Gay dads here with a 5 year old thinking about enrolling our son at St Jerome’s. We would really appreciate any input. Doesn’t sound like an lgbt friendly environment. We live in DC but right at the border with Maryland in NE DC.

Anonymous wrote:Here's a recent account by a non-Catholic parent from Takoma Park (now an editor of the Hyattsville Life & Times) who enrolled her kids at SJA:

http://hyattsvillelife.com/from-the-editor-what-are-the-times-coming-to/

It's natural to want to apply the usual socio-cultural categories, but SJA is a truly diverse school that transcends labels.

She is Catholic now though.

Anonymous wrote:Here's a recent account by a non-Catholic parent from Takoma Park (now an editor of the Hyattsville Life & Times) who enrolled her kids at SJA:

http://hyattsvillelife.com/from-the-editor-what-are-the-times-coming-to/

It's natural to want to apply the usual socio-cultural categories, but SJA is a truly diverse school that transcends labels.

True, it is as diverse a private school as I've seen. Your experience will be shaped by your personal interactions and they are likely to differ from other people's personal interactions. Nice community overall!

Here's a recent account by a non-Catholic parent from Takoma Park (now an editor of the Hyattsville Life & Times) who enrolled her kids at SJA:

http://hyattsvillelife.com/from-the-editor-what-are-the-times-coming-to/

It's natural to want to apply the usual socio-cultural categories, but SJA is a truly diverse school that transcends labels.

We love Pope Francis and we love SJA, too!

We toured SJA and ultimately decided against it due to the conservative nature of the parish/school. Our shorthand was that it felt like a Pope Benedict school, and we're Pope Francis Catholics.

SJA grads go all over, although the largest number of boys go to DeMatha and girls to Seton, probably due to proximity. Almost all end up at Catholic high schools, a small number to Roosevelt's STEM program and a smattering to non-Catholic private schools. I've never heard of anyone going to their local public high school.

There is an independent effort to start a new high school based on a Classical curriculum written by a group of university professors and high-school teachers familiar with SJA. The organization is called St. Jerome Institute and last I heard they plan to open somewhere in fall of 2018.

Thanks for info. Where do SJA kids tend to go to high school? I know Dematha's right there for sporty or musical catholic boys, but what if you're, say, a girl or non-catholic?

Anonymous wrote:How comfortable would a non-catholic family be at st jeromes?

Faith is a large, visible and important part of the school community. While I wouldn't say I'm terribly uncomfortable as a non-Catholic, I have my moments. You should know that your child will be expected to pray daily and will have religion infused into their education. It is a conservative parish, when compared to Holy Redeemer and most other area churches. You can observe anti-abortion signs outside of the church, and ladies wearing veils in the Sunday service. It is an interesting juxtaposition to the surrounding town.

none of the families I know there are Catholic. They're either Protestant or unaffiliated with any church/religion.

How comfortable would a non-catholic family be at st jeromes?

Disclaimer: I have no child there.

I've heard varying opinions. None are bad. Some people LOVE St. Jerome's. There's no better option. Others think it's fine, but perhaps it's hyped up because of the lack of better options. If it were sitting in the middle of Fairfax Co, it likely wouldn't look as appealing. But, like I said, none of the people that I've talked to have had a negative experience there.

St. Jerome's is awesome.

It's going well.

The local public school has had a tough year because of administrative changes that have hit all PGCPS since the big sex abuse cases - teachers are out on administrative leave for a long time for even the smallest complaint.

Now that the classical education program has been up and running for a few years - any parents care to comment on how their DC is doing? Pros/cons vs their local public school option. Also how what are the aftercare options, public school in our local area offers many options, Science Bowl, math league, robotics etc.