Our History

Our Beginnings

The people and pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish decided to build a school shortly after the foundation of the parish in March 1948. The construction of the church was completed first, and then work on the school began in the spring of 1951.

In September 1951, the doors opened under the authority of th Dominican Sisters of Tacoma, Washington. A sister of the Sisters of Atonement taught Kindergarten. Sister M. Brigid O.P. was principal and teacher of the first and second grades. Miss O'Hare taught third and fourth grades.

Each year brought changes and soon the school had outgrown the original four classrooms. Three separate building projects between 1954 and 1961 brought the size of the school plant to eight classrooms and a hall. A convent was also constructed.

Originally, the seventh and eighth grade boys went to Garces High School campus for junior high, leaving the school with a combination class of seventh and eighth grade girls. In 1961, this practice was discontinued and in 1963, the first full eighth grade class of both boys and girls was graduated. Keeping the junior high boys on campus required additional room; hence the kindergarten was moved to the hall where it functioned for the next two years. The kindergarten was closed in 1963, but a perceived correlation between declining enrollment and the lack of a kindergarten prompted its reopening in 1974.

New Buildings

The convent that housed the kindergarten class was torn down during the 1987-88 school year and Monsignor Rechenmacher Hall erected on that site. During the construction period, the kindergarten class was held in a portable classroom before moving to its new location next to the library in the old hall. An extended day program was added during the 1989-90 school year, sharing space with the library. In 1998 three new classrooms were built to house first, second, and third grades and kindergarten move again into the old classrooms allowing room for a science lab and a computer lab in the old hall. A new building was built to house the new Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes along with a new building for a pre-school.

Up to Date Science Lab

2016-17 the computer lab expanded into the old science room and one classroom was extended to allow for a beautiful new science lab. All this new building to accommodate the growth in the junior high classes.