Closures rock Cd'A schools

The news resounded like a thunderclap for Coeur d’Alene’s Roman Catholic families.On March 6, 1971, Sister Superior M. Mariel announced that the Immaculate Heart of Mary would close its three local schools in June.Gone would be the IHM Academy’s vaunted high school, with its academic and athletic excellence, as well as grade schools at St. Pius X and St. Thomas churches.The declaration also stunned the Coeur d’Alene School District.Faced with a possible increase of 700-plus students, President Robert DeArmond of the Coeur d’Alene School Board said, “We were fearful of that decision.”Due to a teaching shortage, the IHM assembly in Pennsylvania moved sisters serving in western schools to ones in the East. In vain, Sister Muriel appealed the decision in person.