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St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton has received four grants totaling $1.65 million from area foundations and a local business to support and enhance academic programs and ongoing capital improvements, and which will pave the way for the expansion of the middle school, recently designated Loyola Academy at Saint Columbkille.
School officials said the foundation grants include $1 million from the Yawkey Foundation, $300,000 from the Flatley Foundation and $100,000 from the Birmingham Foundation, as well as $250,000 from longtime supporters Rick and Cathy Roche. Collectively, these gifts represent one of the largest single-year foundation contributions to a K-8 school in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Since its inception in 2006 as a partnership between Boston College, the Archdiocese of Boston and St. Columbkille Parish, the St. Columbkille Partnership School has seen a 170 percent increase in enrollment, from 140 to 380 students, reversing the trend of urban diocesan schools in Boston and throughout the nation. The foundation grants will enable the school to expand to 500 students.
Boston College has invested more than $4 million in the K-8 Catholic school during the past eight years as part of the University’s commitment to sustain the last Catholic elementary school in neighboring Allston-Brighton.
“We offer an excellent education that has attracted students from Allston-Brighton and 16 communities throughout the region,” said Head of School William Gartside. “There is a critical need for quality, Catholic, middle school education for more area students. Support from the four foundations enables us to better address this need.”
St. Columbkille Parish School was founded in 1901 to serve the burgeoning population of Irish immigrants. The school experienced declining enrollment beginning in the 1980s, but was transformed by the partnership with Boston College, the Archdiocese of Boston and St. Columbkille Parish. Since then, more than 90 percent of the school’s teachers have earned master’s degrees from Boston College, and BC’s Lynch School of Education has assisted the school in adopting a research-based curriculum, a strong early childhood program and a technology-centered elementary education program.
“We are a community school that provides a superior education at an affordable cost,” said St. Columbkille Partnership Board Chairman Peter McLaughlin. “Our partnership with BC and its Lynch School of Education has created a winning formula that appeals to parents not only in our host community, but in surrounding communities including Newton, Watertown, Waltham, Cambridge, Brookline and West Roxbury.
“Our efforts are bolstered by a financial aid budget of $400,000, which enables 40 percent of our students to receive financial aid. With these foundation grants and the Roches’ gift, and an expanded middle school, we can ensure that the school will flourish for generations to come.”
Said Gartside, “It is an exciting time for all of us at St. Columbkille School. One of the best Catholic schools in New England just got better and now has the funding to grow and thrive in the years ahead.”