Dear Families of St. Robert Bellarmine,

This is an exciting time for our parish as we continue to experience growth of our faith community.    
We are blessed as a parish to be able to welcome and serve many new families, including young families with children. Recently, Bishop Johnston had approached me about considering opening a Catholic grade school. This is due to several families that have expressed an interest in a Catholic school for our parish. We are situated amid several new housing developments under construction. If we were to consider providing this important ministry of Catholic education, our Catholic school would be well grounded in the tradition of the Catholic Church, forming our children to grow both spiritually and academically.

It is envisioned that we could start our Catholic school by serving Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and First grade students in the first year and continue to grow one grade level per year through Eighth grade. Our Catholic school could accommodate children from our parish and the surrounding community. As of July 2022, the State of Missouri has begun to offer scholarships of $6,375 per year to children in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. (This
scholarship DOES NOT APPLY to Pre-Kindergarten.)  These scholarships are earmarked for families who are interested in their children attending private schools. The eligibility requirements for this program can be found at www.brightfuturesfund.org. This means many families who thought Catholic education may be unattainable for their family could receive funding to attend our parish school.

At this point in time, I am reaching out to you to measure your interest as we explore the strong possibility of providing Catholic education for our youth. I would appreciate if you took the time to answer the following questions in further exploring the possibility of a parish school. Catholic schools provide an opportunity for students to be Christ centered as they seek Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Since time is of the essence, we would like for you to complete this short survey by Friday, September 16, 2022.

I appreciate your time and consideration of expanding our ministries to include Catholic education.

Questions:




 

If yes, please provide the following information: