St. Peter School in Pine Bluff might be one of the oldest Catholic schools in the state, but it will be embracing a new location and new curriculum for the fall.
On March 1, Dr. Carol Ann Beeman, principal, announced that the elementary school will be the first Catholic school in the diocese to adopt the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program. Because Beeman, a trained art therapist, believes art is also an important component of a better education, St. Peter School will also be expanding its art curriculum. The school has already begun to explore how the Arts and STEM program will be incorporated into all of the classrooms and subjects, but it won’t be fully implemented until fall 2012, she said.
 St. Peter School: History and the future Click here |
St. Peter will be working with the National Center for STEM Elementary Education at St. Catherine University in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., to train the teachers in the summer of 2012 and partnering with local professionals at the Art and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College to provide hands-on experiences and field trips for the students.
“It’s an enhancement, enrichment and extension of the curriculum,” Beeman said. “Our goal is to immerse the children in technology from the earliest ages.”
In the field of art, Beeman said they hope to reinstate their art program for the children in after-school care and hire a full-time art teacher.
“We want to challenge our students and prepare them for the 21st century,’ she said. “That’s the whole concept of immersion in the technology culture and the global market. We no longer live where everything is two blocks down the street. The future of our jobs and occupations evolves around technology and in the sciences.”
Beeman said the Arts and STEM announcement will hopefully encourage more parents to enroll their children in the school, which was founded 121 years ago as the Colored Industrial Institute. The school has dropped in enrollment over the past seven years and has been experiencing financial strain because of the lower enrollment. Most of the children currently enrolled are lower income and many come from single-parent families.
On Feb. 14 the school announced it was moving to newer and better facilities at the former St. Joseph Junior High School on the St. Joseph Church grounds. The school hopes to register at least 100 students by the end of March to ensure the relocation can occur this summer. Many of the new families interested in St. Peter School are St. Joseph parishioners who have their children enrolled at Trinity Episcopal School, which is closing in May, Beeman said.
So far 82 children are registered for the fall, compared to the 75 students currently enrolled in pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. The publicity about the move to St. Joseph Church has already yielded results, Beeman said. In the past three weeks, three new families pulled their children out of public schools and have enrolled a total of five children this spring. Beeman said at least two other children could also be moving to St. Peter in March.
“They didn’t even know we were still open,” Beeman said of the new families. “I guess we haven’t done such a great job of marketing.”
On March 3, the school hosted an open house at its new location. Beeman said about 50 families requested registration packets. About 200 to 250 people met in the parish hall for a program, which included performances by three St. Peter School choirs and an explanation of the history of Catholic education in Jefferson County and the school’s future plans.
St. Peter and St. Joseph families were then given tours of the building.
Beeman said if the school reaches 100 students, the school would not have to have combined classrooms. Currently first and second, third and fourth and fifth and sixth grades share classrooms and teachers. The 3 year olds, 4 year olds and kindergarteners have separate classrooms and teachers.
To show the school is entering a new era, St. Peter School also adopted a new logo. It features a cross, Bible, keys to represent St. Peter, their Golden Eagles mascot and arts and science symbols. The name Wiley Jones is prominently displayed at the bottom of the crest. Jones, a former slave and one of the wealthiest people in Arkansas at the turn of the century, donated the land and the materials for the original Colored Industrial Institute building.
St. Peter School: History and the future
History: Catholic education in Pine Bluff
St. Mary Academy was the first Catholic school in the state when it was founded near Pine Bluff in 1838.
Annunciation Academy was founded in 1880 at St. Joseph Church.
The first Catholic school in Pine Bluff for black students opened in 1889 as the Colored Industrial Institute.
St. Peter Academy opened in 1897 at St. Peter Church.
St. Joseph High School was established in 1999.
Today St. Peter School at St. Peter Church serves students in pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. Students in seventh through 12th grades attend St. Joseph High School on its own campus.
Future: Why is STEM important?
Math, science and technology education are more important than ever. The current education American children receive will not meet the demands of employers and the international market. According to the National Center for STEM Elementary Education:
Specialized jobs in STEM fields will increase by 32 percent from 2002 to 2012.
The number of 18 to 24 year olds in the United States who receive scientific degrees has fallen from third to 17th in the world in the last three decades.
A negative interest in science begins in elementary schools where about 33 percent of girls and boys in fourth grade express negative attitudes.
