Two Sioux City Catholic schools merge, take Holy Cross name

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
August 28, 2003

The unification process between Blessed Sacrament and St. Michael Grade Schools in Sioux City started out somewhat slowly last year. Just one middle school class from St. Michael - the sixth grade - moved to Blessed Sacrament. This year collaboration has been taken to the next level as all of the middle school students - sixth, seventh and eighth - are attending at Blessed Sacrament.

In order to take the process a step further St. Michael and Blessed Sacrament have taken on a new name - Holy Cross School. At the same time, both campuses will keep their original identities as they will be referred to as Blessed Sacrament Center and St. Michael Center of Holy Cross School. This school also remains part of the larger unified Catholic Schools of Sioux City system.

According to Julie Luft, immediate past president of the joint Blessed Sacrament/St. Michael School Board, the two boards merged in July of 2002.

"We wanted to show that the Northside Catholic schools were unified and we felt that starting with a unified name would be the best way to work toward unification - so that those students from St. Michael's would feel part of the Blessed Sacrament environment," noted Luft.

She pointed out that the board had sent out a letter to parents last spring, requesting that they submit potential names for the new combined school. In considering a name, they were to look at the Catholic identity and the tradition and heritage of the local faith community.

"Each family was given the opportunity to suggest a name," said Luft. The board received 23 names from which they selected the top three picks. From there, the names were submitted to the CSSC corporate board and Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo.

In the end, they agreed on Holy Cross School.

Kevin Brady, the new president of the joint school board, said, "We feel the new name promotes unity and will be beneficial for the recruitment of new students in the future."

He pointed out that most people have been fairly accepting of this unification process.

Father Merlin Schrad, pastor at Blessed Sacrament, said he likes the new name because the cross is something that is center to Christianity and is something that people can identify with.

"This is the first step in uniting our two schools. From my perspective, I think it has been well received, and it is a good way that we can rally around something - the cross of Christ," he said. "I thank the people that have accepted this first step in our clustering and hopefully we can continue to move forward to provide the best that we can for our students here on the Northside."

The St. Michael and Blessed Sacrament Parishes have been clustered for a number of years.

Betty Abrahamson, principal at the Blessed Sacrament Center, said that the transition to the new name has gone quite smoothly. Some of the greatest transition has come through getting such things as the stationary and book stamps switched.

"And we just got it changed on the CSSC Web site," she noted. They are presently working on changing the signage in the school centers.

Abrahamson said people are still somewhat surprised when school personnel answer the phone, "Holy Cross School, Blessed Sacrament Center. Many people aren't use to the name change yet - it will take a while but it will get there."

She agreed that it was important for the middle school students moving from St. Michael Center to Blessed Sacrament, to have the continuity of one school name.

Unified with all of the grade schools of Catholic Schools of Sioux City, St. Michael and Blessed Sacrament have worked together with the others for years in having a common curriculum and more behind the scene areas such as purchasing school supplies. As a unified school the two centers plan to work together where possible. For instance, this year for the first time they will share an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. This is the second year they have blended together for sports teams.

Brenda Ferrie, principal at the St. Michael Center, said Holy Cross has come up with new athletic colors - Vegas Gold and Navy Blue. St. Michael teams had been red and black with an angel as a mascot, while Blessed Sacrament colors were white and blue with a knight as a mascot. They plan to select a new mascot for Holy Cross School and will gather suggestions from families.

Like the others, Ferrie sees the selection of one name for the two centers as a step forward in unification and the partnership. She also said it is an asset in helping the middle school children from St. Michael's transition to a new school.