A Catholic elementary school in South Buffalo that was shuttered in 2013 will re-open next year because of growing enrollment at another elementary school nearby, parish officials said Tuesday.
The former St. Ambrose school, closed in 2013 as part of a series of mergers, will re-open for the 2018-19 school year, Fr. Bryan Zielenieski, canonical administrator, announced in a letter to parents obtained by 7 Eyewitness News.
St. Ambrose on Ridgewood Road will house grades five through eight and Notre Dame Academy on Abbott Road will house prekindergarten to fourth grade.
Notre Dame currently houses prekindergarten through eighth grade but parish officials cited "overcrowding" in a recent meeting with parents where they floated a plan to close Notre Dame and move the school to a larger building -- the former South Buffalo Charter School -- on South Park Avenue.
But the school board voted down that plan for "numerous reasons," Zielenieski said in the letter. Instead, the diocese will put together a long-range plan for making repairs at Notre Dame while re-opening St. Ambrose.
During Catholic Schools week (Jan. 29 - Feb. 2), open houses will be held at both campuses, the letter said.
