Holy Cross Academy (Florida)

Last updated January 09, 2025

Holy Cross Academy was a Catholic school in Kendale Lakes census-designated place, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.^[1]^[2] It was in the West Kendall area,^[3] near Kendall.^[2]

History

Reverend Abbott Gregory Wendt established the school in 1985. It started as an institution affiliated with the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. Its accreditation records circa 2004, however, described it as an independent Catholic institution.^[3]

Prior to 2001 the average enrollment was about 500.^[3] On March 25, 2001, Ukrainian Mykhaylo Kofel murdered nun-in-training Michelle Lewis; authorities discovered her body in the convent house on campus. Kofel pleaded guilty in 2005 and was scheduled to have a thirty-year sentence. Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty but no longer pursued it after Kofel made allegations of sexual abuse against the monastery priests. This accusation caused multiple parents to send their children to other schools,^[6] and the average post-murder enrollment was 340. Circa 2004 there were 37 people in the school's faculty. The school closed in 2004, and the charter school Archimedean Academy acquired the campus.^[3]

Operations

Circa 2004 the yearly tuition was $6,525.^[3]

Academic performance

Luisa Yanez of the Miami Herald wrote that Holy Cross "enjoyed a stellar academic reputation."^[3]

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References

↑ "2000 Census Block Map: Kendale Lakes CDP" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved May 10, 2020. – Compare with the school's full street address and location.
1 2 Berger, Ellis (April 6, 2001). "SEX ABUSE ALLEGED AT HOLY CROSS ACADEMY". South Florida Sun Sentinel . Retrieved May 9, 2020. at the parochial school in Kendall.[...]Holy Cross campus, 12425 SW 72nd St.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yanez, Luisa (April 28, 2004). "School where student-nun was stabbed to shut down". Miami Herald . Retrieved May 10, 2020. – Page 2
↑ "Secondary Schools". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. January 12, 1998. Archived from the original on January 12, 1998. Retrieved May 9, 2020. Holy Cross Academy School {PK 4-12} 12425 Sunset Drive, Miami, FL, 33183 – "12425 Sunset Drive" is synonymous with "12425 SW 72nd St."
↑ Berger, Ellis (April 11, 2001). "POLICE SEIZE KNIVES IN HOUSE SEARCH". South Florida Sun Sentinel .
↑ Rodriguez, Ihosvani (February 11, 2005). "Ex-monastery student guilty in nun's slaying". South Florida Sun Sentinel . Retrieved May 9, 2020. [...]causing the school to shut down last year.[2005 is the current article year, so this would be 2004]