Detroit — Parents and students were notified in June that Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School will not reopen come fall.

A request to close the school was made by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish last month, and was accepted by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The high school had been operating with less than 65 students since 2008.

In a letter, Our Lady of Mount Carmel pastor Fr. Walter Ptak explained to parents, students and parishioners that the lack of enrollment for the upcoming year — less than 40 students — would make it unfeasible to open the high school.

The school was founded in 1928.

“This is not what I wanted to happen,” Fr. Ptak wrote, “but with less than 40 students, there is no way to afford the high cost of education on the high school level.”

The pastor added that the faith community can look back in gratitude for what the school gave to the area.

“This is a wonderful achievement and we all should be proud of what has been accomplished over the last eight plus decades in the hallowed halls of MC High,” he wrote.

He added that the parish would try to order a tuition subsidy to help students who are currently enrolled at the parish high school to attend another Catholic high school.

The announcement of the high school’s closure follows that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel grade school.

In October 2010, a merger was announced that four area parishes — each sponsoring a financially challenged grade school — would form John Paul II School in Lincoln Park. The new grade school, to be housed on the campus of Christ the Good Shepherd Parish, is set to open next year as a partnership among Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Christ the Good Shepherd, St. Patrick in Wyandotte and St. Joseph in Wyandotte.