When Carlos Ortega attended Marshall High School in Los Angeles in the early '80s, he often gazed at the Lithuanian parish elementary school across the street.

"Just about every single day, I looked over the fence at St. Casimir and thought, 'If I ever have kids, this is where they're going to go," said Ortega, a married father of three who attends Holy Trinity Church in L.A.'s Atwater neighborhood where he grew up near Glendale.

Opened in 1957, St. Casimir School in the Los Feliz district near Griffith Park served founding parishioner families, many of whom were Lithuanian war refugees, as well as students from the ethnically diverse neighborhood. Changing community demographics, however, caused enrollment to slowly dwindle: St. Casimir's entire student body was only 91 students last year.

Less than two miles away, Holy Trinity School's junior high was bursting at the seams with no room to expand on the campus next door to the church on Boyce Street. Holy Trinity principal Alice Martinez, an alumna of the school and former first grade teacher, knew she had a space problem but didn't know if she could take on the novel solution suggested by an archdiocesan school supervisor that she annex St. Casimir School, headed for closure.

Rather than give in to doubt, Martinez sought a solution.

Moving quickly
Holy Trinity's pastor, Father Maurice Harrigan, and Martinez initially thought they would have two separate schools, equalizing both schools' enrollments. An even better plan, they eventually decided, was to split the K-5 classes from the overflowing junior high, becoming a two-campus school.

With almost 60 eighth graders and 49 seventh graders requiring double classes, there was no time for a transition year. "We've had to make the move sooner than we thought," said Martinez, who, along with school staff and parents, has been putting in overtime this summer moving K-5 resource materials to the newly-named Holy Trinity Academy at St. Casimir Parish.

Among those school parents helping make the K-5 move happen this summer was Ortega, 42, noting the serendipity of his children attending school across from his alma mater just like he imagined long ago. "I didn't want to miss this. I wanted to be a part of it," said Ortega, who gave up a day of work Aug. 1 to help move desks and books to his fourth-grade and first-grade daughters' new campus.

Father Thomas Peacha, Holy Trinity pastor emeritus, was present for the historic move-in day. "I think it's a wonderful thing considering St. Casimir was contemplating closing," said Father Peacha.

When he was Holy Trinity pastor from 1997 to 2005, enrollment at the parish school dropped below 200, a source of constant concern. "That was a big worry," Father Peacha acknowledged. "This seems to be a solution, dividing two schools and upgrading everything. I think it's going to be very good and I also think the archdiocese will be coming up with lots of innovative ideas like this to combine schools."

"Parents are very excited about this," said Martinez, beginning her second year as Holy Trinity principal. "We're trying to present this as groundbreaking. We always tell the students, 'You're part of history here, history in the making.

"If this works, then the archdiocese will adopt this. In the big picture, we're finding a way to continue to provide a Catholic education, rather than closing schools. I think it's giving us the opportunity to increase the programs we have."

Specialization advantages
Advantages include allowing each campus to specialize. The junior high will offer a high school prep track beginning with the sixth grade. Both campuses will have computer and science labs. "Everything we offer here, we'll offer there, including Spanish classes," said Martinez.

A majority (35) of the 51 St. Casimir students who registered last spring for the 2008-09 school year will be attending the expanded Holy Trinity School. "St. Casimir parish has been great. Father Tomas Karanauskas (associate pastor) has been working with us. I'm excited about learning more about the Lithuanian community," said Martinez, who meets regularly with a member of the St. Casimir parish council.

"One of the things I'm very excited about is increasing the diversity of our school," Martinez continued. "Right now, we're predominately Filipino. This is going to offer us the opportunity to draw from Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Atwater and Glendale. This is a great opportunity for our students to meet new kids."

The school received an influx of students last year, raising enrollment from a flagging 184 to a healthier 210. She attributes the increase to positive word-of-mouth publicity about the school, which offers a strong academic program in addition to enrichment activities such as fine arts classes, decathlon and the wildly popular ballroom dancing taught by professional dance teacher school parents who earn service hours for the weekly instruction.

Enrollment for the upcoming school year beginning Sept. 3 is at 260, including 140 K-5 academy students. Martinez is staggering the bell schedule to allow parents of children attending both campuses to make the 1.8 mile commute. The junior high prep campus will begin at 7:45 a.m. while the K-8 academy will start at 8 a.m. Martinez plans to be at opening prayer ceremonies for both campuses on opening day.

"Our motto is 'Two campuses, one school,'" explained Martinez, who points out the school will participate in joint activities such as the annual walkathon and Halloween parade. She notes the school acquired a much-desired auditorium and kitchen at the academy campus location. Lunches, including hot menu items, will be prepared at the academy's kitchen and delivered to the junior high campus.

"Connecting with St. Casimir's is a really cool thing, because I get to meet new people," said Caitlyn Teng, a Holy Trinity eighth grader and student council treasurer.

"I think the (school) split is really beneficial because it's a chance for us to learn a lot and get prepared for high school and college," said Katherine Aranda, Holy Trinity eighth grader and student council vice president. She thinks the new prep campus resource room is a great addition as well as having Spanish as a core class in the curriculum. "Everybody is excited [about] meeting new friends, having a new lab and extracurricular activities," added her mom, Elizabeth.