8/24/15 - A vision of a Catholic school here at Epiphany Part 2
August23,2015
I wanted to continue to share with you the vision of a Catholic school here in Katy.
What will a Catholic school at Epiphany look like? Well, it will be a school for pre-K to 8
th grade students. The first year when the school opens, we would start with pre-K to 3
rd grade and then add a grade level each year after that.
To realize this vision, we are forming three important committees: 1) a Capital Campaign Committee, 2) a Building Committee and 3) a School Planning Committee. In the coming months, you will begin to hear about a
Capital Campaign to raise donations and funds to build our school. This will be the first Capital Campaign for our parish in 23 years. During this time, everyone will have a chance to learn more about the school and see architectural renderings of the school buildings. We will hold “town hall meeting” of sorts to answer questions and share with parishioners how they can contribute to the start of a school here at the parish.
In addition, a
Building Committee will begin meeting with our architects. The PAC is a wonderful building that is used for Faith Formation classes during the weekends and evenings. It will be used for our middle school during the day. As part of the construction, some of the rooms in the PAC will need to be repartitioned to make bigger sized classrooms. The children’s Faith Formation building, which is a much older building, will be leveled and will be replaced by a new two-story school building for our elementary school and Child’s Play classrooms. The Building Committee will be working with the architects of Merriam Holt Powell in the coming year to prepare for construction, which would begin when the Capital Campaign is complete.
The Building Committee will also collaborate with the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese. The Catholic Schools Office has a framework that outlines how to structure the curriculum of a school in the Archdiocese. They will help us set an appropriate tuition rate and structure the finances of the school to set it on the path of being self-sustaining in future years. As is the Archdiocesan tradition, there will also be available tuition assistance and scholarships for families that qualify. And tuition rates will be adjusted as well for families with more than 1 child enrolled in the school.
Thirdly, towards the end of the Capital Campaign, we will be forming a
School Planning Committee to work on the specific details of beginning a school. About a year and a half before school starts, a principal will be hired, whom I will work with to hire teachers and administration staff. This Committee will work as a community to get the school running, helping with acquiring supplies and furnishings for the classrooms and registration for our future students. The School Planning Committee will also get to make the fun choices of school colors, uniforms, mascot and motto.
It will take three to four years for the school to open. In the meantime, our parish will still be working on other projects. We are close to finding a set of Stations of the Cross for our Church. We will continue to budget for and make improvements to our campus and Church each and every year.
I hope that this gives you a more vivid vision of the Catholic school and how we will achieve this goal in the coming years. Thank you for your support and prayers! Please keep in mind, as well, ways that you will want to contribute when we seek your assistance to accomplish this praiseworthy endeavor.