After Learning Of School Closing
IC Girls Want To End With Bang

Immaculate Conception’s Nilah Rivera had an inkling something might happen, but was still holding out hope about the future of a school she has come to hold close to her heart.

“We had ideas, but never knew for sure until we heard from the (school) administration,” said the Lions’ junior guard as her Lady Lions earned a sixth straight trip to the Essex County Tournament finals with this past Saturday’s 72-55 semifinal win vs. University. “Hearing that our school is closing down we were immediately pretty sad, especially since this team has a great sisterhood and is a really big part of a school that we all love.”

The Office of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Newark announced on Wednesday (Feb. 12) that IC – in the midst of its 100th anniversary year – would have to close its doors in June.

The archdiocese cited declining enrollment, financial troubles and an aging building as key factors in its decision to close IC for good on June 30. The Sisters of Charity opened the school to students in September of 1925.

Although the sad news about the history-laden Essex County Catholic institution of learning might not be a real surprise to students, the faculty, administration or alumni, the shock factor is still ever-present, including for those who have lived and breathed IC for decades as a big part of their lives.

“We’re still just processing it all right now, to be honest,” said Patrick Dyer, a former, longtime IC assistant principal and most recently vice president of development, who has worked and coached at the school since 1976. “It happened Wednesday and we’re all processing the situation.”

There are 132 students at IC according to U.S. News.com and the tuition is $8,000 per year.

This is not the first time that IC has faced closure. Back in 2014 the archdiocese was planning to close the school for good, and actually did for a couple of months that summer after the conclusion of the 2013-2014 school year in June; however, alumni rallied to save the day along with other financial sources which combined to help raise $500,000 and keep the doors open to start school again in the fall.

The archdiocese deciding to announce the school’s closure now may be with the good intent of giving families more time to plan a future destination for their children to land at for the 2024-2025 school year, but it is not an optimum time for such a decision to come to the forefront with hopes of on-going 2024 school fund-raising by school alumni.

“You’re never happy when the archdiocese steps in and does this, but the timing of it all is bad for us,” said Mike Malkinski, an ex-president of the school, and a former, longtime assistant football coach and student at IC.

"We’re in the middle of raising money and we have a lot potential donors who are now asking what happened?

“We have our gala coming up in a month where we raise a lot of money and donors are now asking, ‘why has it has happened when it has happened?’

“Parents are looking for answers and the faculty and administration are as well.

“I don’t know what the archdiocese’s thoughts would be about keeping the doors open a second time around like in 2014, but we’re looking at our options.”

The tiny Montclair-based Catholic school is nestled in a very desirable block of real estate in between Park Street and North Fullerton Avenue and also close to the Montclair YMCA building and the main county conduit of Bloomfield Avenue.

There is also a nice parcel of school property located at Codey Field which is on the south end of town, right off of Orange Road where the IC football team played for many years before the sport was shut down following the 2022 season.

The sports lifeblood of IC in recent years has undoubtedly been its girls and boys basketball teams which have thrived on the hardwood behind the guidance of their respective coaches Jimmy Kreie and Jimmy Salmon.

Kreie’s girls squad has captured the last three ECT titles and will seek a fourth straight county championship when the top-seeded team faces second-seeded West Orange, 3 p.m. this Saturday (Feb. 22) in the 50th ECT final at Essex County College in Newark.

The IC boys hoops squad, experiencing a somewhat tougher campaign than usual this winter with an 11-13 record while still facing a first-rate schedule, did reach the overall NJSIAA Non-Public B tournament state final last March and won an ECT title under Salmon in 2020, led by current University of Tennessee star guard Zakai Zeigler, and also reached ECT finals in three other seasons, including in finishing as the runner-up to St. Benedict’s in 2024.

Perhaps the writing was on the wall - at least in terms of roster composition - when it comes to the current IC girls squad which has just eight players on the squad this season including no freshmen or sophomores.

Still, Kreie has kept his team very much in the elite circles of the state hoops scene led by a solid, core group of talented players, including two Division I commits among its four seniors with all-state forward Nila Giraud heading to the University of Albany and veteran standout guard Camille Wiley planning to play women’s college hoops and study next year at Long Island University.

Rivera and fellow junior guards Jayah Curtis and London Caldwell, have Division I colleges calling.

Curtis, who has risen her game to a new level this season, is also a star in the classroom as a Valedictorian in her grade at IC. She has offers from colleges including Penn, North Carolina A&T, Lehigh, William & Mary, NJIT and Siena.

Caldwell has offers already in tow from schools including the University of Delaware, Holy Cross, Siena, Bryant, LaMoyne and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“With the closing of our school we have to go out with a bang and win both county and state championships,” said Caldwell. “Our school is so nice and we have good teachers.

“I’m definitely going to miss Immaculate when it does close, no doubt about that!”

Kreie is not confident that the school can be saved this time around and he wants to make sure his IC girls do finish strong.

“It was a rough week to hear about the closing and -unfortunately – the news broke in the middle of our basketball season, and it would have helped if it happened in three weeks,” he said. “There have been a lot of nice messages although I do think this is the last ride.

“The tough news does gives us the ability to write the rest of Immaculate’s page and we get to write it the way we want to and the girls are all locked in and focused.

“At the end of this year we will graduate our 22nd, 23rd and 24th scholarship athletes from the past four years and they are phenomenal kids! Of those 24 players two have been valedictorians, and next year we would have had our third.

“Out of 30 kids, 12 or 14 have been in the top 10 of their grade.

“Working with all these kids the past few years has been just an incredible experience and I will miss coaching at this school, but I also know that the future is extremely bright for our student-athletes.”