Saint Agnes School Information Quick Links
Saint Agnes School’s Faculty and Staff
Saint Agnes School’s faculty and staff work together in teams to support students and their families. The principal leads her administrative team which includes our assistant principal, school counselor, learning coordinators and school librarian. We guide our teaching faculty as they collaborate in Professional Learning Communities, or PLC’s, with a growth mindset. All members of our faculty have advanced degrees, multiple degrees, or are actively working toward a graduate degree. All engage in targeted professional development to support school goals to advance student learning.
Saint Agnes School Leadership
Learning Coordinator & Interventionists
Pre-Kindergarten/Preschool
Megan Bauer
Preschool Teacher
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Caroline Robinson
2R Teacher
Maria Lockard
2R Assistant
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Seventh Grade
Eighth Grade
Related Arts
Additional Staff
History of Saint Agnes School
“In the fall of 1913, Father Cletus Brady, C.P., purchased an abandoned school…for a trifle over $100….the deal included 48 desks, two stove furnaces and an old school bell.” These are the opening lines of a book published by Margi Johnstone, long time Saint Agnes librarian, now retired, in celebration of the Centennial of Saint Agnes School.
Saint Agnes Parish opened the school in January of 1914 with twenty-seven pupils under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Within one week of opening the school, enrollment grew to thirty-two students and by the end of that first school year in 1914, Saint Agnes Catholic School had fifty students! Two sisters taught that first group, Sister Generose Bryan who acted as principal and teacher, and Sister Francis Gabriel Clark. The SCNs were a significant presence at Saint Agnes Catholic School, with the final SCN principal retiring from her post in 1990. The last SCN to serve as a full-time teacher, Sister Ruth Ann Humphrey, retired from her classroom in 2002, but still faithfully volunteers in the school helping young students learn to read.
Some of our families now have a third generation of students attending the school. Saint Agnes School also welcomes many new families to the parish and school as well. Today, Saint Agnes School is supported by a vibrant and strong parish faith community and continues the tradition of academic excellence established by the sisters. Our highly credentialed faculty and staff of over forty-five members support a student body of over 450 students, preparing them for rigorous high school programs. The school continues the mission of the sisters by forming students to be good stewards and to lead faith-based, mindful lives. To schedule a visit to see why we are a great Louisville area Catholic School and Highlands’ area landmark, contact us at school@stagneslouisville.org.
School Board
The Board’s purpose and function is to assist the pastor and principal in the governance of the parish school and the development of parish school policy. Board members serve a consultative role in the following areas: planning, policy development and formation, financing, public relations and marketing, major curriculum changes, operating and maintaining facilities and the physical environment and planning and building new educational facilities. The Board meets the second Tuesday of every month excluding the month of July. The Board is comprised of nine parishioners elected from the parish at large (three per year), one to three parishioners appointed by the Board, the Pastor, the Parish Administrator, the school Principal, the PTO Chairperson, and a faculty representative.
Standing Committees
- Executive
- Finance and Budget
- Enrollment/Nomination
- Advancement
- Technology
- Physical Facilities
- Catholic Identity
- Student Life
2021 – 2022 Members
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Jeffrey Mills | Chairperson |
| Keri Meador | Chair-Elect |
| Julie Brink | Secretary |
| Jenny Kute | |
| Doug Lorenz | |
| Angela Porter | |
| Erica Robison | |
| Jenny Stinnett | |
| Marcus Woods | |
| John Zickel |
School Theme for the Year
Light the Path Forward – 2021/22
Late each spring, our faculty holds a period of discernment to contemplate the school’s theme for the coming school year. We reflect on the current world, our community, and local needs. We thoughtfully consider issues and topics that are relevant today and explore ways we can appropriately make an impact to affect positive change. As we begin this year together, we will prayerfully explore the layers of how our theme can be felt in our hearts and lived in our daily lives as a call to compassionate action to elevate the dignity of every life.
Sacramental Preparation
Saint Agnes teachers, in collaboration with our pastor, Father Justin Nelson, C.P. and our Pastoral Associate, Dcn. Trey Mobley, work to prepare students to receive First Eucharist, First Reconciliation, and Confirmation. Students receive First Eucharist in second grade, First Reconciliation in fourth grade and Confirmation in eighth grade. Students learn about these sacraments through focused study and particular experiences designed to strengthen and support their own faith journey.
For children not enrolled in Catholic schools, we collaborate with other area parishes to prepare children to receive the sacraments through the Inter-parish Family Faith Formation program. Our pastoral associate serves as the liaison for Saint Agnes Parish families in this program. Please contact Dcn. Trey Mobley for information about sacramental preparation at tmobley@stagneslouisville.org or call 502-451-2220 ext. 563.
Student Stewardship
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you comforted me…”
Matthew 25: 35-36
In order for our children to become good stewards of their faith, we must teach them the concept of stewardship. To that end, Saint Agnes School has chosen to become part of the Step-by-Step Stewardship Program.
This program builds stewardship qualities in a very effective yet simple manner. It formalizes stewardship to promote consistency throughout the student experience and helps eliminate duplicity of effort. Children learn stewardship within a process that builds and expands stewardship skills as they grow and mature.
The Step-by-Step program addresses the aspects of stewardship from an introduction to stewardship in preschool to a more sophisticated perspective in middle school. At each grade level, students receive a stewardship “focus” for the year; these focuses remain in place permanently so the program retains continuity and students learn in a progressive manner. The focuses of Saint Agnes Student Stewardship are:
- Kindergarten Care for Creation
- 1st People who are Elderly
- 2nd People who are Hungry
- 3rd Babies and Children in Need
- 4th People who are Homeless
- 5th People who are Thirsty
- 6th People who are Refugees
- 7th People with Disabilities
- 8th Application of Cumulative Stewardship Concepts
Teachers, in conjunction with parents, facilitate this program and incorporate their particular stewardship focus into class work, art projects, community speakers, reading assignments, field trip experiences, etc. In addition to those activities, each grade participates in at least one service project per year that highlights their stewardship theme. Some activities in which our students have been involved include:
Preschool
Kindergarten children made cards for Parish friends, collected food and money for the St. Vincent de Paul Society and food pantry, collected pull tabs to send children with cancer to Indian Summer camp, and collected money for a family in need.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten learns more about recycling, composting, and how our faith calls for us to care about the world around us.
First Grade
The First Grade students have written to pen pals at the Highland Court Apartments. They have also planned and participated in many holiday events throughout the year at Highland Court. They learned about the needs of elderly people through guest speakers and read-alouds. They created prayers and prayed for all elderly people.
Second Grade
Second Grade students took a field trip to the Cathedral of the Assumption where they toured the church and kitchen and watched soup kitchen activities that happen at lunch time every day. They also have a speaker from Dare to Care who talked with the children.
Third Grade
Speakers from St. Joseph’s Home for Children, Kosair, and Ronald McDonald House spoke to the students. The students then decorated and donated a wreath for Kosair’s Festival of Trees and Lights, made and served meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House, and made friendship bracelets for the children staying at St. Joseph’s Home.
Fourth Grade
Speakers from the Coalition for the Homeless and Wayside Christian Mission introduced students to stories of the real people who are homeless. Parents read stories to the class about people who are homeless. In small groups, students visited the preschool at Wayside Christian Mission each month and had a party for the preschoolers.
Fifth Grade
Fifth grade students had a speaker from Water Step and then collected 1,000 pairs of used shoes for the “Shoes for Water” project that sells the shoes to finance water filtration systems for third world communities. A Saint Agnes parent who is also a GE engineer spoke to students about his work in developing Water Step’s water filtration devices. His work in using his professional skills in service to others was a beautiful example of selfless stewardship. Students also heard a read-aloud novel about water issues in Sudan, watched a documentary film about world water issues, and took a trip on the Spirit of Jefferson to attend Water Wonders, a morning of activities sponsored by the Louisville Water Company to learn about clean water issues here in Louisville.
Sixth Grade
The Sixth Grade begins its study of people who are refugees with a prayer service. Then, with the help of Catholic Charities, students listened to several speakers who share their personal stories about how they became refugees and what they have experienced since coming to America. The students research the countries and cultures of the speakers to better understand the situations that led them to seek refuge. In the spring each student personally earns money and, with the pooled money of the entire class, a student team shops for items needed by persons who have refugee status and come into our community. The students put together and deliver welcome baskets with the non-food household necessities that they have purchased and collected.
Seventh Grade
Various speakers talked about specific disabilities or organizations that provide support to people with disabilities. In small groups one morning, students visited one of five different organizations and then shared their experiences with the whole group. The class participated in Walk and Roll to benefit the Kids Center.
Eighth Grade
Students worked in collaborative groups at many different places, including the Americana Center, Neighborhood House, Harbor House, Nazareth Home, Hand-in-Hand Ministries Gilda’s Club, St. Anthony Soup Kitchen, Catholic Charities, and the St. Joseph Children’s Home.
Saint Agnes is a Compassionate Community
On August 13, 2013, Mayor Greg Fischer declared our Louisville Catholic School, Saint Agnes School, a COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY through a resolution passed by the Saint Agnes School Board. We continue to embrace this designation today. This resolution was based upon the engagement of “Saint Agnes School offering the wider Louisville community an educational opportunity for faith-based learning with an environment designed to foster the growth of each child spiritually, academically, emotionally, and physically.” This is done through compassionate action, stewardship, service, and inclusion. What a great acknowledgment for this fine, Highlands’ area school.
Today, we continue to learn about compassion through our school theme for the year 2021-22: Light the Path Forward.
Affiliation and Accreditation
Saint Agnes Catholic School is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Louisville and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Kentucky Non-Public Schools Commission.
The U.S. Department of Education named Saint Agnes School a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for the fourth time in 2020. Saint Agnes School earned this award again because of its continual Exemplary Academic Achievement school-wide. Saint Agnes was the first elementary school in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to be awarded the National Blue Ribbon four times. Saint Agnes School first earned the award in 1999, then in 2005 and again in 2014 for consistently high standards and achievement. U.S. Department of Education NBRS
Learning Environment
The learning environment of Saint Agnes School is structured to foster the growth of each child spiritually, academically, emotionally, and physically. Saint Agnes’s identity as a Catholic school, wherein each child experiences Christian community, frames every curricular department, every co-curricular and extra-curricular activity, the approach to teaching, and the day itself. Children learn about Catholic tradition, values and practices and have opportunities to develop a personal relationship with God through varied experiences of prayer and worship. Teachers strive to provide each child with the tools and experiences that will make him/her a self-confident and self-motivated learner. There is emphasis on strong oral and written communication skills, reasoning and problem solving skills, and developing students abilities to manage the vast amount of digital information available to them so that they can become 21st century leaders in our local community, in the Church and in the world.
Technology Integration
At Saint Agnes School, the use of technology as a learning tool is integrated into the daily experience. In addition to our STEAM lab classroom space, we have building-wide wireless access, we offer a smaller I-Mac lab in our library/media center, tablet devices on mobile carts, tablet devices in all classrooms, projection capabilities in all classrooms, devices issued to 7th & 8th grade students for use at home and school in the form of 1:1 initiative, Chromebooks for 6th graders at a ratio of 1:1, Chromebooks on mobile carts for use in the intermediate grades, closed-circuit student news broadcasts, and voice and device sound amplification capabilities in all classrooms. We offer instruction in computer coding, Robotics, animation and 3-D printing within the curriculum for particular grade levels. These tools and supports are in place to resource students and faculty for a richer learning experience. Students who graduate from Saint Agnes take with them the knowledge of Windows, iOS, iPad, Chromebook, Google’s G-Suite for Education, computer coding skills, and hundreds of cloud-based apps, websites and online resources.
Curriculum
The Saint Agnes curriculum is based upon the Archdiocesan Curriculum Framework established by the Archdiocese of Louisville. This framework is aligned with National Standards and with the Learner Goals and Academic Expectations established by the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Adherence to this standards-based curriculum is a requirement for our ongoing accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Kentucky Non-Public Schools Commission.
Religion program: The heart of the curriculum of Saint Agnes Catholic School is the religion program that is designed to provide students with an understanding of Catholic doctrine, scripture, and tradition. There is emphasis on the development of a personal relationship with God through many opportunities for prayer. Students attend Mass weekly, have opportunities to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and prepare and attend prayer services related to Church seasons or special celebrations. Teachers and parents work together to prepare students for their First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, and Confirmation. Saint Agnes School follows the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools developed in 2012 by the Center for Catholic School Effectiveness, School of Education, Loyola University of Chicago in partnership with Roche Center for Catholic Education, Lynch School of Education, Boston College.
Stewardship Program: Students in Kindergarten through eighth grade regularly participate in our Step-by-Step Stewardship Program through stewardship projects. Each grade level has a particular area of focus for stewardship education and service. Saint Agnes Catholic Parish community groups and individuals intentionally seek opportunities to connect with teachers and students in ways to support and form a Christian mindset of caring for one another and for our common home. All students correspond with parish friends who are either new to our community, who have experienced a change in their life, or who are elderly or ill in our parish community. Students also participate in ongoing food collection for the parish St. Vincent DePaul pantry and our middle school students have regular opportunities to serve at a local lunch program for the homeless or other on outreach service projects with the Saint Agnes School campus Director of Youth Ministry.
Saint Agnes recognizes a responsibility to prepare students for the Information Age. For this reason, the Library/Media/Technology Department is integrally connected with every other area of curriculum, working to ensure that students can access information, analyze resources, integrate knowledge and ideas responsibly, and create and present effectively. As highly skilled developers of curriculum, the Technology Coordinators and the Library-Media Specialist meet regularly with faculty members to design integrated units of study utilizing the extensive Saint Agnes library, media center within the library, technology lab, mobile iPad cart, 1:1 iPad program for 7th & 8th grades, as well as our broadcast studio.
The Language Arts, consisting of Reading/Literature, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar and Spelling, are taught as an integrated whole from Kindergarten through Grade 8. Literature is used as the starting point for writing activities. Saint Agnes has an extensive library/media center to support students in becoming lifelong readers. A writing curriculum ensures that students have the opportunity to learn to write in many genres as well. Grammar is taught in the context of writing, with grammar texts available for targeted skill practice. Vocabulary development is maximized by combining the use of texts in grades 4-8 designed to teach classical roots, and targeted vocabulary experiences integrated K-8. The use of texts and literature-based word walls and activities allow for Spelling/Vocabulary development in the early grades.
Mathematics instruction targets both computation and reasoning. Younger students often use manipulatives to increase their understanding. All teachers of math use vocabulary and strategies that familiarize the students with algebraic concepts. All of the eighth grade students take Algebra I, and many students receive high school credit for this course. Graphing calculators are used in 7th and 8th grade math classes.
The Science curriculum for all students involves activity-based classes built upon an understanding of the scientific method. Saint Agnes faculty intentionally integrate learning experiences to provide diverse S.T.E.M. and S.T.E.A.M. experiences and to help students identify cross-curricular, learning connections through project and experiment-based learning. Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Student experiments and demonstrations are frequent and open-ended. The cyclical curriculum culminates in middle school in a three-year sequence of Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science.
Teachers of Social Studies work to give all students a framework for understanding the geography, history, economics, and political structures of the complex world in which we live in order to prepare them to be effective citizens. Class work is integrated with guest speakers, community projects, and celebrations of ethnic and regional customs. Current events are a strong focus, particularly in regard to issues of social justice.
Spanish is part of the curriculum for all students. The K-5 program includes conversation, songs, games, culture, and vocabulary development. Students in 6-8 begin a more formalized study of written and oral language that prepares them for the possibility of advanced placement in high school. Sixth graders have two 45-minute classes each week ,and students in Grades 7-8 have three 45-minute classes weekly.
The teachers of the Fine Arts of Music and Visual Art provide students with both an appreciation of the master artists and their work, as well as knowledge of techniques and experience in creation of art and music. In both areas, teachers select projects related to a wide variety of cultures. Visual art includes projects in many media, and music includes choral as well as instrumental work. Eighth grade students participate in trimester classes exploring various arts in greater depth.
The Physical Education and Health curriculum emphasizes healthy practices and decisions, including cardiovascular workouts in every class, skill development, cooperative games, dancing, team sports, and instruction and activities related to nutrition, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse.
Our Counseling program provides regular classroom guidance on personal and social adjustment issues, as well as prevention education. An integral part of our faculty at Saint Agnes our Counselor is also available for individual or small group sessions with students, parents, or teachers, working closely with them to address individual needs.
The curriculum, supplemented by special cultural assemblies and a wide range of extra-curricular activities, allows us to offer a comprehensive education for all students in grades K-8.