St Catharine School

2865 Fair Avenue

Columbus, OH 43209

7 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK, K-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on June 12, 2023

Stay away from this school, stay far away. Look at all other options, shoot, your local public school will be a better choice then St. Catherine's. This school is after your money, nothing else. I can't go into every bit of my experience with this school because it would never be enough to truly capture the awful work they did for my daughter. Again, RUN away from this place.
Submitted by parent on December 10, 2022

The current principal of this school is unorganized, ineffective and does not enforce any of the school's policies or rules. He does not respond to emails and can't give a direct answer to your questions. The school's safety is a joke. Doors that do not lock, vagrants found sleeping on the gym stage with no clue how they got into the building. I could go on and on. The principal, and some staff members have been heard screaming at children. The staff, with the exception of a few, is rude and cold. Walking through the school, you can feel the tension between staff. People walking through the hall without even acknowledging each other. In my experience, when volunteering or being in the school for events or assemblies, you quickly learn who is welcoming and kind, and who treats you like your being there is inconvenient and a bother.There have been multiple complaints from many families in the school about so many different issues it's hard to count; bullying, ineffective teachers, homework, lack of leadership, staff turnover, an uninvolved parish priest, safety/security, curriculum, cliques among staff, maintenance, building procedures. The building itself is old and often there are boxes left in the halls, sometimes in stacks. Plaster on the walls in need of repair, water fountains off the walls with exposed pipes, the gym roof leaks when it rains, painting that needs done, pictures not hung but sitting propped up in the floor against the wall. Again, the list goes on and on. The goal of the school and current administration is to get numbers up and they don't care how. Now accepting the Edchoice vouchers, the amount of non-Catholic students has greatly increased. Not a huge problem if you have strong Catholic leadership, which they don't. There is such a focus on numbers and enrollment and not the environment it's creating. Many families have left this school in recent years. Some are just "riding it out" because their children are in upper grades and "almost out." I would avoid this school.
Submitted by student on March 21, 2019

2/5. does not adequately prepare students for highschool, and doesn't provide a decent enough learning experience for students grades 6-8. for preschool through elementary, it is ok. but middleschool is a nightmare. the grading program used is a simple N for not meeting the standard, or a checkmark for meeting it. you read this right. In a MIDDLESCHOOL, there isnt a standard grading system, and students have no idea what their scores actually look like. you could get a B- on a paper, but it would look like an N on the gradebook, since thats how it works here, leading a student, and parent, to believe that the child failed. So, in conclusion, think about somewhere else if you would like to send your kids here for middleschool. elementary however, is an overall mixed bag, depending on how the principal feels about punishing the kids that day.
Submitted by parent on April 09, 2016

The curriculum is not preparing children for more rigorous high school studies. Teachers definitely exhibit strong favoritism towards specific students due to the social status of parents. Education should always be top priority, especially not politics when referring to elementary or middle school. Lastly, the principal is blatantly deceitful. Again, she is the ring leader of catering to the elitist group of parents and has failed greatly to serve as the Christian values of the school are teaching the children. What better way to lead by example, with the exception of the staff and principal at St. Catharine. Any parent would be better off enrolling your children in any of the surrounding schools if you expect your family to be treated with respect and dignity.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2014

Our children go to St. Catharine School. We have our last one of 5 in Kindergarden now. Couldn't be happier with the curriculum, sense of community, and faith-based education.
Submitted by parent on August 20, 2013

This school is a gem. My Aunt Barbara Chavous (National Arts Endowment receiptant informed me (directly) that this is a school that doesn't look for attention and exceeds the standards for education. In fact, coming from a family that has multiple family members that have graduated from the likes of Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Howard, Spelman and Morehouse Universities. I would have no doubt that enrolling my child. Especially, for the best interest of my child.
Submitted by parent on October 21, 2012

In our opinion they have failed to put our child best interest before their reputation. We feel strongly that the growth and achievement of our child in this school may be limited because, we feel that there is a lack of value, lack of responsibility, and lack of integrity from a staff and the leadership. From our experiences, we feels that they have failed to provide a positive learning environment for our child. We are moving to another school.