By STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader Correspondents
 

GOFFSTOWN - St. Anselm College has offered its resources to help parents of Villa Augustina students raise $400,000 to buy the elementary-middle school.

That news was followed by a vote of parents authorizing a leadership team to finalize an agreement to buy the school from the Religious of Jesus and Mary, which will end its affiliation with the school by June. 

The Rev. Jonathan DeFelice, president of St. Anselm College, attended the meeting to extend the helping hand. He gave the Villa Augustina Leadership Transition Team confidence it would have the $400,000, said Chairman Carol Barrett.

"It really was a turning point with us as we went through this process," Barrett said.

After meeting with DeFelice, Barrett signed a letter of intent to buy the school, transferring the building and the surrounding 35 acres to the St. Claudine Villa Academy, a new corporation formed by parents.

DeFelice told parents that the professional staff and faculty of the college would be able to assist them in strategic planning and fundraising. He said students could also volunteer in the effort, making fundraising calls and pitching in elsewhere.

The first priority, DeFelice said, is meeting the requirements of the letter of intent.

"In my conversations over the past weeks, I heard lots of willingness to find the sources of that funding," he said. "I believe there is a group of people and institutions that can be gathered to accomplish the goal."

DeFelice assured parents that the school would continue beyond June.

"If I did not believe in the future of this school, I would not be here," DeFelice said. "I am deeply committed to Catholic education on every level, but if there were no chance for success, no chance for excellence, no chance for a truly vibrant future, I would not be here. Despite the challenges ahead, I think it can be accomplished."

Of the parents at last night's meeting, 138 voted on the purchase, all of them in favor. Those who did not vote took home ballots and can submit them this week.

In a related matter, parents have collected $130,000 to make repairs and improvements to the school. If they can come up with an additional $70,000, an anonymous donor will contribute $200,000 for capital improvements. None of the capital improvements money can be used toward the purchase price of the school.

Reproduced by the Goffstown Residents Association.