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For those of us who have children at St. Theodore’s school, we can sum up our thoughts about the past six months of the school year in a word: Blessed. Due to our limited class sizes and resilient staff and teachers, we have been able to remain in-person learning, five days a week; this includes lunch in the lunchroom, going to Mass once weekly, and five-days-a-week preschool. St. Theodore’s School is thriving through adaptation and creative thinking in the time of COVID. 

To continue our endeavor to grow our school, the school board has made some exciting changes for this upcoming school year. The first is our brand new playground. Through fundraising, generous donations and grants, we were able to completely update our playground area and equipment including expanding our playground area, new fencing and optimizing the layout. The children love having more room to run and play and the biggest hit is the spider web climber.

One of the biggest successes of St. Theodore’s school is our top-notch preschool program. We are blessed to have a group of 10 students this year who participate and come to school five days a week from 8:15 to 11:15 a.m. Even though we’ve had to limit interaction between classes due to COVID, the preschoolers still accompany the other students to Mass on Wednesday morning. For the 2021-22 school year, the tuition for our preschool program has been cut in half to $1,000. If you are interested in checking out our preschool program or the school, we are hosting an open house from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23. This open house is also for students who are interested in kindergarten. Staff and parents will be available to answer questions. Please wear a mask.

I often hear the financial burden is what is limiting families from attending St. Theodore’s school. We are hoping to help alleviate that burden with some new opportunities and reiteration of some old ones that have been available. There are financial assistance options available, including grants and scholarships, for those who are interested in attending but cannot afford it. Our office staff is great at answering questions and helping families fill out this paper work. We have also instituted a family discount for families with multiple students. 

Despite not being Catholic, we chose to send our daughters to St. Theodore’s school. I believe that a faith-based education will help them to become more empathetic, caring and compassionate people. They have the opportunity to attend weekly children’s Mass, which brings faith into their lives. They have small classes, which affords them close attention from the staff. Also, starting in kindergarten, they have Spanish class. These are just a few of the opportunities that make St. Theodore’s school the right choice for my family. If you have any interest, please reach out to our knowledgeable staff at 373-9657.

Brie Tubbs

Albert Lea