Florida Catholic | Parents, Children Have First Look At New School

Parents, children have first look at new school

St. Catherine School hosts an open house for parents and prospective students.

BOB REDDY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC VENICE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 04.25.08

A family learns about the new St. Catherine School in Sebring. The school in Highlands County is the first in the Eastern Deanery and will intially have classes for children from prekindergarten to second grade.
BOB REDDY | FC

St. Catherine School

SEBRING | Young children near the campus of St. Catherine Parish will become a common sight in August when the 15th school in the Diocese of Venice opens in Highlands County.

The St. Catherine School held an open house for prospective parents and students to give them an opportunity to see the new school and to sign up for classes. Many families came to look at the school and several signed up for classes right away. Registration began in January, but the interest level has been increasing recently said Ginger Carlisle, who is on the steering and finance committee for the school and will also be sending her son Max, 5, to kindergarten.

“It is wonderful to have something here for people to see; something tangible to know this is going to be a reality,” Carlisle said.

The school will serve students from 3-year-old prekindergartners to first-graders and possibly second-graders, depending on demand, and will be capable of expanding as needed. The younger children will be in a building on the east side of the parish property, while the older children will have formal classes in the youth center across from the church.

During the open house, children played with toys and games, had a chance to draw in coloring books and have their faces painted while their parents learned the details of what they can expect from the school.

Chastini Manint said it will be important for her children, Anthony, age 3, and Isabella, almost 4, to receive a proper Catholic education so close to home.

“It is the morals and values of a Catholic education that attract me to want my children to go to school here,” Manint said. “The nearest (Catholic) school is in Winter Haven and that’s a 45-minute drive away. It would have been worth it, but now we have something so close. It’s truly wonderful.”

The idea of putting a school in Highlands County began when Father Jose Gonzalez came to the parish in 1994. With the support of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Father Gonzalez found there was enough community support at St. Catherine and at neighboring parishes to warrant the school.

Father Nicholas McLoughlin of Our Lady of Grace Parish in nearby Avon Park said his parishioners are excited about the new school.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to bring a good Catholic education to the community,” he said.

Father Vincent Clemente of St. Michael Parish in Wauchula in Hardee County said some of his parishioners are also planning to send their children to the school.

The timing of the school is important because Highlands County is one of the fastest-growing areas of the diocese. The last school to open in the diocese was in the Dreams Are Free Academy in Fort Myers in 2002.

The goal of a Catholic education is to develop children spiritually, cognitively, socially, emotionally and physically. The school will be part of the diocesan program and will be accredited by the Florida Catholic Conference and will provide an inclusive education experience with art, music and physical education, something that has been on the decline in nonparochial schools. Everything taught will be developmentally appropriate and follow state and national standards.

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