136-year-old high school in Manitoba closes

Mennonite Collegiate Institute, a high school in Gretna, Manitoba has permanently shut down. The decision to close the 136-year-old residential school was made July 7 at a meeting of delegates from its 11 supporting congregations.

Delegates voted to liquidate all assets to satisfy debt obligations. This included paying its 23 teachers and other staff, whose contracts run to the end of August, and $1.7 million in debt for a mortgage and a line of credit.

The decision came after years of declining enrollment and operating deficits. In the past academic year, 45 students were enrolled.

In an email to supporters, board chair Cody Falk said the school faced a considerable cash flow shortfall for the 2024-25 school year. This included getting by month-to-month on payroll, with teachers agreeing to reduced salaries and increased workloads.

Following the closure, the school is fundraising to pay teachers and staff, and for other expenses. About $140,000 has been donated; about $500,000 will be needed.

In an interview, MCI CEO Chris Harms said he hoped there can be a quick sale of the 96,000-square-foot building, which includes a gym and a 460-seat concert hall, along with dorms for residential students.

“We are working through the pieces now,” he said, adding there have been many meetings with accountants and lawyers.

Adding to the financial struggles was a breakdown in relations, and loss of support, from some rural Mennonite churches over the issue of LGBTQ+ inclusion. “There is polarization in the community over this,” Harms said.

While understanding the need to close the school, Harms is sorry its service to the southern Manitoba Mennonite community has ended. Over 4,800 students have attended the school since it opened in 1889.

He is especially sad about the impact the school’s closure will have on the students who hoped to graduate from MCI in 2026.

The school’s rural location in a town of just over 500 people means there are a limited number of day students who can attend. Parents who live further away are “less willing to send their children away for boarding school than in the past,” said Karla Klassen Fehr, an MCI board member whose husband and two daughters graduated from MCI.

Wil Epp, a former board member whose three children graduated from MCI, attends Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Winkler, whose members voted earlier this year to stop supporting the school.

For Emmanuel, it was a case of having few children or youth to send to MCI and also due to its own financial issues. “Like many other churches, our church struggles with its budget,” he said

Michael Pahl, executive minister of Mennonite Church Manitoba, said the school was a significant pipeline for lay leadership and clergy in the denomination and played a key role in forming faith for many young people.

Used with permission. Article first appeared in Anabaptist World, August 4, 2025

This article was published in the Recorder Vol 62, No. 4