St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School
5000 N. Grove
Oklahoma City, OK 73122
405-789-0224
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St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School5000 N. GroveOklahoma City, OK 73122405-789-0224 |
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF SAINT
CHARLES SCHOOL
On May 15, 1954, Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness
established St. Charles Borromeo Parish.
Father Charles A. Beckman became the first pastor.
The parish hall was named after him.
Construction of the combination church,
school and convent began in November of 1954.
Mass was celebrated for the first time in Beckman Hall on
Pentecost Sunday, May 29, 1955. The
school began its continuous education work for the community in
September 1955 with three Carmelite Sisters teaching 115 children in
four classrooms. The
first principal was Sister Elizabeth of the Carmelite Order.
In 1956, four Sisters of Charity took over the teaching
assignment at the school. The
first 8th graders, 15 in number, graduated on May 27, 1957.
A school addition of five more classrooms,
library, "clinic", and full basement was started May 1959,
and completed four months later.
The faculty rose to six sisters and two lay teachers with an
enrollment of 290 students. It
seems that from the beginning, education has been one of the prime
considerations of our parish.
By the mid-sixties six sisters and four lay
teachers were providing the teaching.
Classes were large with almost 400 students enrolled.
PTC was very active, and book fair, art competitions, spelling
bees, organized athletics, and fund raising were in full swing.
However, by 1970, there were serious doubts
concerning the future operation of the school due to the Sisters of
Charity no longer being available to staff the school.
Their religious community was reduced in number and their
services called them elsewhere. During
this time of uncertainty, enrollment dwindled, but not for long. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise, since classes had
been so large in the past. Now
they could become more manageable.
Once again, the Carmelite Sisters came to the rescue and agreed
to staff the school as they had that very first year it was
established. Four sisters
filled administrative and teaching positions, along with five lay
teachers. The enrollment
was about 200 at this time. With
Sister Joseph Marie as principal, the school gained momentum and
enrollment stabilized.
In the late seventies and early eighties, St.
Charles School continued to grow and evolve into the institution we
know and love today. Under the leadership of Father James Kastner and
past principal, Dr. Santo Arico, our school prospered and our faith
community continued to blossom.
Our school saw the addition of an enrichment
center, new library, and learning lab.
More improvements were accomplished due to the hard work and
dedication of our school patrons. Among these improvements were the
first kindergarten, air-conditioning of all the classrooms, the
"Big Toy", first computer, and more athletic programs.
We can be proud of these many modernizing accomplishments, but
more importantly, proud of our children and all their accomplishments
in speech tournaments, spelling and geography bees, art, history and
music competitions, and athletic endeavors.
Each year new programs are developed to help
in our growth as a school community.
Such programs include: a full-day preschool, a half-day
preschool, a band program, an extended day program from 3:00 - 6:00 pm
for working parents, a computer lab, and children’s choir.
We can take even more pride in seeing our
children develop into fine Christian members of our faith community. From 1970 to the present, our 8th graders scored well above
national and Archdiocesan averages on a test of Christian Attitudes
and Catholic Doctrine. Their
scores on national academic achievement tests also rank above the
national average. It is
apparent that we as parents and our teaching staff are doing a great
job.
