Daniel Murphy High School - Controversy and Closure

Controversy and Closure

In October 2007, it was announced that the school would close at the end of the 2007–2008 academic year due to declining enrollment.

Parents, students, faculty and alumni felt otherwise. The timing of the closure coincided with the Archdiocese' payoff of a $660 million settlement to abuse victims. The Archdiocese claimed the closure had nothing to do with the settlement and that the decision was based solely on the low enrollment. The Archdiocese claimed it could no longer afford to provide financial subsidization to the school. The parents proposed to pay an additional $1,000 per year in tuition which, they contended, would have exceeded any amount the Archdiocese had ever had to spend to keep the school in the black. However, the Archdiocese said the decision to close the school was "irrevocable". The Alumni Association and parent's group joined forces and fought to keep the school open. With the exception of one token meeting, the Archdiocese ignored all requests to meet and discuss the closure.

Daniel Murphy's final graduation commencement ceremony was held on May 30, 2008. The last school day was June 6, 2008 where students shared their last moments in the gym as a family. The Archdiocese had not announced definitive plans for the campus in its initial closing announcement, but subsequently it said that the 2½ acre school site would be sold.

After 72 years, St. John Vianney Chapel closed in 2009. Murphy's last principal, Sharon Dandorf as well as many Murphy alumni were in attendance.

In April 2009, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported that the campus, located in the heart of the heavily Orthodox Jewish Fairfax District, had been sold to Yeshiva Aharon Yaakov-Ohr Eliyahu, an Orthodox day school currently located in Culver City.