Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., has approved plans for a new Roman Catholic high school in the city.
St. Patrick Academy is scheduled to start teaching 9th graders in the next academic year. Since 1851, the school had been for elementary students, but changed focus to the higher grades in a bid for survival when the diocese considered closing it.
The high school will eventually enroll about 100 students and charge tuition less than half the average at other diocesan high schools, Principal Stephen Raymond said. The school would serve many inner-city parents who have wanted a Catholic education for their children, he said, but who felt it was financially out of their reach.
