MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — Parents say they were blindsided after being told their Brevard-based Catholic school was closing it's doors.

What You Need To Know

  •  Divine Mercy Catholic Academy announced it was closing on March 26

  •  Parents say it was the first they had heard a closure was even a possibility

  • Students will be dispersed to three other area Catholic schools after the school year finishes

"We were extremely upset that we were blindsided by this, nobody communicated with us," said Divine Mercy Catholic Academy parent Will Stone.

Stone has three children who attend the Merritt Island academy.

He too went to school there, and is a current board member.

Last Friday he and fellow parents received an email the school was closing.

"Typically when large scale decisions are made in any organization, there's work groups put together, the stakeholders are involved in the decision, and none of that happened," Stone said.

The decision to close will disperse the 140 enrolled students to three other area Catholic schools run by the Orlando Diocese.

More than 20 staff members at Divine Mercy will also be out of jobs when their contract runs out July 31.

"There's been a lack of ethics," Stone said.

Henry Fortier, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, Orlando Diocese, explaind that Divine Mercy's enrollment has been declining for more than a decade, mainly due to job losses in the space program.

In 2010, the year before the space shuttle program retired, they held regional planning meetings and decided one of the schools needed to merge with the others.

But they worked to keep all the schools up and running, until now.​

"And as the enrollment has continued to decline, that has put a greater financial demand on the parish," Fortier said in a phone interview.

He adds the tuition parents are paying right now only covers 66% of the cost per child, with the parish covering the other 34%.

"That gap gets bigger every year, as the numbers decrease," he said.

Fortier also said the pandemic played a role, as church attendance dropped along with monetary collections to help fund the school.

For parents like Stone, he just wants an open line of communication.

"Come meet with us, come face us, talk to us," he said. "Let's work together and let's keep four schools open. We don't want any of them to close."

Right now the students will be told which of the other schools they will attend after finishing out the school year.

Diocese officials said they have teaching openings at the other schools and are working to fill those spots with Divine Mercy teachers.