St. Leonard School - Louisville, KY

Rev. Joseph Emrich was appointed founding pastor of Saint Leonard Parish on Sept. 22, 1953. While the church was being built from 1953 – 1956, mass was celebrated in the chapel of Saint Joseph Orphanage on Frankfort Avenue . In December, 1956, the construction on the new Saint Leonard parish and school was completed in an opening date for school set for September, 1957. The Ursuline Sisters of Mt. Saint Joseph, Owensboro, KY, were contacted and agreed to send four teaching sisters. With the addition of a lay music teacher, the nuns divided the first through seventh grades for the 1957- 1958 school year. The school’s first graduating class was celebrated in June, 1959. By Sept. 1961, two class-rooms had been added to the south end of the building to accommodate our growing school population. During the mid-1960’s, the school was “bursting at the seams” and a trailer was added for the kindergarten class.

Saint Leonard Parish School is small by design; however, the year 2001 marked the beginning of renovations made to school facilities. New construction was completed including a “Family Life Center” (that houses a gymnasium and two meeting rooms); at the other end of the facility, additions included a science lab, library, two preschool rooms, computer lab and school office space. Beginning in 2008 with completion in 2009, both student bathroom facilities in the original school building were completely renovated, including handicap accessible stalls. During the summer of 2010, central air was installed in the original building. Plans are currently being made to replace all windows as well – this is to take place in the summer of 2011.

Our school population has gone from a high of 207 students in 1965 to as low as 156 in 1996. Current population figures are 159 students in Preschool - Grade 8. School facilities for K – 8 are able to accommodate one of each grade level (capacity 220). We have two Preschool classrooms for three and four year old students. Factors effecting enrollment include demographics, public school improvements, ever increasing tuition rates compounded by economic trends and development of religious discon-tentment of young families. The majority of our students live in the Crescent Hill/Saint Matthews area; however, because of our convenient location to I-71, we have several families that commute from neighboring counties due to employment in Down-town Louisville. We are a diversified community: Fifteen percent are from ethnic groups other than Caucasion. The majority of our students are Catholic (most belong to Saint Leonard parish and clustered parish, Saint Frances of Rome), but we do have non-Catholic families whose children are enrolled. While no one has a crystal ball that allows us to project enrollments for upcoming years, it is our hope to increase student populations by offering to families, opportunities that aren’t typical in larger schools.

Saint Leonard School follows the curriculum guidelines as mandated by the Louisville Archdiocese. Each spring, Saint Leonard participates in Terra Nova Standardized Testing for all students in grades 1 thru 7 (mandated classes being 3, 5 & 7) – hard copies and digital copies of results are available on site; from 2005-2006 through 2009-2010 school years, Saint Leonard has had 151 students qualify for Duke University Talent Identification Program and the John Hopkins Program. This is our second year of participating in ACRE testing – results are also available on site. It is not uncommon for Saint Leonard graduates to be honor roll members at the high schools of their choice. Typically, we receive notifications each quarter that affirm their successes. Historical required accreditation documentation can be found on site (copies of former certificates are attached in the evidence section of this binder). Our teaching staff has a mastery level of 95 percent; student-teacher ratio is 16:1. We are fortunate to have award winning teachers on our staff – they are recipient to Aegon Teaching Grants, Uhlmer Award and the Fred Wiche Award that is offered by Operation Brightside (Mary Parola is the first Archdiocesan instructor to ever receive this Award). Special areas include art, physical education, music/drama, technology and foreign language; beginning in the fall of 2010, all 8 grade students will be taught Algebra, not just those qualifying for the Archdiocesan program. We have a full-time Resource Coordinator on staff to aid with students having learning differences. In addition to their normal duties, all faculty members are involved with our students in various extracurricular activities – book bee, quick recall, young authors, writing club and, new this year, an archery program to name a few.

We have made a push to expose our students to the benefits of technology. Currently every classroom is equipped with SmartBoards, document cameras, and pc's for student use. The primary classrooms share 25 iPad mini's as well as 25 Lenovo Thinkpads. Our Middle School has incorporated the use of 1:1 Technology - every student has access to a personal devise (tablet or chromebook, depending upon grade) 24/7. Portable Student Response Systems are available as an option to test taking. Students have had access to video-conferencing with NASA and the Louisville Science Center. In addition to reading and research materials available in our library, there are twelve additional workstations for web-browsing and research.