A placement examination for non-Catholic students wishing to attend St. Roch’s School will be given Saturday, May 2, from 10 a. m. to noon at the School. All prospective new pupils are required to take the test and acceptances will be mailed out on or no later than May 17.
St. Roch’s announced last month that it would begin accepting non-Catholic pupils beginning in September, subject to available space and successful completion of the placement exam.
Tuition for new pupils will be $300 per year, payable twice yearly, and $200 for each additional pupil from the same family. There will also be a $15 annual book fee, and parents are expected to pay the cost of school uniforms.
Dr. Jose M. Sanchez Jr., president of the St. Roch’s School Board, said these fees compare favorably with those in other area private schools such as Forsyth and the New City School. Parishioners of St. Roch’s are not charged tuition but are expected to contribute to the weekly parish collection in equivalent amounts.
Non-Catholic pupils will not be required to attend religion classes. The school hopes to arrange art instruction during theose periods, taught by an art instructor from Washington University.
“St. Roch’s intends to become a genuine neighborhood school, while continuing to maintain its traditional high academic standards,” Dr. Sanchez said. The school has consistently had the best record of any parochial school in the city. This year 38 of the 40 eighth-grade graduates have been accepted by the first high school of their choice, and the school ranked first in the archdiocese in the Iowa Basic Tests.
The school also boasts some distinguished alumi, including the late Dr. Tom Dooley, the famed Laos surgeon, and Michael Harrington, author of The Other America, a book credited with focusing national attention on the problem of poverty in the 1960’s.
At present no class in the school exceeds 35 pupils, and some are below 20. Double sections are maintained in about half the grades. Slightly more than half the faculty are lay teachers, with the rest supplied by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
This year enrollment is about 80 per cent white and 20 per cent black, with few non-Catholics. The school occupies two buildings next to the church at Waterman and Rosedale avenues. Besides its rigorous academic programs, it offers extensive athletic competition.
Sister Leo Ann is principal and school policies are the responsibility of an elected school board of parents with enrolled children.
Originally published in The Paper, May 1970.
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