St. John's changes plans after call for 8th grade

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press 

SHREWSBURY – Interest in an eighth grade at St. John’s High School was so great that the school changed its original plans and added that grade for this fall. School leaders said so many applications came in that they had to close the admissions process two days after opening it. 

The all-boys school announced in the spring of 2019 that it would add a middle school, starting with a seventh-grade class of 75-90 students in the fall of 2020. Eighth grade was to open in the fall of 2021.  

The goal was to have at least 60 seventh-graders this fall, said Sean Dillon, assistant principal for middle school. 

“We started to receive a large number of inquiries from families interested in an eighth-grade experience for students, because of the challenges presented by COVID and online learning,” he said. Families had heard of St. John’s positive online learning experience when schools shut down because of the coronavirus, and were looking for more than they got in their previous schools, he said. 

St. John’s had reached its expected enrollment for grade 7, so they decided to open one section of grade 8, with a maximum of 24 students, said Alex Zequeira, headmaster. Their maximums were 69 seventh-graders (23 per section, or class) and 24 eighth-graders, he said. He said the middle school division is at capacity. 

“There was a demonstrated need” for an eighth grade, Mr. Zequeira said. “I was very proud of how we met it.”  

St. John’s announced on June 30 that eighth-graders could apply, “and by July 2 we had shut the admissions process down, and the class was fully enrolled by the first week of August,” he said.  

He said about 35 eighth-graders expressed interest, and the school will work with those who didn’t get in this year, and their present schools, to prepare them to enter St. John’s for ninth grade. He said those students are already admitted to St. John’s for next year, as long as they maintain high academic and behavioral standards.  

Typically, 75 percent of St. John’s ninth-graders come from public schools and 25 percent from Catholic or other private schools, Mr. Zequeira said. With declining enrollment in Catholic schools, there have been fewer eighth-graders in those schools to go on to Catholic high school, he said. 

“We see the middle school as an expansion of our mission … to serve boys at a younger age,” Mr. Zequeira said. The mission is “to bring Christ to life in young men,” he said. “Our mission is a full commitment to educating the whole person … mind, body and soul. … We strive – and expect our students to strive – for excellence in those areas.” 

To consider how to expand that mission, the board of trustees and school community engaged in an extensive discernment process, and felt it would be important to educate boys at a younger age, he said. He noted that St. John’s is the only local Catholic all-boys school for grades 7-12.  

“The 7-12 model is growing, not just in Catholic schools … even in public and charter schools,” he said. He said research shows that eliminating the transition from a middle school to a separate high school, by having one school for both, is beneficial. 

“In many ways, we’re returning to our mission … to educate boys from middle school through high school,” he said. 

Four members of the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier (Xaverians) came to Worcester in 1894, to teach boys in grades 4-6, at the invitation of Msgr. Thomas Griffin, pastor of St. John Parish in Worcester, he said. As the boys progressed, the brothers opened higher grades. In 1954 then Bishop John J. Wright gave the Xaverians control of the high school, and in the 1960s they moved it to Shrewsbury, Mr. Zequeira said.  

The new division of St. John’s High School is called the Brother Robert Treanor, C.F.X. Middle School Division, after one of the first four brothers who came to the school, he said.  

While the brothers no longer staff the school, it is still a Xaverian Brothers-sponsored school, Mr. Zequeira said. Retired brothers participate in the school’s spiritual life and “the brothers, as a congregation, are doing tremendous work in professional development” and formation at their 13 schools in the United States. 

Because of the pandemic, students have been out of the school building longer than ever before, Mr. Zequeira said.  

“It’s a new experience for all of us,” said Mr. Dillon, who said he’s never seen anything like it in his 16 years in middle school education. He spent the previous 15 years at Nativity School in Worcester.  

At the start of the year St. John’s will help students get used to what’s expected of them, make sure they know safety regulations and are prepared academically for their grade level and prepared for a shift to hybrid or remote instruction, should that become necessary, Mr. Dillon explained. 

“We are opening in person with a remote access option,” Mr. Zequeira said; 82 of the school’s 943 students will study remotely for the first quarter, for various personal reasons. Families can then decide when to have them return to school. 

Orientations for different grade levels are Sept. 3-9, with school opening for all students Sept. 10, Mr. Zequeira said.