CV NEWS FEED // The building of a new $30 million Catholic academy is currently underway in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where it will be the first entirely new urban Catholic school to be built in the Archdiocese of Boston in over 50 years.
Boston 25 News reported that the new school will provide more space for Lawrence Catholic Academy (LCA), a pre-kindergarten through 8th grade school which currently operates out of three buildings that were constructed in the early 1900s.
Almost 500 children now attend LCA, but with the increased space, the school will be able to expand its enrollment to 590 students.
“The educational needs in Lawrence are profound,” Rosemary Jeans, chairperson of Lawrence Catholic Academy’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement to Boston 25 News. “LCA has experienced increased enrollment every year for several years, and our graduates are moving on to excellent high school educations.”
“The big problem we have at LCA is that our aging facilities are woefully inadequate to provide the superb education our children deserve in 2024 and moving forward,” she continued.
Fr. Paul O’Brien, LCA’s president, told Boston 25 News that “A new LCA will give us dramatic new resources for continuing to close the academic achievement gap for children in Lawrence.”
“At a time of positive awakening to issues of equity in American society, the leaders of LCA believe its students deserve to be offered excellent, up-to-date educational facilities so that residents of Lawrence can see their children grow and thrive,” he added.
Though construction will cost an estimated $30 million, Lawrence’s trustees told Boston 25 News that they have already raised $28 million despite the school’s location “in one of the economically poorest communities in New England.”
The trustees also credited O’Brien with securing several donations with his “entrepreneurial philanthropic work.”
The existing buildings will remain in operation until the new school is ready, at which point they will be demolished and replaced with a new recreational center for the school.
The school celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony on March 4, and construction is scheduled to begin later this month.