Four archdiocesan schools receive Blue Ribbon honor for academic excellence

Wearing a blue wig, Rebecca Stone, principal of SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood, celebrates on Sept. 23 with students of the school. The celebration took place after she announced to the students that the U.S. Department of Education had named SS. Francis and Clare a National Blue Ribbon School. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher and Natalie Hoefer

For more than 40 years, the U.S. Department of Education has annually recognized the academic excellence of schools across the country by naming them National Blue Ribbon Schools.

Several Catholic schools across central and southern Indiana have been honored with this title during that time.

That legacy continued this year when four schools in the archdiocese were named on Sept. 23 as National Blue Ribbon Schools. They are Roncalli High School and St. Pius X School, both in Indianapolis, SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood and St. Mary-of-the-Knobs School in Floyd County.

Brian Disney, archdiocesan school superintendent, said he was “extremely excited” by the honor for the schools.

“These schools are led by outstanding leaders who integrate the Catholic faith into all aspects of the school experience,” Disney said. “The partnerships between their outstanding teachers and engaged parents support the spiritual, academic and character growth of all students.”

The Blue Ribbon designation was created by the federal Department of Education in 1982. In 1986, St. Mark the Evangelist School in Indianapolis was the first archdiocesan school to receive the honor. Since then, 29 schools across central and southern Indiana have been named Blue Ribbon Schools 38 times.

Disney praised the four schools honored this year as continuing “a long trend of archdiocesan schools being recognized for excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.”

Overall this year, 16 schools in Indiana received the Blue Ribbon honor. Seven are Catholic, with four of those in the archdiocese.

‘Everything—period, exclamation point’

Roncalli’s current leaders have good reason to rejoice in the school’s national recognition.

Kevin Banich graduated from Roncalli in 2009 and later served as a teacher there before becoming its principal four years ago.

“I’m just unbelievably proud and grateful that our school’s excellence was recognized at the national level,” he said. “ … This place has been such a blessing, and I’m so proud we can have this recognition on behalf of our faculty, staff, students and families.”

Chuck Weisenbach was on Roncalli’s staff the last three times it was named a Blue Ribbon School, in 1993, 1998 and 2003. A 1979 graduate of the school, he later served as a coach, teacher and principal at Roncalli before becoming its president.

“Things have changed since the last time we won, so I think it represents our great work,” Weisenbach said.

One change he noted is the student population’s increased diversity in ethnicity, socio-economic status and its range of learners, “from kids with special needs, to kids working toward a four-year college degree, to internships for kids who want to pursue a more hands-on career.”

What hasn’t changed at Roncalli, Banich noted, is the centrality of its Catholic identity, which he insisted has “everything—period, exclamation point”—to do with its academic excellence.

Weisenbach agreed, saying, “It’s always rewarding to show folks you can have academics in a faith-based environment, that you can pursue both with great passion. We place great emphasis on the faith formation of our students. So, to not forfeit academic excellence, that’s pretty cool.”

Banich noted that the 10 Catholic grade schools of the parishes in the Indianapolis South Deanery that send students on to Roncalli “deserve a large portion of the credit” for their role in making the honor possible. “We stand on the shoulders of the foundations they laid.”

Weisenbach lauded the schools and parishes as well.

“If they aren’t doing great work, we don’t have any magic powder to shower on them when they enter as freshman,” he said. “I hope they in some way feel part of this.”

Honoring a ‘hidden gem’

SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood is one of those South Deanery schools. But on Sept. 27, its 430 students reveled in their own Blue Ribbon honor—the first time the Greenwood school, founded in 2006, has been so recognized.

Rebecca Stone, SS. Francis and Clare’s principal, described the school as a “hidden gem” in Johnson County.

“To be recognized as a Blue Ribbon School has been a goal of ours for years. We’ve known that we’re this great,” she said. “Now the whole nation will know about the great things that are happening at SS. Francis and Clare.”

Stone has been on the staff at the school for 14 years and is in her first year as principal. She succeeded Betty Popp, currently serving as principal at St. Simon the Apostle School in Indianapolis, and gave her much credit for the honor given to SS. Francis and Clare. The pair will travel together to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony to honor this year’s Blue Ribbon Schools.

Stone says the academic excellence at SS. Francis and Clare is rooted in its dedication to “center all of our decisions around our faith.”

When that happens, she said, “then that bleeds into everything we do throughout the school day. Then it ends up being the way that the kids make decisions and interact with one another.”

Wearing a blue wig, Stone shared the good news with the school’s students at the end of the day on Sept. 23 in a gathering in its gym, joining them in an impromptu dance party to celebrate the honor.

“Celebrating with the staff and students means so much to me,” said Stone as she passed out blue-packaged Rice Krispies Treats to the departing students. “I have been very proud of this place for a long time, and today meant even more because I could see the pride on their faces.

“Being recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School is a group effort. We are blessed with the best staff and students.”

The palpable presence of the Holy Spirit

Another first-time archdiocesan recipient of the Blue Ribbon award is St. Mary-of-the-Knobs School in Floyd County in the New Albany Deanery.

While principal Tracy Jansen said the school community feels “very honored,” the designation is something she had faith the school would one day achieve.

“I always thought we had what it would take to be a Blue Ribbon School,” she said.

The school is one of only five rural, non-public schools nationally to receive the honor this year.

She credits the recognition in part to “our exceptional Catholic faith community that we have at our school, and our excellent teachers and staff. I can’t say enough about our community. You walk in our school and it’s palpable, the presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Of course, academic excellence factored in the honor as well—each grade ranked in the top 15% on standardized test scores in 2023, a requirement to apply for the honor.

Jansen, who has headed the school for 11 years, also credited the school’s “outstanding” teachers, some of whom “created an innovative reading program for kindergarten through grade two that helps us create a strong foundation in literacy and reading skills.”

Another aspect Jansen is “really proud of” is the school’s “focus on our environment and culture and the way we engage learners through our school mission: That, guided by Christ, all students will be nurtured spiritually, academically and individually. Our teachers do all they can do to carry out our mission.”

And that mission, she emphasized, is closely tied to the life of the parish that sponsors it.

“When a parish has a thriving Catholic school, they have a thriving parish,” Jansen said. “Keeping kids engaged with their Catholic faith is crucial to the Catholic Church.”

‘This is who we are’

Keely Beaudette has known for more than 30 years that St. Pius X School in Indianapolis was special. She first arrived as a third-grade student in the late 1980s and has been on staff there for 12 years, the last six years serving as principal.

So, she wasn’t surprised when St. Pius was named a Blue Ribbon School this year.

“I knew we had received it in the past,” Beaudette noted, referring to St. Pius being named a Blue Ribbon School in 2007. “It was important for me in my leadership role to get our teachers and students back to that. This is who we are. This is what we do. We just needed to get back there.”

When the announcement was made on Sept. 27, Beaudette was especially happy for the teachers at St. Pius.

“It’s a true testament to them and everything that they’ve done, and their dedication to the students, the parents and the community,” she said.

Beaudette also expressed her pride in the school’s students, who experienced many difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, but persevered to the point where the school has now been recognized nationally for its academic excellence.

“It was rough with what the kids had to go through with COVID, from being in school to not being in school, wearing masks,” Beaudette said. “We’ve asked them to do a lot just to function in a classroom. We’re just very proud of their work ethic and willingness to keep going when things were hard.

“This is a huge honor for all of the students. They kept working. They kept going. They helped us get this honor, which is wonderful.”

One of the factors Beaudette said helped St. Pius excel academically in the face of many challenges is its Catholic identity.

“It’s at the forefront of our minds,” she said. “We want to develop the whole child, not only to be academically strong, but spiritually strong, and socially and emotionally strong. The Catholic identity piece helps us to move our kids closer to that every single day.” †