Just two blocks from the Obama Presidential Center is Mt. Carmel High School, a 122-year-old all-boys school that was considering welcoming girls as students. In a news release Tuesday, President Brendan Conroy said, “The results of the feedback have made it overwhelmingly clear that Mount Carmel High School’s stakeholders want Mount Carmel to remain all-male, and that changing the school’s all-male tradition is not in the best interest of the school.”
It’s unclear whether Mt. Carmel was trying to capitalize on the gentrification of its neighborhood and the nearby Obama Center, or whether it was just following in the footsteps of Catholic high schools such as Saint Ignatius College Prep and DePaul College Prep that have transitioned to co-ed with successful financial results.
