St. Louis rejoices in enrollment increase

CUSTAR – St. Louis School is experiencing a renaissance of sorts in enrollment.
The Catholic school, on Ohio 281 that divides this rural farming community in southwest Wood County, is
celebrating a bump in enrollment this year that Principal Richelle Piercefield says can’t be attributed
to any one source.
This fall, the school has enrolled 42 youngsters in preschool through sixth grade. Last year, enrollment
was 33.
Piercefield said when neighboring Milton Elementary closed in the spring, St. Louis picked up two
students at the lower grades. While most come from Bowling Green and the Patrick Henry school districts,
the parochial school also has students whose families live in the North Baltimore, Otsego and Napoleon
school districts.
"I think a lot of it is location, and cost," said Piercefield about the low numbers. In a rural
setting – Custar has about 200 residents – there isn’t the population base to fill classrooms like there
is in Bowling Green, she said. And families that already are paying school district taxes would need to
come up with the parochial tuition, although St. Louis has one of the lowest tuitions in the diocese,
she added.
In the last few years, enrollment has trended downward. In fact, when Piercefield started as principal
three years ago, there was no preschool offered.
With its numbers hovering around 30, the school formed a steering committee, with a marketing
subcommittee, that began working on advertising and public relations.
"We could take more students," said Piercefield. She pointed out in the early 1990s, when she
was still a teacher, the school’s enrollment was in the 50s and 60s.
The school and St. Louis Catholic Church are two bedrocks in this small community, which also boasts a
bank, a caf?© and grain elevator.
"A lot of people don’t know we’ve been here as long as we have," Piercefield pointed out.
The school was founded in 1875, 11 years after the church.
With average class sizes of eight to 10 students, the school optimizes space by assigning one teacher to
two grade levels. That puts students in grades 1-2, for instance, in the same classroom being taught at
the same time. All students in the class, no matter the grade, are taught the same lessons in science,
social studies, health and religion. Lessons in language arts and math are specific to grade level, said
Jennifer Tussing, music teacher and member of the marketing committee.
Due to licensing changes at the state level, the school had to separate its preschool/kindergarten class
into separate programs this fall. That has created the opportunity to enroll 3-year-olds in the
preschool when before there was only room for 4-year-olds.
An additional classroom was required because of the split, so Piercefield decided to move the library
from the basement to the rectory next door, since its living and dining rooms only have been used as
meeting space and not as a residence.
"It’s nice and cozy" with a fireplace, said Tussing, whose three children attend St. Louis.
In its new space in the basement, where the school also has its cafeteria, the preschool has a capacity
for 13 youngsters. There are 10 enrolled this year.
There also is a new emphasis on technology in the classroom.
The parent organization is working to purchase more SmartBoards to add to the two already in classrooms.
And the group has provided 11 netbooks to students with the plan to buy iPads with proceeds from the
annual reverse raffle in December.