The 101-year-old St. Athanasius Catholic School in West View will close in June because declining enrollment has made tuition too expensive for most families.

The schools office of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Bishop David Zubik's decision Monday, but said it was based on the recommendation of the pastor and parish lay leaders after years of efforts to raise enrollment had failed. There are at least three other Catholic grade schools close enough to take West View students, said the Rev. Kris Stubna, diocesan secretary for Catholic education.

"It's always the case that a closure brings sadness," he said. "But with the declining numbers of kids in West View, the tuition increases have been significant, and the burden to the parents is substantial. So I think they truly understand."

The students will have more programs, especially extracurricular activities, at the larger schools, he said.

In August, St. Athanasius had 79 students, down from 150 in 2003-04. For 2010-11 that would have brought the cost per student to $7,600 per year and left the parish with school-related deficit of $125,000.

The school and parents had hoped that keeping the school open through last year's 100th anniversary would raise its profile and its enrollment. But the number of families with school-age children has declined in West View, Father Stubna said.

Hannah Crnkovic, a seventh grader, is in the third generation of her family to attend St. Athanasius, but will transfer to St. Teresa of Avila in the Perrysville area of Ross for her last year. There were just six students in seventh grade at St. Athanasius, said her father, James Crnkovic.

"If anybody should be upset, it should be us. But we're not. We realize exactly what the situation is," he said. "St. Athanasius has done nothing wrong. Our pastor has done more than any other to keep the school open. It's simply that our numbers are too small to support the school. It's better to close now than to go into debt."

The final day of classes is expected to be June 11. The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has 17,000 students in 95 K-8 elementary schools and another 4,000 in pre-kindergarten.

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