Proposed Jasper Catholic High School moves ahead
By Paul R. Leingang (Message editor)
Two more steps have been taken by the board of directors of the proposed John Paul the Great High School in Jasper, according to Dr. J.R. Hoffman: the curriculum has been approved and a location has been determined.
The school is to begin in the fall of 2009, using leased space on the third floor of the St. Joseph Parish Center. Details have not yet been finalized for using the building, but the St. Joseph parish council agreed to the plan in principle, Feb. 25.
“We’ll start the school with one freshman class,” said Dr. Hoffman in a telephone interview with the Message Feb. 26. Dr. Hoffman is president of the board for what is proposed to be a private Catholic high school, not dependent on parishes for its operation. The intention is to add to the enrollment year by year and eventually have two rooms for each of the four classes.
“If we outgrow the building, then Glory to God! we’ll get a shovel and break ground,” Dr Hoffman said. “If that’s our problem, what a terrific problem to have.”
With the anticipated opening of the school 18 months away, board members hope to get enough students to make a commitment. So far, with just a little over one month for meetings and discussion and publicity, three families have made a commitment and five more have expressed interest.
The first of a series of monthly meetings will be held Sunday, April 6, for interested families. Dr. Hoffman said that junior high and high school students “are going to make a decision on this high school based on ‘I want to go where my friends go.’” The monthly meetings will help prospective students see what the student body would be like.
The board of directors, meeting last weekend, approved a “core 50” curriculum requiring 50 credits to graduate, said Dr. Hoffman, president of the board. An honors program will also be available.
“What is exciting and unique about our curriculum is working in ‘the New Evangelization’ that John Paul II taught us about,” said Dr. Hoffman. He gave an example of a kind of “catholic environmentalism” based on the teaching of Pope John Paul II about the cosmos. Students would learn about the pope’s teaching, along with what they learn about earth and space biology, and there would also be a service program for students to be involved in projects “that have to do with the stewardship of creation.”
(Go to the website of the Diocese of Evansville) †