It is hard to believe that the school year is 44 days here and gone already. For me, October is time that all my governing bodies want a report of some sort. Although these are time consuming and sometimes require computer skills above my proficiency level, I do enjoy compiling our basic demographic statistics for the present school year and comparing them to past years.
In the fall of 2017, which was my first year at Our Lady of Peace and the first year I started keeping records, Our Lady of Peace had an enrollment of 223 students. The Catholic population of our school was 78%. Our ethnicity was 79% Caucasian, 13% Black, 6% Hispanic and 2% other.
This year’s enrollment is the second largest since 2017 with a student body of 238 students. The only year larger was in 2023, the year we took a number of students from St. Anthony, including most of their 7th grade so that they could be together in 8th grade. We swelled to a total of 252 students. Our lowest year was post-Covid with 210 students.
When we look at potential growth, I use the number 240 as capacity for our little building, so this year we are very close with the majority of our grades at capacity.
We continue to get an influx of middle school students from Columbus Public with an eye towards continuing their Catholic education in high school. This year’s 95 students are the largest number except for our St. Anthony year.
Our Catholic population as stayed steady over the years, remaining at over 70% each year. 89% of our Catholic families are registered here at Our Lady of Peace with 11% at other parishes.
This year’s ethnicity percentages are not much different than ten years ago: 77% of our students are Caucasian, 13% Black, 5% Multi-Racial, 3% Hispanic and 2% Asian/Pacific Islander.
Our graduates continue to go to Catholic high schools in almost all cases. 10 years ago, the vast majority went on to Bishop Watterson High School with a handful of boys to St. Charles. This past year’s class of 2026 reflects a changing demographic of where our students live. 54% went to Bishop Watterson, 38% to St. Francis DeSales. Three boys headed over to St. Charles and one student now attends public school. Although we are still officially a Bishop Watterson Feeder School, the closing of St. Anthony and the capacity enrollment of St. Josephine (previously St. Matthias) have brought us more students from across I-71 which is the boundary between the Eagles and the Stallions. I am happy that our students continue their Catholic education in secondary school.
The other demographic that has changed in the last ten years is that 15% of our students have a documented learning disability with everything from ADHD to Autism. This has necessitated the use of more classroom aides as well as a fully staffed team of Intervention tutors and aides. The funding for these extra personnel comes from the Jon Peterson Scholarship.
We try hard every day to follow the teachings of our Church that all children are children of God. We also try hard every day to follow the premise that every student, from students with learning difficulties to students who are gifted, to everyone in between can thrive at Our Lady of Peace. We are incredibly grateful to the parents who have chosen Our Lady of Peace School for their children’s education, and we are just as grateful to Our Lady of Peace Parish for its support.
Jim Silcott