St Rose Earns National Recognition

As A Blue Ribbon School

By Eliza Hallabeck

Last week when Principal Mary Maloney of St Rose of Lima School opened an email notifying her the had been awarded the 2009 US Department of Education’s prestigious national Blue Ribbon Award, she said her initial reaction was humble pride.

“It’s certainly an affirmation for all the teachers and the students,” said Ms Maloney on Wednesday, September 16. “We work very hard here to make this an excellent education experience for everyone.”

The school’s Advisory Board Chair John Moulder said, as a parent, the school’s work and accomplishment starts from the efforts of Mrs Maloney and Monsignor Robert Weiss. Mr Moulder said the pastor and the principal set the tone of allowing the parents and teachers to do a lot.

“I think it goes to show in a faith-based environment, where God is present everyday, on a very limited budget, with limited resources you can provide a world-class education,” said Mr Moulder.

“I thought it was about time,” said Monsignor Robert Weiss. “I think Catholic education has taken a lot of raps, and people seem to think we are a second class institution when it comes to teachers and programming. And this just goes to show that we are able not just to compete, but to float to the top.”

The Blue Ribbon School Program honors public and private schools based on one of two criteria: schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top ten percent of their state on state tests or, in the case of private schools, in the top ten percent of the nation on nationally normed tests; and schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that demonstrate dramatic improvement of student performance to high levels on state tests or nationally normed tests, according to the school.

Monsignor Weiss compared the school to a phoenix. In the 1990s, he said, the school was close to closing, but parents worked hard to keep the school going.

“I think that is the other thing we need to be aware of,” said Monsignor Weiss. “This is our 51st year, and we’ve been built on the shoulders of a lot of people who really worked hard to open the school and to maintain it through the years. There have been a lot of challenges for sure, but we are very grateful to those people who that really worked hard through the years to get us to this point.”

Mrs Maloney said the Diocese of Bridgeport in the past four years refined local programming in its 38 schools. A lot of implementation of local and national program while maintaining faith-based character education lead to the accomplishment, she said.

“Teachers have a lot of input as to how curriculum program is implemented,” Mrs Maloney said. “We are very student-oriented, we have begun a resource program, all of those things have evolved over the past ten years that I’m aware of, and that has a lot to do with it. The students are succeeding.”

Monsignor Weiss said the school owes a lot to the strong support of parents.

“We have a tremendous amount of parent support here,” said Monsignor Weiss. “I think that is a key to getting us where we are today.”

He said the new addition at the school, the teachers’ freedom to be creative, and the support of the general parish all contributed to the accomplishment.

“Our students are also really happy,” said Monsignor Weiss. “I think that is something that leads to success.”

The advantage a Catholic school has, according to Monsignor Weiss, is the ability to develop a person fully.

Mrs Maloney said small celebrations, like students dressing in blue jeans, will happen at the school, and herself and Monsignor Weiss will be attending a dinner in Washington, D.C., in November to receive the award.