Citing "declining enrollment and mounting financial difficulties," the board of Elizabeth Seton Academy has voted to close the school effective immediately.

Frances Birmingham, the chair of the Board of Trustees, informed families about the news in a letter dated Aug. 3.

“For more than a decade Elizabeth Seton Academy has offered families a private, all girls’ Catholic college preparatory high school experience," Birmingham wrote. "Despite limited resources and enrollment challenges, Elizabeth Seton Academy has carried on its mission valiantly since 2003.

"This decision is based on the school’s current financial situation, increased debt obligations, declining enrollment, and increased costs of operations.”

Birmingham said that a student/parent meeting will be held at the Lower Mills campus in the "days ahead" to help families to transition to "one of the area Catholic schools that have offered assistance to the students."

Faculty and staff at the school were told of the decision on Wednesday. The school is housed in what was once the St. Gregory's High School on Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills.

-Developing story-