St. John Vianney Catholic School shuts down after 74 years due to hurricane damage

St. Pete Beach Catholic school closing

FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis talked to parishioners and church leaders about what's next for this community.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A St. Pete Beach Catholic school that sustained extensive damage from Hurricane Helene has decided to shut down entirely.

St. John Vianney Catholic School is in its 74th year and was a second home to 250 students, pre-k through 8.

St. John Vianney Catholic School was forced to permanently close after sustaining extensive damage from Hurricane Helene.

Director of Advancement & Engagement Janet Czyszczon said, "Our parish bounds are all the way from Pass-A-Grille up to the Redington Beach area."

Catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Helene changed everything for the church and school.

"Our church and school, all 14 buildings suffered catastrophic damage from either 14 inches to over four feet of water," she said. "Unfortunately, over 95% of all of the contents were ruined in every building."

Czyszczon said the day after Helene, crews got to work remediating the buildings.

"The majority of the people connected here at St. John Vianney lost everything," shared Czyszczon.

But after assessments were made, administration made the difficult choice based on a few factors. The property is no longer insurable.

"Another part of that is also the time frame, so it was anywhere between 18 months and five years with the many different options we were looking at," she said. "For perspective, if you had a first grader, we're telling you that you need to stay in a temporary hurricane disaster type of school situation until your child is in middle school."

Czyszczon said the price to rebuild would be costly.

"It's also a changing demographic. People are putting up for sale signs. Most of the neighborhood is single-story homes," she explained.

The school will close after this school year. Students have been relocated to nearby Catholic schools.

The church isn't going anywhere. Until repairs are completed, mass is held every Saturday and Sunday under a tent in its parking lot. Parishioners are asked to bring their own chairs.

"To see every week, it seems like more and more people are coming together, it's heartwarming to see it," said Linda Janssen.

"Our parish has a hurricane fund to help support the immediate needs of not just our parish but the immediate needs of our students," Czyszczon said.

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