St. Francis Solanus School remains open, for now

Despite speculation, the St. Francis Solanus Mission Church and School in Reserve says it won’t close. 

But it could be several years away from it. Pastor David Neuschwander says it’s a couple years away from running out of funding under its current model. At the Parish Hall on Tuesday, where other days hosts Bingo, Neuschwander  ran through the school’s budget. The room was filled with around 100 parish members.

“The school is not in debt, there are funds for the school. At the current rate, if we did not change anything of how we did things, in a little bit, over two years or so, those funds would not be here anymore. There wouldn’t be enough funds to run the school,” says Neuschwander.

Neuschwander says that past financial records were unclear, and last year was the first time the parish took a detailed look at the school’s finances.  Now, he’s  hoping to raise awareness. 

St. Francis Solanus School was established 140 years ago, in 1885. It’s a part of the Hayward Cluster of Parishes. On Tuesday, members expressed a desire for clarity on how those funds relate to the wider Hayward Cluster , and requested an audit of the cluster’s Central Office.

Another concern involved two nuns who have served the parish for about 60 years, and whether or not they would stay at St. Francis Solanus.

According to an announcement from The Catholic Diocese of Superior, the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee had considered calling the nuns back to their headquarters. 

Bishop James Powers, Eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Superior announced at the meeting that the Milwaukee order decided they would remain at St. Francis Solanus for now. 

The St. Francis Solanus Mission Church and School say they plan to have more meetings soon, but no dates have been set.