LEWISTON – Trinity Catholic School, the new elementary school consolidated from three schools, will open after Labor Day this year.

Instead of late August, when area public schools will open, the first day of school will be Sept. 5, co-Principal Bonnie Marsh said Tuesday.

The delayed opening is to allow workers to finish building two new classrooms and new offices at the elementary campus on Lisbon Street.

“We want to make sure that teachers have the time to be fully prepared to focus on learning, and the office fully prepared to help students and parents,” and not have to listen to hammering and drilling, Marsh said.

Facing declining enrollment, Catholic Bishop Richard Malone announced last January that the three Catholic schools in Lewiston-Auburn would be consolidated into one – on two campuses – making it a more viable school. The bishop pledged his support to continue the tradition of Catholic education in the area. Holy Cross, St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s/Sacred Heart closed in June.

Trinity’s elementary campus on Lisbon Street will be the larger campus. It will house preschool and kindergarten through grade 5. The junior high campus, at the former St. Joseph’s School on Main Street, is for grades 6 to 8.

Overall enrollment is down compared to last year’s student population for the three schools. Last year’s enrollment was 660, Marsh said. So far fall enrollment is 580. “We’re still taking registrations,” she said.

Reasons for the decline include shifting demographics, such as large eighth grades that graduated last June. And, some parents “for economic or social reasons decided to go to public school,” Marsh said. The new Auburn elementary school replacing the Lake Street School “has been pretty appealing to some.”

But interest in the new Catholic school has been good, Marsh said. “We’ve had a steady trickle of new students over the summer. We’re still registering new students.”

Administrators expected Trinity to offer three classes for each grade from kindergarten to 8. But the school had larger than anticipated enrollments for kindergarten and second grade, so those grades will have four classes each, Marsh said.

Donna Sawyer is the other co-principal. Each will take turns working at each campus.

Creating one school from three in less than a year has been challenging and exciting, Marsh said. There are countless details, she said, from moving furniture to curriculum decisions.

“A school is a community. When you create a new school you create a new community, a new family.”

This year, students can wear their uniforms from their old schools or they can wear new Trinity uniforms. That means there will be four different plaid jumpers and skirts worn by girls, while boys will wear khaki or blue pants and polo shirts.

The new school and observation of 125 years of Catholic education in Lewiston-Auburn will be celebrated by the bishop during the evening of Sept. 6, Marsh said.

An evening Mass for the Trinity School community will be held at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.