Old Building, New School
by Russ Mancl
In 2005 St. John the Evangelist Catholic School of Deer Park, Ohio, celebrated its centennial and honored the many Holy Cross Sisters who taught there from 1934 -80. In August 2007 the school building opened its doors as St. Nicholas Academy. The formation of this first inter-parish Catholic elementary school in the Cincinnati area began with a vision and a reality. The reality was the difficulty of maintaining a parish school with increasing costs and declining enrollment. The vision was to collaborate in the creation of a new model for Catholic elementary education. This collaboration began when the pastors and a core of parish members from two parishes, St. John the Evangelist and Holy Trinity, met and determined that together they could provide what they could not do separately.
St. Nicholas Academy is located in the old St. John the Evangelist School. Their program includes a pre-school, before and after school care, a full day kindergarten, and grades one through eight. They have a fine arts program including: art instruction, music, introduction to the Spanish language, and library program.
Sister Peggy Jackelen
Sister Peggy Jackelen, Merrill, WI, taught at St. John's from 1969 to 1971 and was saddened to hear about the closing. "I have such fond memories of those teaching years. The families were very supportive and valued Catholic education. The students were enjoyable to teach and the faculty worked together well." Sister said that times change and she was pleased to hear that, although St. John the Evangelist School no longer exists, it had undergone a transformation and would continue to provide education to the children of the area under its new name, St. Nicholas Academy. "I believe this transformation is proof of the commitment of those families to provide Catholic education for their children. I applaud their ability to find this creative solution," Sister Peggy said.
According to Gerry Myers, principal of the academy, "We have 270 students grades K-8 and another 24 in the pre-school for ages 3 and 4. In grades K-4 there is one class per grade with about 20-24 students in each. Grades 5, 6, and 8 have two classes per grade. Grade 7 has 31 students but I teach a section of Math so we can divide them up a bit."
Myers said that the model is based upon the one used in the Lexington Diocese. He hopes that another parish or two will join them in the future. Unlike a parish school, there is a board of limited jurisdiction that actually runs the school and insures that they have what they need in the way of resources.
Sister Carol Crosby
St. John's in Deer Park is a very special place for Sister Carol Crosby, who serves on the General Team for the Holy Cross Sisters in Ingenbohl, Switzerland, and her family. "My father went to school there and I did, too, along with my siblings. The roots of my vocation and a great deal of support for it came through St. John's Parish and School and the Sisters who taught there," Sister said.
She added that she recently read of a book entitled Change is Good…You Go First. According to Sister Carol, "It takes courage to risk doing something new, but when the goal is clear and important, it is worth the risk and effort. I am proud that the parish took the step to create something new with Holy Trinity Parish to ensure that Catholic education goes on there."
With the progression of the school year, Mr. Myers sees a change. "At first it was very hard for parents to see beyond the parish school. Both sets were pretty much set on insuring that things ran as they had when it was St. John or Holy Trinity. The kids, because they chose the name, mascot, school colors, etc. never seemed to have any problems with this." He went on to say that at the end of the 1st semester he is seeing families put aside some of the parochial stuff in order to insure that they can be the best they can be at St. Nicholas Academy.
