Legendary NJ High school, backdrop for ‘Mean Girls,’ closes

When I attended the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, we often met kids at cross-town Catholic high school called Mater Dei. Our sports teams would travel to their campus in Middletown or their teams would come to our school.

We ended up having one of those love-hate relationships that competitive sports teams do. And, we, of course, made a lot of friends in that school, too.

Mater Dei was one of the schools along with Redbank Catholic High School and St. Rose in Belmar that so many of my friends from elementary school went to if their parents were looking for a religious education for their kids. So it was kind of part of the educational landscape back then and we just figured it would always be there.

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Permanantly closed

Mater Dei started Middletown in 1961. It was a huge part of the Middletown community. Unfortunately, in February 2015, like a lot of other religious schools at the time, enrollment was dwindling to the point where it could no longer survive. A call was put out  to the parish finance council and Mater Dei got a reprieve where they were able to raise the $1 million necessary to keep the school open.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last. On May 9, 2022, it was announced that the school would be closing at the end of the school year due to a dramatic decline in enrollment.

In 2023, Mater Dei got a chance to shine once again for the last time. It was the backdrop for "Mean Girls: The Musical."

Now, the building will soon be torn down.

A bittersweet goodbye for a lot of us who remember it well. But there's comfort in knowing the land will be preserved to become Mater Dei Park — a place to create new memories while honoring the old ones.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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