St. Mary's Open House (Alexandria)

[Anonymous]

What bothers me about St. Mary's after the open/house tour is that the school seems to put religion first and curriculum second. At least, that is the impression we got. Other schools we've visited (even parochials) spent more time discussing their competitive curriculums and academics. All St. Mary's staff did was talk about religion, religion, religion. There was not even a teacher on the panel.

[Anonymous]

Yup, that's about right.

As a current parent, I don't think their academics are anything to write home about. They are... competent....with a focus on being a good catholic.

But that doesn't seem to stop parishoners and others who flock to SMS seeking a refuge from ACPS and FCPS Route 1 corridor schools.

800 kids in one k-8 school is too many.

[Anonymous]

My question is...where are they going to keep putting all of those kids if the classes continue at the 4 classes per grade level? The school doesn't seem that big. I thought that the one class of four grades was unique because it was so many siblings...but it sounds like they have continued with this size class.

[Anonymous]

I've heard that Fr. Kleinman wants to accomodate all siblings and parishoners. Thus the larger class size, if necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My question is...where are they going to keep putting all of those kids if the classes continue at the 4 classes per grade level? The school doesn't seem that big. I thought that the one class of four grades was unique because it was so many siblings...but it sounds like they have continued with this size class.

My child was in K last year with 4 classes. In first grade, they've already consolidated to 3. It doesn't seem like the intent is to admit 4 classes and stick to 4 classes per grade throughout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bothers me about St. Mary's after the open/house tour is that the school seems to put religion first and curriculum second. At least, that is the impression we got. Other schools we've visited (even parochials) spent more time discussing their competitive curriculums and academics. All St. Mary's staff did was talk about religion, religion, religion. There was not even a teacher on the panel.

It might not be the school for your family then. I'm not Catholic and didn't grow up in a religious household (my DH is Catholic), but from the perspective of a nonreligious parent, it's a school. Yes, it's a Catholic school so the PP who set forth the purpose of the school is absolutely correct, but my son in first grade comes home with spelling/phonics and math homework every night. It's not like he's focusing on religion all the time. He has religion class every morning, right before math class, but that seems pretty obvious in a parochial school. The only religion homework he has ever had was a project where we helped him do some "research" online on a saint of his choice, and then he had to write 5 sentences about that saint and read his 5 sentences to the class. This was for All Saints Day. To me, that's a completely appropriate way to incorporate religion into education.

[Anonymous]

Religion is woven into everything they do but if you are catholic you likely are fine with this. Yes they pray but it takes thirty seconds to a minute each time. They have a focus on the whole person instead of just teaching to a test. They really want to develop the person as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We attended this morning. There are definitely pros and cons to the school. More cons if you are not Catholic or not a particularly devout Catholic.

The gym was packed full with prospective families, and it was the most crowded open house we've seen, thus far. The tour groups were packed, which made it difficult to hear the tour guides and have questions answered. Older St. Mary's students accompanied the tours, and they were very well spoken and seemed to have a lot of pride in their school. It's a very large school, I think over 700 students. Class size target is 26. The school seemed very orderly and disciplined, and the children appeared well behaved. We did not see any chaos, but a lot of engaged learning. Not much diversity. We got the impression that it is a wonderful community, with very friendly parents and students. Several students came over and introduced themselves to us. Also several current parents. A nice community....if you are Catholic. Apparently 87% of graduates go on to Catholic high schools, e.g., BI, Gonzaga, Visitation.

What surprised us was just how indoctrinated the school is. Even as a Catholic family, we were surprised to hear that the students pray before and after every single class. The open house opened with a prayer followed by Hail Mary. There was much more conversation and presentation about religious studies than there was discussion about the basic academic curriculum. The principal spoke at length about how religion is infused into the curriculum in every way possible, right down to discussion of the sun (God), moon (Mary), and stars (Students). They spoke about how the children walk 6 blocks to the church for services and also have weekly mass in addition to that, in the school. The student tour guides discussed religion at length, as they have religion class every day, not to mention praying before and after every class, and also classes on learning how to pray.

This was our first Catholic school tour, and we also plan to visit Blessed Sacrament and St. Ritas. Can anyone comment if the other Catholic schools are this conservative? We want our child to have a Catholic education, but I am not confident if St. Mary's is the right fit for us. We want DS to be exposed to other things besides all religion all the time.

I was there, too. This is a spot-on summary. Also, for the "closet liberal" parent--is your child non-Catholic? We are Catholics but have not baptized or children and are clearly thus non-practicing. I loved the school and the kids, but I think our son would be at a disadvantage there--would be an outsider. I didn't fully realize that until I went to the open house. If we were practicing Catholics, I would definitely apply. I liked it very much in a lot of ways.

I was born and raised Catholic, but very pro-choice and progressive.

[Anonymous]

We've been very pleased with the academics so far, though my child is only in 1st grade. He is an above average reader, and was placed in an enrichment reading program in K and now in 1st grade (fabulous I might add) and his 1st grade class is learing more than basic math - his worksheets are multiplying and dividing, along with adding and subtracting. My child loves his Religion classes, along with music, art, Spanish and computer. 8th grade graduates are getting into the more rigorous Catholic high schools, e.g. Gonzaga, Visitation, so I think that tells a story. His report card was extremely detailed, there are no surprises at the end of the year. St. Marys is a great school, though very conservative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We attended this morning. There are definitely pros and cons to the school. More cons if you are not Catholic or not a particularly devout Catholic.

The gym was packed full with prospective families, and it was the most crowded open house we've seen, thus far. The tour groups were packed, which made it difficult to hear the tour guides and have questions answered. Older St. Mary's students accompanied the tours, and they were very well spoken and seemed to have a lot of pride in their school. It's a very large school, I think over 700 students. Class size target is 26. The school seemed very orderly and disciplined, and the children appeared well behaved. We did not see any chaos, but a lot of engaged learning. Not much diversity. We got the impression that it is a wonderful community, with very friendly parents and students. Several students came over and introduced themselves to us. Also several current parents. A nice community....if you are Catholic. Apparently 87% of graduates go on to Catholic high schools, e.g., BI, Gonzaga, Visitation.

What surprised us was just how indoctrinated the school is. Even as a Catholic family, we were surprised to hear that the students pray before and after every single class. The open house opened with a prayer followed by Hail Mary. There was much more conversation and presentation about religious studies than there was discussion about the basic academic curriculum. The principal spoke at length about how religion is infused into the curriculum in every way possible, right down to discussion of the sun (God), moon (Mary), and stars (Students). They spoke about how the children walk 6 blocks to the church for services and also have weekly mass in addition to that, in the school. The student tour guides discussed religion at length, as they have religion class every day, not to mention praying before and after every class, and also classes on learning how to pray.

This was our first Catholic school tour, and we also plan to visit Blessed Sacrament and St. Ritas. Can anyone comment if the other Catholic schools are this conservative? We want our child to have a Catholic education, but I am not confident if St. Mary's is the right fit for us. We want DS to be exposed to other things besides all religion all the time.

I was there, too. This is a spot-on summary. Also, for the "closet liberal" parent--is your child non-Catholic? We are Catholics but have not baptized or children and are clearly thus non-practicing. I loved the school and the kids, but I think our son would be at a disadvantage there--would be an outsider. I didn't fully realize that until I went to the open house. If we were practicing Catholics, I would definitely apply. I liked it very much in a lot of ways.

I was born and raised Catholic, but very pro-choice and progressive.

I will also add we had our DC baptized when he was a baby. Baptismal records are requested along with the application.

[Anonymous]

St. Mary's is a parochial school, not a private school, and it sounds like the emphasis on religion at the open house was a way to drive that home. My children go to SMS and we like the school community and feel the academics are on par with other local schools. I also like that the school uses Word Study and Empowering Writers, and have noticed a marked improvement in my children's writing due to these programs.

The children pray at the beginning of the day, before/after meals, and at the end of the day, and it does not take long. They have Mass every Friday (once a week), and they only walk to the church once a month.

There are 3 classes per grade except for the current Kindergarten class which has 4 classes. (Which I imagine will go down to 3 classes eventually due to attrition, as this was demonstrated with past "bubble classes".

I hope this additional information helps your family.

[Anonymous]

The current 4th grade was also a "bubble class"; they had 4 classes until this year, and now they're down to 3 but there are 27 kids per class. The current 1st grade was also a bubble of 4 and is now down to 3. The willingness to expand because of an inability to say no has far-reaching effects on things like lunch scheduling and times, crowding in the gym for mass and special events, and even things like basketball....the 4th grade CYO basketball teams get one hour a week of practice because there are so many kids signed up. It is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Any feedback on the pre-k program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Mary's is a parochial school, not a private school, and it sounds like the emphasis on religion at the open house was a way to drive that home. My children go to SMS and we like the school community and feel the academics are on par with other local schools. I also like that the school uses Word Study and Empowering Writers, and have noticed a marked improvement in my children's writing due to these programs.

The children pray at the beginning of the day, before/after meals, and at the end of the day, and it does not take long. They have Mass every Friday (once a week), and they only walk to the church once a month.

There are 3 classes per grade except for the current Kindergarten class which has 4 classes. (Which I imagine will go down to 3 classes eventually due to attrition, as this was demonstrated with past "bubble classes".

I hope this additional information helps your family.

We were told that the students pray before and after every class, and that this can add up to 40-60 min of praying every day, including "classes that help you learn to pray better." (this was told to us by our 8th grade tour guide). He said there was a lot of praying and a huge focus on it.

[Anonymous]

So here is another question, given the choice between SSSAS and SMS, with money being no object, where would you go?

Alternatively, if money was an object and SSSAS would be a real financial stretch vs. SMS, which would be a lot easier, would you choose SMS based on academics?