POMPTON LAKES A popular Catholic school that closed for good last summer is expected to be reborn this fall as a multipurpose ministry facility centered on a STEM academy for the community’s youngest students.
Karen Connolly, a former instructor at St. Mary’s School, has joined two former teachers to launch Explorer Academy at St. Mary’s. The preschool, which will focus on early STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) instruction, is expected to open on the first floor of the old three-story Catholic Diocese of Paterson school on Pompton Avenue this fall.
“STEM is so important on the early-childhood level,” Connolly said. “It teaches these kids to be thinkers. It teaches them to be problem solvers. It teaches them to work together in groups.”