Catholic high school planned for Key West

Monday, April 18, 2022

Tom Tracy – Florida Catholic

KEY WEST | Due
to growing enrollment, the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea has announced a
historic re-opening of the parish’s Catholic high school, set for the 2023-2024
school year. 

“The key to
the demand is that people like what we offer. They like the academic product
and the ethos of the school compared to other options. It is a peaceful, safe
environment that makes it conducive to learning,” said Robert Wright, principal
of the Key West school since 2013. “The reason we have that (environment) is
that the school is rooted in the Gospel.”

Renovation
of The Basilica School’s old auditorium will provide a 17,500 square foot
academic facility. The school is working with William Horn Architecture and
will launch a capital campaign, “From Start to Finish,” in the coming
weeks, according to Wright. 

The current
PreK3 through grade 8 at the Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea is
making plans to expand to grades 9 and 10 in August 2023. Laying the groundwork
for that expansion, the school will increase its elementary school enrollment
in the upper grades beginning next fall. 

“I came in
2013 with 170-student enrollment and we have over 350 students today with over
100 on a waiting list. The demand is there,” Wright said. “People are just so
excited.”

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Robert Wright, principal of the Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Key West, is pictured here in a file photo from 2017. Plans are in the works to re-open the parish high school in the 2023-24 school year, bringing back Catholic secondary education to the Lower Keys after a 37-year absence.

When Father
John Baker, the Basilica’s rector, made the announcement during Masses at the beginning
of March, “people were in tears that they would be able to avail themselves of
our faith traditions,” Wright added.

In 1986, the
old Mary Immaculate High School closed due to declining enrollment and
financial insolvency, according to a written history of the parish. Although
the warning signs had been there for five years, the closure was still a shock
to the community. June 1986 saw the last graduating class. St. Mary’s School
then moved into the old high school facilities and was renamed Mary Immaculate
Star of the Sea School, according to parish records. 

In 2012,
Pope Benedict XVI declared St. Mary Star of the Sea a minor basilica and the
school’s name changed to The Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea. It is
located at 700 Truman Avenue, Key West.

SCHOOL
CHOICE

Wright said
that an expansion of student choice legislation in Florida, along with limited
private school options in the lower Florida Keys, has created strong demand for
Catholic education in Key West. There are also options for special needs
children at the school. 

Continuing
the tradition of the current, fully accredited, STREAM-certified PreK3–8
school, the new high school will offer students dual enrollment and advanced
placement courses, the latest technology, and the most popular extracurricular
activities, clubs, and sports programs, according to Wright. With an expected
enrollment of approximately 180 students by year three, the vision is to keep
classes relatively small.

Scholarship
programs, available through Step Up for Students, will keep costs affordable
for all families. 

“As valued
in Catholic tradition, our new Basilica High School will continue to provide
academic excellence to our community’s adolescents, while encouraging
intellectual curiosity and the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty,” Wright
said. “Florida, right now, is so supportive an environment for school
choice. We have a good product, great teachers and a governor and a legislature
who are finding ways for more and more students to find a way to afford private
education.”

LOWER COSTS

Wright
noted that the per student cost for the Catholic school is roughly $10K a
student, whereas Monroe County public schools’ costs are more than double that.

Some 64% of
the Catholic school students in Key West already benefit from a variety of
income and needs-based voucher programs. And there is a possibility that
pending legislation will allow that to expand to include children of local
families serving in the U.S. military in Monroe County. 

Photographer: COURTESY

View of the exterior of the current Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Key West, which is planning an expansion for the academic year 2023-24.

Wright said
the school will not accept registrations at least until construction has begun,
and that a lot of work on the project remains, including fundraising, designs
and construction permits and planning. Somewhat ironically, the new high
school construction will take place in what was the old auditorium, which was
dealt a blow in 2017 when Hurricane Irma tore off the roof and one adjacent
wall. 

Wright said
the addition of a high school offers families a more complete faith formation
for their children by offering Catholic education for four more years following
elementary school. “We do such a good job planting seeds in the kids, nurturing
those seeds, and right at this most critical juncture in their lives
keeping their faith nourished through to fruition during high school.”

MORE
ENROLLMENT

The
Archdiocese of Miami, like many dioceses around the country, has seen an uptick
in enrollment over the last year or two, possibly driven by factors related to
local response to the coronavirus pandemic and government expansion of the Step
Up school vouchers. 

“Specifically,
our archdiocesan enrollment is up five percent this year, and the vast majority
of our schools have seen an enrollment increase,” said Jim Rigg, archdiocesan
secretary of education and superintendent of Catholic schools. “The
overall quality of our Catholic schools is always a draw.”

Another
Catholic high school, called Cristo Rey, is expected to open in fall 2022 in
the North Miami area. The private Catholic high school offers a faith-based
college preparatory program and corporate work study experience for students
from families with limited economic means. A co-educational school, Cristo
Rey will be the second of its kind in Florida, joining a similar high school in
Tampa as one of nearly 40 Cristo Rey schools nationwide.

Rigg pointed
to several other examples of positive Catholic school enrollment in the Miami archdiocese:

Persons
interested in supporting the new high school in Key West should contact Wright
at [email protected].