2025 Catholic Schools Week Supplement
Four archdiocesan schools receive Blue Ribbon honor for academic excellence
Wearing a blue wig, Rebecca Stone, principal of SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood, celebrates on Sept. 23, 2024, with students of the school. The celebration took place after she announced to the students that the U.S. Department of Education had named SS. Francis and Clare a National Blue Ribbon School. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
(Editor’s note: This story is a shortened version of the original one that appeared in the Sept. 27, 2024, issue of The Criterion.)
By Sean Gallagher and Natalie Hoefer
Four Catholic schools in the archdiocese were named a national Blue Ribbon School during this academic year, adding to a 42-year tradition of excellence.
The U.S. Department of Education bestowed the Blue Ribbon School recognition on Roncalli High School and St. Pius X School, both in Indianapolis, SS. Francis and Clare
of Assisi School in Greenwood and
St. Mary-of-the-Knobs School in Floyd County.
Catholic schools in the archdiocese have now received 43 Blue Ribbon School designations since the program was started in 1982.
Brian Disney, archdiocesan school superintendent, said he was “extremely excited” by the honor for the four schools.
“These schools are led by outstanding leaders who integrate the Catholic faith into all aspects of the school experience,” Disney said. “The partnerships between their outstanding teachers and engaged parents support the spiritual, academic and character growth of all students.”
Disney praised the four schools as continuing “a long trend of archdiocesan schools being recognized for excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.”
This year, 16 schools in Indiana received the Blue Ribbon honor. Seven are Catholic.
Chuck Weisenbach was on Roncalli’s staff the last three times it was named a Blue Ribbon School, in 1993, 1998 and 2003. A 1979 graduate of the school, he later served as a coach, teacher and principal at Roncalli before becoming its president.
“Things have changed since the last time we won, so I think it represents our great work,” Weisenbach said.
One change he noted is the student population’s increased diversity in ethnicity, socio-economic status and its range of learners, “from kids with special needs, to kids working toward a four-year college degree, to internships for kids who want to pursue a more hands-on career.”
What hasn’t changed at Roncalli, principal Kevin Banich noted, is the centrality of its Catholic identity, which he insisted has “everything—period, exclamation point”—to do with its academic excellence.
Banich noted that the 10 Catholic grade schools of the parishes in the Indianapolis South Deanery that send students on to Roncalli “deserve a large portion of the credit” for their role in making the honor possible. “We stand on the shoulders of the foundations they laid.”
SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi School in Greenwood is one of those South Deanery schools. Its 430 students reveled in their own Blue Ribbon honor—the first time the Greenwood school, founded in 2006, has been so recognized.
“To be recognized as a Blue Ribbon School has been a goal of ours for years,” said Rebecca Stone, the school’s principal. “We’ve known that we’re this great. Now the whole nation will know about the great things that are happening at SS. Francis and Clare.”
Stone says the academic excellence at SS. Francis and Clare is rooted in its dedication to “center all of our decisions around our faith.”
When that happens, she said, “then that bleeds into everything we do throughout the school day. Then it ends up being the way that the kids make decisions and interact with one another.”
Another first-time archdiocesan recipient of the Blue Ribbon award is St. Mary-of-the-Knobs School in Floyd County in the New Albany Deanery.
While principal Tracy Jansen said the school community feels “very honored,” the designation is something she had faith the school would one day achieve.
The school is one of only five rural, non-public schools to receive the honor this year.
She credits the recognition in part to “our exceptional Catholic faith community that we have at our school, and our excellent teachers and staff. I can’t say enough about our community. You walk in our school and it’s palpable, the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Another aspect Jansen is “really proud of” is the school’s “focus on our environment and culture and the way we engage learners through our school mission: That, guided by Christ, all students will be nurtured spiritually, academically and individually. Our teachers do all they can do to carry out our mission.”
Keely Beaudette has known for more than 30 years that St. Pius X School was special. She first arrived as a third-grade student in the late 1980s and has been on staff there for 12 years, the last six years serving as principal. So, she wasn’t surprised when St. Pius was named a Blue Ribbon School this year.
“I knew we had received it in the past,” Beaudette noted, referring to St. Pius being named a Blue Ribbon School in 2007. “It was important for me in my leadership role to get our teachers and students back to that. This is who we are.”
When the announcement was made on Sept. 23, Beaudette was especially happy for the teachers at St. Pius.
“It’s a true testament to them and everything that they’ve done, and their dedication to the students, the parents and the community,” she said.
Beaudette also expressed her pride in the school’s students.
“They kept working. They kept going. They helped us get this honor, which is wonderful.”
One of the factors Beaudette said that helps St. Pius excel academically is its Catholic identity.
“We want to develop the whole child, not only to be academically strong, but spiritually strong, and socially and emotionally strong,” she said. “The Catholic identity piece helps us to move our kids closer to that every single day.” †
