Back in 1968, a few people discouraged me from going to Schlarman High School. They were sure it would close before I could graduate. The nuns were leaving, they said, and Schlarman couldn’t afford to pay “regular” teachers.

That was 41 years ago (ouch!) but Schlarman is still on the hilltop, quietly giving its students the spiritual and academic riches they need to find their place in the world. My classmates and I not only studied, played and laughed together; we shared our Catholic faith, and sipped from the same chalice.

My four years at Schlarman opened all sorts of doors for me.

Last week’s announcement from the Diocese of Peoria will change Vermilion County Catholic education in a profound way. After two years of study, it has been decided that in the fall of 2011, the “Schlarman Academy,” on the Schlarman High School campus at Vermilion Street and Winter Avenue, will offer grades pre-K to 12.

St. Paul’s Grade School, Holy Family Grade School and St. Mary’s Grade School in Westville will close.

Like many Schlarman alumni, I was sort of shocked, but I shouldn’t have been. The local population is declining, and so is the number of Catholics. Clearly, this isn’t Danville, circa 1960, or Schlarman, circa 1965. The same story can be told in many blue-collar communities, all over the country.

Granted, it was wonderful when St. Mary’s, St. Pat’s (now Holy Family), St. Paul’s and old St. Joe’s schools were bursting at the seams. The local economy was vibrant, union jobs were plentiful, the Baby Boom was booming, and lots of Catholic families had five, six and seven kids. Catholic school tuition was insignificant, largely because most classes were taught by religious sisters. The nuns devoted their lives to the children, observed perpetual vows of poverty and lived in convents.

In 1968, approximately 15 nuns and priests remained on the staff at Schlarman, ranging from Father Kenneth Marchelones, the principal, to Sister Bernadetta, the librarian. Our tuition was $225 per year. We had no swimming pool, soccer team or computer lab, but we studied Dickens, Latin, chemistry and the New Testament, played whiffleball on the parking lot and screamed ourselves silly at football and basketball games.

Clearly, times have changed and something has to give. Schlarman’s enrollment is 183 students (it was 350-400 when I was there) and its feeder schools are hurting. St. Mary’s, which sent dozens of kids to Schlarman each morning in its own bus, has 69 kids this year in grades K-8 at St. Mary’s School. Holy Family School and St. Paul’s School, combined, last year had 392 students in grades K-8; the two buildings operated at 62 percent capacity.

Even more sobering: the average total eighth-grade Catholic school enrollment is projected to be only 45 students between now and 2014. That isn’t good, especially since some Catholic school families have always sent their kids to Westville High and Danville High instead of to Schlarman.

Cost efficiencies are a growing concern. The diocesan study showed that Vermilion County’s five Catholic parishes spent nearly 75 percent of their collections on Catholic schools in 2006-07 — totaling nearly $5 million. That can’t be sustained, long-term. The buildings housing Schlarman, Holy Family School and St. Paul’s School will need $1.2 million in repairs in the next decade. St. Mary’s School needs more than $200,000 of work within the next five years.

At first glance, the proposed Schlarman Academy makes a lot of sense to me. Schlarman has a historic campus in a high-profile, 15-acre, north-end location. New construction would be needed to accommodate younger kids, but I suppose that would be much cheaper than running small classes in three half-empty grade schools.

Lots of study, prayer and questions remain, but these thoughts and questions come to mind:

--- Could the present Schlarman become a combined junior-high/senior high? Some repairs and a second gym might be needed, but that wouldn’t cost all that much.

--- Could all the younger kids be consolidated at St. Paul’s School? It has 20 classrooms, so it’s probably big enough. The building isn’t terribly old, and it’s within walking distance of Schlarman.

--- What are District 118’s plans for Edison School? It’s across Vermilion Street from Schlarman, and big enough for a Catholic grade school.

--- The diocesan plan wisely calls for a greater focus on Hispanic Catholics. Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. Catholic population. Immigrant families were essential in building St. Patrick’s School (Irish); St. Mary’s School (eastern and southern Europeans); and old St. Joseph’s School (Germans).

--- Do everything possible to promote the Schlarman Academy as a Catholic school. In fact, maybe it should be named Schlarman Catholic Academy or Bishop Schlarman Academy. Stress to Catholic parents that they have a responsibility to send their children to Catholic schools. Remind them that an hour a week of “religious ed” isn’t the same.

--- Tuition will be too high for some families. Encourage childless couples to “adopt” a student.

I hope and pray that Catholic education in Vermilion County thrives under the new plan. Based on my own experience, I think it will. The naysayers have been wrong for 41 years that I know of.

Danville native Kevin Cullen is a former Commercial-News reporter. Reach him at irishhiker@aol.com.