St. George Catholic School

dents, with grades one and two in one room and grades three through six in the other. The Sisters lived with parishioners Anthony and Lena Donze, whose home was a block away from the plant. The following year, the schools attendance expanded to 100 students in eight grades; four sisters came to teach. The sisters lived in a garage apartment across the street from the school. George had its first eighth grade graduating class, four boys, this same year. Donald Hartnett became pastor. The parish and the school grew by leaps and bounds. During the 1954-55 school year, half the cafeteria space was paritioned off to provide two more classrooms. There were now five sisters and one lay woman teaching in the school. Mother Superior of Sacred Heart convent in Lisle informed Msgr. Harnett that her sisters needed a convent if she was to increase their number and continue to staff our school. An eight bedroom, four bath convent was built; this building is now used to house the parish offices. This same year, four additional classrooms were added to the school facility. This, during the 1955-56 school year, there were eight sisters teaching eight grades and the cafeteria offered full service. A new church was built during the 1956-57 school year to accommodate the 1200 families in the parish. Five hundred students were enrolled in eight grades during the 1957-58 school year. Classroom space was at maximum use. In the years following, a library room in the church was made into a makeshift classroom to relieve crowding in first and second grades. There were now lay teachers working with the sisters to staff the school. In 1960, St. George School reached its maximum capacity with 513 students. In 1963, the parish was divided; the new parish, St. John the Apostle, was located east of St. George in the mid-cities area. Because St. Johns parish opened a school that same year, the enrollment at St. George dropped dramatically. The number of teaching sisters was also cut back, and in 1969 the Sacred Heart Sisters were unable to staff the school because of the number of women who had left the convent. George School came close to closing that year because of financial problems caused by the drop in enrollment and the added burden of lay salaries. In 1970-71, the seventh and eighth grades from both St. George and St. Peter School were moved to Nolan High School creating a Junior High School on the High School campus. The enrollment in grades one through six was approximately 125 students; Mrs. Dorothy Kassel, principal, with six lay teachers, staffed the school. It had been decided that if the enrollment fell below 100, the school would be closed. Parents knocked on doors asking parents to send their children back to St. George, even though there were no sisters for a real Catholic School. In 1971, a kindergarten class was added. These were turbulent times for both the parish and the school because of many changes in personnel and the sometimes painful reasons associated with these changes. George School enrolls 200 students in Pre-K through 8th grade. The students ethnic backgrounds reflect that of the parish; Anglo, Asian and Hispanic.