Letter to the editor: Respect history

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Strong schools have strong alumni who financially support them and serve as good will ambassadors promoting the school by word of mouth. That support is extremely valuable as it amounts to the collective and cumulative track record of the institution.

St Hedwig’s and St Francis both have very strong and distinctive alumni who may likely abandon their support if they feel that their schools have been eliminated. It would be much wiser to combine the school names in unity and to continue the longstanding history of both institutions.

St Francis/St Hedwig will maintain the emotional and financial connection to the combined school community.

In this day and age it is not wise to turn away precious financial support in favor of newness as some have indicated. Changing the name will likely do just that, by alienating the very graduates and alumni that have made these institutions great in years past and serve as a lifeline for support in the future.

A few years from now, the pastors that have made this decision will have moved to other parishes, we, however, will be stuck with a name that has no connection to our parishes, alumni or community.

Seems like a certain way to seal the fate of the new school from the beginning. Let’s not be so foolish.

Let’s preserve our history, community legacy and iconic parish school names by combining these names properly.

Ben Catanzaro
Beacon Falls