MacDuffie School to make big move

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Springfield’s MacDuffie School will be moving out of the city and into Granby under a new plan announced Thursday. The school and its operations are being sold to International EC LLC, which is establishing a day and boarding school for 6th through 12th graders at the former St. Hyacinth Seminary.

The sale has to be approved by Attorney General Martha Coakley because it involves the sale of a non-profit entity to a private company. The approval process is currently underway, according to Michael Serafino, Chairman of the MacDuffie School Board of Trustees.

Serafino says that the larger campus in Granby will be of great benefit to MacDuffie students. “In the highly competitive academic marketplace for private middle and secondary schools, this move represents a chance to expand and promote the MacDuffie mission in a way that our current location, with space and infrastructure limitations, would not allow.” The St. Hyacinth Campus encompasses 26 acres, and was more recently home to Holyoke Catholic High School before its move to Chicopee. According to Serafino, the campus is undergoing extensive renovations.

The sale does not include the current MacDuffie School campus on Ames Hill Drive in Springfield, and the school is working with the City to develop a plan to re-use the property.

The MacDuffie School was established in 1890. It currently has 175 day and boarding students from grades 6 through 12.