montini for those Chargers living in the Hillside/Bellwood/Maywood area.
I'm hearing about 30 or so from St. Joe's to Montini.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gene K. and USD24
I'm hearing about 30 or so from St. Joe's to Montini.
I'll take the under.

Given that the closing announcement is barely a week old, I'm surprised that anyone can assign a number to how many former Chargers will be enrolling at Montini. I'm curious about the rationale behind what you are hearing. Were the SJHS 9th-11th graders already surveyed on this and the 30 number is coming from that? Have registrations at Montini for the 2021-22 school year from current SJHS students already been received?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: USD24
I'd like to see this happen at least in football.
I will be curious to see what they do for the coming fall. If they don't go poaching for some new members, then they will be left with 23 schools. Perhaps they make the weakest division a division of 7 and reduce the number of crossovers those schools need. But I am sure they prefer to add 1 school to get to 24 or perhaps even add enough to get to the 28-32 range, but that would likely take a year or two to get that many.
 
This happened so late that teams could take the forfeit next fall and CCL could figure it out for fall 22.
 
There is no forfeit next fall. School does not exist. It’s an open date on schedules.
Also IMO, it is not likely that a 24th team to join the conference will be found for next season. Schedules for the fall are already set and a team screwing it’s conference football opponents while remaining a league member in every other sport seems mean spirited. Problem with combining a 4 team league with a 3 team league is the dreaded total of 7. It means in 7 weeks of the 9 week season some team is gonna have to scramble to find another school needing a non conference game. Obviously it’s doable but remember how many smaller schools in the state are still looking today to fill an open date on their 2021 sked? I do not know but I imagine the list is not long. This is definitely a tough spot for a football only league. Yanking a team with a low enrollment out of another league which already has a 2021 schedule and doing it for football only seems to be a very tough order.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gene K.
My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but wasn't part of the stated rationale for the ESCC to pull out of the old football only Catholic Metro Conference because of Weber closing and the difficulties that caused for scheduling? Like Joe's, Weber also announced they were closing rather late in the school year.

The problem lies in the fact that many private schools have registration deadlines for returning students in March for the following school year. I don't hold it against schools like Joe's and Weber for holding off on making such a difficult decision, but doing so does create a ripple effect outside of their immediate school community -- with interscholastic sports being one of those ripples.
 
Last edited:
My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but wasn't part of the stated rationale for the ESCC to pull out of the old football only Catholic Metro Conference because of Weber closing and the difficulties that caused for scheduling? Like Joe's, Weber also announced they were closing rather late in the school year.

The problem lies in the fact that many private schools have registration deadlines for returning students in March for the following school year. I don't hold it against schools like Joe's and Weber for holding off on making such a difficult decision, but doing so does create a ripple effect outside of their immediate school community -- with interscholastic sports being one of those ripples.
ESCC teams will pull back out within 3 years. Not sure why they got into that headache to begin with.
 
ESCC teams will pull back out within 3 years. Not sure why they got into that headache to begin with.
If the CCL/ESCC adjusts in the Fall as expected, the long awaited Naz/Montini matchup will occur. That would not have happened without the merger. Personally, I really like the CCL/ESCC combination. I'm hoping your prediction does not come true.
 
ESCC teams will pull back out within 3 years. Not sure why they got into that headache to begin with.
If they do and if MCC pulls out as predicted elsewhere on this board in a recent thread, then that would leave 9 football playing schools in the ESCC. With eight conference games (why else pull out if you don't want the ease of scheduling?) I wish good luck to schools like Marian Catholic, Pat's, Carmel, Viator, etc. for ever having 5 or 6 win regular seasons going up against the likes of JCA, Marist, Naz, Benet, Notre Dame year in and year out.

Unless they can successfully recruit some of the Catholic schools in the Metro Suburban, 9 schools isn't enough to divide into divisions with champs being automatic playoff qualifiers.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT