On March 12, 2018, the Diocese of Rockville Centre made a stunning announcement: Bishop McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead would be no more.
A year later, the school that had become a home to generations of families sits unoccupied behind locked gates. The future of the property remains in limbo, with no clear answers yet on what will become of the school building. READ
The closure of Bishop McGann-Mercy High School and Our Lady of Mercy elementary school shook the Catholic school community on the North Fork.
For the first time in more than 60 years, the Cutchogue elementary school did not reopen in September. READ
Disbelief and shock spread throughout the Bishop McGann-Mercy community in March when the news hit that the Riverhead Catholic high school was set to close at year’s end. READ
A lot changes in a school over 50 years. Blackboards turn to smart boards. A Common Core curriculum is required. And students are glued to cell phones and social media.
But in all that time, at least one thing has remained constant at Our Lady of Mercy Regional School in Cutchogue: beloved teacher Rosemary McGoey. READ
Three years ago, Mercator Osinski’s dad, Michael, presented him with a task: What can the family do differently to improve the quality of the oysters their Greenport business, Widow’s Hole Oyster Farm, produces?
Then just 15, Mercator got to work researching different options, ultimately implementing a Japanese technique that uses the tides to grow smaller, plumper oysters. READ
The white walls were bare in the hallways at Our Lady of Mercy Regional School Monday morning.
On a single bulletin board, spelled out in yellow lettering, was a message: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
Boxes filled up one room and inside a pre-K classroom across the hall, the cubbies were empty. READ
In 1956 the Superior General of the Sisters of Mercy in Brooklyn sent five nuns to Riverhead with the goal of starting a new Catholic high school.
Mercy High School first opened that year in a temporary space on Roanoke Avenue, which is now the Synergy Center. At one point, as enrollment grew, some classes were held there and others were held at a space within the former St. John the Evangelist School. READ
Decked in a green cap and gown, Harry Ramos couldn’t hold back tears as he reminisced on his past four years at Bishop McGann-Mercy High School. READ
Things are moving full-steam ahead for a group of parents and community members who are trying to open an independent Catholic high school at the Bishop McGann-Mercy property — or should we say full STREAM ahead.
The group hopes to operate as a STREAM school, which stands for science, technology, religion, engineering, art and mathematics. READ
In less than a month, Olivia Valle will stand on that stage at Bishop-McGann Mercy High School and look out at the audience — fellow classmates wearing green and white gowns, the teachers who have inspired her and alumni of the close-knit Riverhead Catholic school. To have the opportunity to address the class as valedictorian is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for any student. For Olivia, it will be so much more. READ