Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Queens to close after decades of serving Haitian and immigrant families

NEW YORK— After decades of serving families in Cambria Heights, Sacred Heart Catholic Academy will close at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, marking the end of a long-term establishment that educated generations of students in the southeast Queens neighborhood. 

For many families, Sacred Heart was more than a school. It was a place where faith, education, and community life flourished. Over the years, the academy became especially important to immigrant families in southeast Queens, including Haitian families who were part of the school community. 

Cambria Heights has long been home to immigrant communities, including a significant Haitian population. The school itself is closely tied to Sacred Heart Parish and the broader Catholic community within the neighborhood.

The Diocese of Brooklyn announced earlier this year that Sacred Heart Catholic Academy would close, along with six other Catholic schools across Brooklyn and Queens, citing declining enrollment and financial challenges as contributing issues.

The closure has sparked concern among families and parishioners who took to social media to honor the school’s legacy. For parents and alumni, the school represents years of shared memories, from classroom lessons to parish celebrations that brought families together.

The Diocese says families affected by the closure will be supported in transitioning to other nearby Catholic schools. Sacred Heart will remain open through the end of the academic year before officially closing its doors.

Some alumni and parents have also begun publicly organizing in response to the closure, including sharing fundraising efforts online in an attempt to keep the school open.

Alumna Leandrina Michel described the school’s impact as deeply personal. 

“Sacred Heart Catholic Academy was never just the school I attended from nursery through eighth grade; it was a second home, a place that helped shape the very core of who I am,” she said. 

“Growing up in a Haitian household, those years were some of the most formative of my life, and what made them so meaningful was the harmony between the values my parents taught me at home and those that were nurtured within the classroom. That consistency gave me a sense of security, purpose, and identity that has stayed with me ever since.”

Michel said the school shaped her not only academically but also personally, teaching her values such as kindness, respect, discipline and faith. She said she was supported by a close-knit community where teachers recognized her potential and where she built friendships that have lasted more than 30 years. Those experiences, she said, remain central to who she is today.

Michel said the news of the closure has been difficult to process, especially as she reflects on what the school meant for future generations.

“It’s heartbreaking to know that future generations won’t have the opportunity to walk those same halls, to experience that same sense of belonging,” she said. “Sacred Heart was a community, a foundation, and a legacy.”

As she prepares for her son to begin his own education, Michel said she hopes to find a school that offers him the same sense of belonging, guidance and strong values that defined her experience at Sacred Heart.

Another alumna, Mary Russel-Staco, said the closure reflects broader financial challenges facing Catholic schools. 

“As an alumna of Sacred Heart, it’s very disheartening to see the school I grew up in closing,” she said. “It’s not about the students’ performance, it’s about finances. Catholic schools don’t receive government funding the way charter schools do, and that makes it difficult to keep them open.”

She added that the closure is unfair to the students, families, and staff who have long supported the school

“It’s not fair to the students, parents, teachers and staff who work very hard,” she said.

For many in Cambria Heights, Sacred Heart Catholic Academy will remain a lasting contributor to the neighborhood’s history and identity.

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