Portland St. Patrick Catholic School

If you have driven by Father Flohe Field recently you have probably noticed a flurry of activity.  In addition to the diligent practice of the Shamrock football teams, there has been other activity occurring in the southwest corner of the field.

Look closely the next time you drive by.  Beyond the football and baseball fields, you will notice nearly a dozen trees have been removed and others have been trimmed back.  Also, two back stops have been removed fro...

It's hard to believe that we are finishing up the 2009-10 school year!  By the time you read this, summer break will already have begun!  St. Patrick School students and staff are busy this week, wrapping up a very successful school year.  Some of the highlights and accomplishments of the past two months include:

• The accreditation site teams visited our school for two days, and we were approved for accreditation.   Next school year will begin a new seven ye...

That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.

                    Luke 6:48  Holy Bible (NAB)

The goal of St. Patrick School is to ensure that when our seniors walk up to the front of the altar on graduation...

When the devastating earthquake hit Haiti in January, people from around the world were horrified by the destruction and loss of lives.  At St. Patrick, we waited anxiously to hear how one of our Haitian friends had fared, and the news was not good.

Sister Luvia Joseph, who operates a school and orphanage in Haiti has visited St. Patrick and other neighboring parishes in the past, to talk to us about the work that she and the other sisters do there.  We a...

Though most people are awarethat public schools go through a regularly scheduled accreditation process,many do not know that private schools are similarly accredited.  St.Patrick School receives accreditation from the Michigan Association ofNon-public Schools (MANS), an organization founded in 1972 to help non-publicschools develop and maintain high standards of excellence. 

Every seven years we are evaluated by a MANS team, and we have just completed the process...

The PTA has designated the week of May 3-7, 2010, asTeacher Appreciation Week. I hope that you will join me in recognizingthe imperative and inspiring work teachers do every day.  Teachers are a crucial part of the team that works together with parents and communities to help every child reach his/hero wn potential.  Each of us can probably remember one special teacher who helped us turn our life around or spurred us on to new levels of success.

It is a p...

On Tuesday, May 4 voters in the Portland School District will have the opportunity to cast a vote for something that will benefit high school students at both St. Patrick and Portland High Schools.  On the May 4 ballot, voters will be asked to approve a millage for the funding of vocational education at the Heartlands Institute of Technology.

HIT graduates are your friends, neighbors, and professionals at area businesses. It is possible that the chef in on...

During Spring Break, my family took a trip to Orange Beach, Alabama.  We attended Easter Mass at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Orange Beach.  Families were crowding into the rather large church.  Children sat on the steps surrounding the sanctuary and many were forced to stand around the back of the church.  In all there were more than 3,000 people in attendance at the 9:30 a.m. Mass.

While the church was filling up, my thoughts wan...

Spring is the perfect time of year for field trips. The students have been in the classrooms all year, and now it’s time to show them how the lessons and materials they have learned relate to the world around them. In these tough economic times, people often ask if field trips are worth the expense. At St. Patrick’s School, we feel that they are not only worth it, but are a vital part of the student’s education. It is our goal that every student in the school will take a fie...

The snow is melting and the temperatures are beginning to rise.  It is that time of year when schools begin preparing for the next school year.  One of the items that schools need to prepare for is the kindergarten screening.  For many parents, especially those with a child entering school for the first time, it can be a time of anxiety.  Parents can be nervous about the kindergarten screening process.  There is no need to be nervous as our experienced staff is prepar...