St Mary’s Church School, Elyria | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

St Mary School is a wonderful school, that’s like a family. For instance, the teachers in the Junior High knew my children and their names, well before they were Junior High age. Mrs Mary Poling, secretary in the office is delightful. She is fabulous with the parents and the students. My students have done awesome at SMS. My oldest is thriving, and the school has fostered a love of reading in her. My middle child is on an IEP, and has made so many gains. He started preschool with the city preschool, which was an unorganized nightmare – they simply taught to his IEP and had no time for anything else. At St Mary School, he’s not a number, he’s a person, and it’s not just about his yearly goals, but about his whole person. My youngest child is doing great as well.

As for the poster who said she knew people who went there? That’s a great way to review a place, right? That person is trying to rate as many places as possible. Is that a popularity contest? Who knows, maybe she receives a kickback. Regardless, yes, St Mary School is a parish school, and as such, it does teach religion. There are many who attend who are not Catholic. They still have to take Religion class and go to mass, however, they don’t have to convert. It’s not the sole focus of the school. The school does an excellent job of also teaching Science, Math, Reading, Technology and all of the other traditional subjects. In addition, they offer band class beginning in 4th grade, Spanish class from Kindergarten until 8th grade, gym class and Art class. For the younger kids, and those not enrolling in band, there is music class offered. It’s a very well rounded school, preparing students for high school and beyond.

I had three daughters who went to St Mary’s. The two older ones transferred from Keystone school district in 6th and 7th grades respectively. The oldest went to EC and was salutatorian of her class, graduated in five years from Toledo with a BA in Spanish and a BS in pharmacy before receiving an MBA in International Finance for the Moore School of Business of the University of South Carolina. The second girl was 17th in her class at Elyria Catholic and then went on to graduate summa cum laude from college and is now a lawyer. The youngest entered St Mary’s in kindergarten, went straight through to the eighth grade, and then received a scholarship to Lake Ridge Academy. She then graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and is now pursuing a PhD in Statistics at the University of Minnesota. All three of them and I disagree wholly with the negative reviews posted previously. And just to be snarky about it, what does the second reviewer mean when he says they give out “free scholarships”? When was the last time anyone had to pay for a scholarship. He apparently went to a “much better” public school.

This school will beg you to enroll your children. Then fail with the curriculum and grading scale. Middle and jr high is vital the children need to like their teachers and be encouraged to know how to complete the work being taught. Not failed and dismissed the teachers don’t want to be challenged very comfortable with positions as much as being taught the same amount of effort is put into undermining the students and parents and don’t see how their approach is not encouraging not given chances to just correct work for better outcomes right now if it’s late their just given credit and never just allowing to redo for better grades and understanding which is the point of education to succeed. The relationship is teacher and student and should be positive not overwhelmed threatening to include the parent when mutual respect is needed. School not equipped for diversity in students pushing off basic learning to tutors and counseling when more direction positivity is more appropriate not a rushed curriculum.