SMSA school is ‘St. Mary’s Academy’ again

As of Monday, St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School “will once again be known as St. Mary’s Academy!” the school announced on Facebook.

In his letter to parishioners St. Mary’s Church Pastor Father Scott VanDerveer noted that this year the school will have “not one but two” kindergarten classes.

“Now is the right time to revert to the name in which our school was founded in 1883,” wrote Father Scott.

St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School “benefited from a system of regionalized parish support” that does not exist today, Father Scott wrote.

“Although our students still come from many locations in Warren, Washington and Saratoga Counties,” the school is administered directly by St. Mary’s Church since “several years ago,” Fr. Scott wrote, “making the word ‘regional’ inaccurate.”

The chapel will be renamed for “the people, school, and parish of St. Alphonsus,” the former Catholic church and school located on Broad Street.

St. Alphonsus School, founded in 1908, ceased operations in 1992. That’s when St. Mary’s became St. Mary’s-St Alphonus Regional Catholic School.

The familiar SMSA moniker is still welcome, Fr. Scott also noted, as is SMA.

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