“It’s not a holiday, but a weeklong celebration,” said Margaret Kaplow of Catholic Schools Week when reached at the National Catholic Educational Association based out of Arlington, Virginia. Now in its forty-sixth year of being celebrated (since 1974), the week set aside each year to celebrate education with an aim to instill Catholic religious values along with academic content traditionally runs from the last Sunday of January and on into February, or for the current year from January 31 through February 6. The theme for National Catholic Schools Week 2021, Kaplow said, is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.” So what does that all mean at the local level in Pierce County? We reached out to local Catholic schools to get a sense of what the celebration was all about.

“I think people perceive Catholic Schools to be different from other schools in their learning targets, curriculum and presentation,” St. Francis Elementary teacher Kathy Swanson said from Ellsworth when reached recently about Catholic education. When reached Swanson was serving as interim principal at St. Francis’ Elementary prior to the recent hire of a more permanent one.

“Teachers in a Catholic school are held to the same State employment standards as all other teachers,” Swanson said, adding that many held advanced degrees. “The only thing that is different about a day at St. Francis is that Jesus is prayed to and spoken about,” she shared of St. Francis and Catholic Schools generally. But while St. Francis on Woodsworth Avenue in Ellsworth only goes through elementary, students from St. Francis “often go on to become the salutatorians and valedictorians of their graduating class at EHS,” Swanson said. And then there was cursive, also called the “code,” a mystery from parent’s generation that students want to learn.

“Cursive is still taught,” Swanson said of the St. Francis Elementary curriculum. “When students ask me why, I tell them that as they grow up they will sign a lot of documents and their signature is a promise.” Although much of that signing is done electronically in the modern age, Swanson said that “it makes them feel pretty grown up to develop their signature.” Although Swanson said that cursive would one day no longer be taught, “for now we’re keeping this beautiful art alive,” at St. Francis. For those families meanwhile who feel that tuition at a private school may be out of their reach, Swanson said that families “simply check a box on their application and the assistance process begins, which also protects applicant’s identity. “There is some money to assist those who need it and it is handled in a very confidential manner,” Swanson said. With more information available by calling 715-273-4391 or heading over to www. stfracisellsworth. org, the school just across from the parish church would love to hear from you.

From St. Francis in Ellsworth we move north to River Falls and St. Bridget’s, just across the St. Croix (French “Holy Cross”) County line on East Division Street at Second, while serving the River Falls area generally. What’s it like at St. Bridget’s Catholic school?

To start out, the namesake of both the parish and school was Irish, based on the cross. Based on the spelling of “Bridget,” on the other hand, it could just as easily be St. Bridget of Sweden, a much later figure in Christian history. Brigid of Kildare was from St. Patrick’s time, the cross bearing her name from since transformed if likely pre-Christian origins. This boundary-bridging character is tied up in the name “Catholic” itself, which means “universal” at its ultimately Greek-Jewish roots, later transcribed into Latin and other languages through centuries-long missionary efforts— but there’s more.

“We do offer financial scholarships,” St. Bridget’s Principal Brenda Steward said of tuition assistance for those who may be interested but feel unsure as to their ability to pay. Steward said that K-8 tuition is $3,200 a year while the pre-K ranges from $2,750 per year ($75 per week) all the way to $4,000 per year ($108 per week), depending on whether one chooses the three or five full-day pre-K options available.

Shifting to curriculum, the offerings as listed at stbridgets. org/school/ under the ‘Academics’ side tab include, Religion, Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Music, Physical Education, Computer Instruction, and Art, with the “developmentally appropriate and challenging curriculum” aligned to both state and diocesan standards and addresses. Stationed at the far southwest boundary of the Diocese of Superior Wisconsin, headquartered just across the St. Louis River from Duluth, Minnesota, a link to the diocese’s website gives a glimpse into technology curriculum standards, under ‘Philosophy.’ “Students attending Catholic schools in the Diocese of Superior shall be taught to utilize available and emerging technologies for education, communication, problem solving, analysis, and research in accordance with Catholic values, ethical principles, and moral decision making,” the guidelines state. “Students shall have the opportunity to locate, process, and use information in order to improve their ability to learn, communicate, reason, and work,” the document states. Included below this in the guidelines are the “social, ethical, and human issues,” related to technology, but also that “Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity,” the guidelines state. With tours being offered at St. Bridget’s in River Falls from February 12 through the 15th for parents who might be interested in sending their children there, more information and/or a tour reservation can be obtained by calling the principal or office assistant at 715-425-1872, or going to www.st.bridgets.org and clicking on the “School” link on the upper right, then “admissions” on the middle left side of the page.

“The Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Superior admit students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at these schools,” the parish website says, acknowledging parish adherence to diocesan admission standards above the nondiscrimination statement. “They do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in administration of their educational policies, scholarship or loan policies and athletic and school administered programs,” the statement concludes. What though of St. Joseph’s School in Prescott and the Ave Maria Academy in Plum City?”

First up is Plum City, where a somewhat unique arrangement exists between the school, Ave Maria Academy, and the parish, called St. John the Baptist after the son of Mary’s cousin Elizabeth. The story of Ave Maria Academy is one of a death, followed with life.

“It’s real similar to what it was before,” co-founder Mary T. Weiser then of Maiden Rock is quoted in a Leader-Telegram article on Ave Maria from March of 2007. “We’ll be teaching in the Catholic tradition,” she said, while the school would be open to students both Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

Closed by the Diocese of La Crosse (which includes Pierce County) the fall before classes were to start in 2006, the 75-year-old school which had formerly been on the site—called St. John’s—was experiencing budget constraints, low enrollment, and what the 2007 Leader-Telegram article by Jerry Polling cites as “problems with the school’s administration.” With Weizer and her daughter-in-law Mary E. Weizer as co-founders and a former St. John’s principal/area substitute teacher named Tammy Ormson hired to lead Ave Maria Academy its first year, the new expression of Plum City Catholic education opened in 2007 with just eleven students in three-year-old preschool through third grade, adding a grade in each following year until the school reached grade eight. Cofounder Mary E. Weizer (the daughter-in-law) had more to share on Ave Maria when reached just recently for more comment.

“Typically we have between 35 to 40 students,” she said of the Plum City school, both related to and housed next to St. John the Baptist in Plum City, if distinct from the parish.

“The connection between St. John the Baptist would be that we lease the school building from St. John’s and we have had the support of priests who have served the parish,” Weizer shared, listing among these, “Father Ambrose Blenker, Father Paul Czerwonka, and the current priest Father Joseph Okine-Quartey.” With a mutually enriching relationship between the parish and nearby independent private school, Weizer shared some

St. Francis School in Ellsworth

St. Bridget’s School in River Falls

Ava Maria School in Plum City

St. Joseph’s School in Prescott CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

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ways the two help each other out.

“Our students help the parish in numerous ways,” she said, When an extra hand is needed with things such as switching out missalettes (small Mass books with hymns and readings) and candles, to decorating and cleaning the church,” she said. “The parish has no ties to the school and we cannot expect anything from them, but the priests have allowed us to go to daily Mass, they have come to bless our school at the beginning of each school year, (and helped) celebrate St. Francis by doing a blessing of pets for our school families,” she said, along with other events. St. Francis of Assisi from the late 12th to early 13th century was known to be a great lover of nature and creation, along with being the name inspiration for the present papacy of Pope Francis. As to the name of the Academy, Weizer shared the following.

“Ave Maria seemed to be a fitting name from day one,” she said of the angel’s Gabriel’s greeting in Luke. “Since Mary is the mother of all Christians we felt she would be a great example for our students,” Weizer said, also saying that the fact both co-founders of the Academy were named Mary “came into play as well.”

With Ave Maria students driven to school by parents rather than the bus due to COVID, Ave Maria combines two or three grades per classroom and students bring their own lunches, with microwaves provided for anything that needs to be heated up. In ordinary (non-COVID) times the students at Ave Maria participate in sports and band at the local public school, and Weizer said that, “We have a good relationship with the Plum City public school.” Teachers at Ave Maria are able to teach special as well as core classes, and financial assistance is available to those in need. “Ave Maria Academy prides itself in offering education to everyone regardless of financial ability to pay tuition,” Weizer said, adding that the school has many fundraisers throughout the year and that, “we will not turn anyone away due to inability to pay tuition.” The website for Ave Maria Academy is www.avemariaacademypc.org, with a phone contact number of 715-647-4630 and a presence on Facebook as well. All of which brings us to our last Catholic School profile for Pierce County, that of St. Joseph’s in Prescott.

“St. Joseph Catholic School in Prescott, Wisconsin opened in September 1961 with formal dedication on October 15, 1961,” the school website accessible via link at https://stjosephprescott.com with phone contact of 715-262-5912 says. Named for the foster father of Jesus and model of supernatural (“above the created”) Christian fatherhood, St. Joseph’s School of Prescott offers education from kindergarten through the sixth grades and adopts the motto of “In Christ, As Christ, For Christ” for its educational philosophy, with many staff holding their undergraduate degrees through a public college, alongside advanced degrees from private Catholic universities.

Located adjacent to the parish church building with two highly visible bell towers located on Dakota Street in Prescott, St. Joseph’s Catholic School features a secure entry system and a lunch menu that largely mirrors that of the Prescott public school system. Accredited through the Wisconsin Religious and Independent Schools Accreditation (WRISA), St. Joseph’s in Prescott is one of 259 religious and independent schools in Wisconsin to be recognized as meeting the standards of WRISA. The school operates a number of fundraisers to help keep tuition low, and student families are expected to participate. That being said, what are Catholic schools about in the final analysis? For this we return to Margaret Kaplow of the National Catholic Educational Association.

“Catholic Schools are a part of the Catholic School’s evangelizing mission,” Kaplow shared from Arlington, Virginia by email. “Recognizing parents as the primary educators of their children, educating young people into the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes the responsibility of the entire Church to teach the entire person, mind, body and spirit.”

Going further to clarify, Kaplow writes that, “a religion class added to a school’s schedule does not fit the definition of Catholic education where the entire school—pastors, administrators, principals, teachers, support staff, etc.—is dedicated to the pastoral program of education.” Through Catholic education, “everyone is aware of the living presence of Jesus,” Kaplow said, and “the Gospel spirit is incorporated into the total environment of the school and into all interactions with the students in classes, in community, in sports, in service to society, in life. Because young people are valued as future leaders of the Catholic Church, providing an exceptional academic educational experience and a sense of spirituality meant to form good citizens on earth and saints in heaven is the shared ministry of Catholic school educators.” Equipped by this faith formation, young people and adults can then help “contribute to the common good by becoming active and caring members of their communities, cities and nation in which they live and ultimately to live with God for all eternity.”

In the meantime, Catholic Schools Week is a way to help celebrate the vital contribution made by such schools to local education, as well as to further the mission of Jesus Christ, to form disciples (Latin: “students”) around the world, but also from much closer to home, in Pierce County.