A new Catholic school will be opening in Grovetown in 2024.
St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church will be opening Avila Catholic Academy for the 2024-25 school year, said Father Mike Ingram of St. Teresa’s.
The church wanted to open a school because of the importance of Catholic education in the Catholic faith. The name was determined because Ingram said he wanted the school to have its own identify, but also a connection to the church.
“Catholic education has always been a priority for our Catholic faith to pass on the faith to the next generations and it can be done even better in a full-time school situation than just in part Sunday school faith formation situation,” Ingram said.
The students go to faith formation once a week for about an hour, and Ingram said there’s only so much that can be taught during that time. That factor, along with other issues, such as discipline problems and not being able to teach God in schools or pray, led to wanting to create the school, Ingram said.
ACA will be a classical education school, with Ingram stating the main difference between classical education and public schools is that ACA will focus on teaching the students how to think over having them just memorize.
“In a classical education format, especially with a Catholic bend to it, is teach the child how to think, not what to think,” Ingram said. “The idea being if we can teach that child how to think, it doesn’t what they do in life, they can be a journalism major, they can be a doctor, a nurse, a school teacher, a priest, it makes no difference as long as the child knows how to deduct, logic, rational thought and that’s kind of the goal, again to teach that child to think independently, not tell that child what do they (think).”
The school will eventually be a pre-k 4 through 8th grade school, but will probably open as a
pre-k 4 through 5th grade school. After the first year, 6th grade will be added, then as those students move up a 7th grade and eventually an 8th grade. After that the students will move to a high school, with Ingram stating he hopes they will go to Aquinas High School to continue their Catholic education.
There is not a limit on the number of students the school will take, but Ingram said there will be no more than 20 students per classroom. Classes will take place on the church campus in the building currently used for Sunday school.
While plans are still in the early stages, Ingram said the tuition could be between $8,000 and $9,000 per year per student, but that amount is not finalized. He added they aren’t looking at having a discount for multiple students from one family attending, but they are working toward an endowment to provide scholarships to help families that might need the financial assistance.
“(If a family says) I can pay the full tuition on student number one, but can you help me on student number two and student number three, we want to have yes we can,” Ingram said. “We’ll give you a $1,000 scholarship to help with number two and number three, something along those lines is what we’re looking at.”
The church is currently conducting a national search for a principal for the school. Ingram said they are advertising through the Diocese of Savannah, Archdiocese of Atlanta, Diocese of Charleston, Diocese of Birmingham, Diocese of Mobile and the Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee.
“We really are going out and trying to find the most qualified person we can, whether it be male or female, it makes no difference to us,” Ingram said. “I am required that (the person) be a Catholic…Teachers, prefer to be Catholic, but not necessary.”
After hiring a principal, which he hopes to have done by this fall, Ingram then said the process to hire teachers and other staff members will begin. The teachers must be certified and meet the requirements set out by the Diocese of Savannah, who is the governing body. The Diocese of Savannah is a member of SACS/AdvancED standards.
“They’re the measuring tool for all of the schools and you have to have x number of hours of this and that,” Ingram said. “There’s lots of requirements. We are not going to be, I don’t think we’ll accept any financial aid from the state or federal government because of their many restrictions and many demands on how that money is spent, how it’s reported, all of those kinds of things.”
He believes the application process for students will open at the beginning of the year. Ingram said that anyone will be allowed to attend the school, but when the application process opens, it will open in stages.
“We’ll probably give like a two-week window for our parishioners,” Ingram said. “If we don’t get everything filled by then, then we’ll open it up to St. Mary’s families, Most Holy Trinity, the other Catholic churches in the area to send their students and then open it up to the public at large.”
The school calendar will be 180 days and similar to Columbia County School District, but there will be some differences such as having Holy Week off, Ingram said.
There are also a few other items that must be decided, including the school nickname and uniform, Ingram said.
“We’re very excited about it,” Ingram said. “I think this is the first Catholic school opened in the Diocese of Savannah in like 30 years. So, we’re very excited about it.”
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com
