The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's announcement Friday that it was closing 45 elementary schools and four high schools set off shock waves of anger and grief that are reverberating across the region.

"This is tantamount to a death," said Michael Wetzel, a veteran English teacher at Monsignor Bonner/Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill, which will close in June. "We're taking it so hard because it was so unexpected and so unnecessary."

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