BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer Contributor
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has bought McNicholas High School from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille of Roselawn.
Sister Lucy Silvio, Sisters of St. Joseph president, said the sale was completed Tuesday. The purchase price was not announced. "As we looked into our mission, and the fact that a number of sisters were in ministries outside of education, we felt it would be good if the high school is archdiocese-owned," Sister Silvio said Wednesday.
Sister Kathryn Ann Connelly, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, said the two sides have been talking for three or four years.
"I think McNicholas will continue to operate the same way it has been," she said.
The school, at 6536 Beechmont Ave. in Mount Washington, opened in 1915 as the all-girls St. Joseph Academy. It became a coed facility in 1951 and was named after the late Archbishop of Cincinnati John T. McNicholas.
Until now, McNicholas High had been an interparochial school, which meant it followed archdiocesan rules on admissions, curriculum and other matters, but was owned by another organization. It had an enrollment of 856 students in grades nine to 12 for the 1997-98 school year, and has a projected enrollment of 920 in 1998-99.
Two members of the Sisters of St. Joseph remain at McNicholas. Sister Joan Hartlaub will be the development and alumni director, and Sister Janet Roesner will be a member of the school board.
McNicholas becomes the 12th secondary school the archdiocese owns. The other 11 are Elder, Moeller, Purcell Marian, La Salle, Hamilton Badin, Middletown Fenwick, Kettering Alter, Dayton Carroll, Springfield Central Catholic, Sidney Lehman and St. Rita School for the Deaf.
