SAINT ROMUALD INTERPAROCHIAL SCHOOL
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE
The St. Romuald Interparochial School (SRIS) traces its origins in Breckinridge County, Kentucky to the early 1800s. Several early facilities were supported at various locations and instruction was provided by a variety of religious orders throughout history. The current site, adjacent to the St. Romuald Catholic Church in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, traces its history to the early 20th century. Today’s SRIS has operated in its present three facilities since 1952 and 1965 respectively. When the St. Romuald High School closed its operation in 1991, the resolve of the entire Breckinridge County community, both the Catholic and non-Catholic populations, determined that SRIS would not only continue as a pre-elementary, elementary, and middle school center, but would grow even stronger as a superior educational center committed to fundamental learning, growth, and development, and committed to a Christ-centered learning environment.
Today, SRIS is home to a thriving and dedicated enrollment of three-hundred and thirty children in pre-school through the eighth grade. SRIS is the only school of eighteen institutions in the Diocese of Western Kentucky that has had continuous growth over the past five years. Classes are full and the buildings constructed fifty and sixty years ago are literally bursting at the seams. We are above capacity in many classes and virtually every class has a waiting list for admission. Our goal is to serve all children, and all families, who are committed to the SRIS mission, its philosophy, and its dreams. We cannot accomplish this dream with our current facilities and it is our conviction that our extraordinary 21st century students deserve a 21st century facility.
As SRIS planned for the opening of the 2008 – 2009 school year, it quickly became apparent that our facilities could not meet the needs of the highest enrollment in over twenty years. We converted space in the 1952 convent wing to house our pre-school program and we were forced to cap our enrollment in our K – 8 program, building a sizeable waiting list for future admission. While this presented a good problem, it was nevertheless a problem as we want to serve all interested children and all interested families.
SRIS is committed to the construction of a 21st century facility, with state-of-the art technology and with the most efficient energy resources available to serve our kids and community for the next century. We are equally committed to providing this facility without passing on the costs to our supporting parents or parishes. We are determined not to indebt our present or future families in this project, as our rural community simply does not have the resources to achieve this dream. Our community does not have national corporations that can underwrite this venture, so we have developed a strategy for a national campaign to seek the help of individuals, institutions, and foundations committed to making America better and stronger through education. The strongest argument we can make in seeking this support is that we have not developed some vague and fanciful concept that might work – rather, we seek to expand the work that has abundantly and clearly proven its success for nearly two centuries to the many students attending our school.
Enrollment data documents that SRIS has grown annually and for the past five years, we have had a 40% increase in enrollment. All data suggests this trend will continue, if we have the space to accommodate the children.
We have adopted a strategy of Multiplication by Division: there is no way that $20 million can be expressed that it is not a huge amount of money (although it pales in comparison when considering money raised and spent for political campaigns, sporting events, elective cosmetic surgeries, video games and a weekend of box office receipts). While we would be grateful if a single entity would step forward and make this investment in the future of four hundred students (and several thousand over the physical life of this new school), we are seeking the benevolence of 2000 individuals, institutions, foundations, and entities in the amount of $10,000 each. We hasten to add that no donation is too large nor too small and we will be forever grateful for any donation. Furthermore, we are soliciting the participation of 100 individuals or groups of individuals who will assist us in identifying 20 of these potential sources of donations. These 100 individuals will personalize our solicitation process, introducing SRIS to the potential donor and emphasizing their own personal experience and observation of the success of SRIS in both educating children at a very high rate of success and helping to mold each individual into an adult of moral fortitude and responsible citizenship.
As this two-year fund-raising is conducted, we urge and invite any donor to visit our school, talk to our parents, children and community, and to remain abreast of our progress via the school website at srischool.org. Additionally, we welcome accountability in conjunction will each contribution. We pledge that 100% of each donation will go to the construction and opening of the new facility and that SRIS will continue to operate its new facility without increasing the financial support of the parents and parishes who so graciously enable us to currently operate.
We fully recognize the enormity of this project and undertaking. We also fully believe that it can be achieved, by the grace of God and the generosity of individuals who recognize the value of the SRIS program to the current generation we serve and the hundreds of former students who have so positively impacted our community and our country. Thank you for your gracious assistance and your prayerful support.
Sincerely yours in education,
Rob Cox, Principal
sris.cox@hotmail.com
(school) 270.756.5504 408 North Hwy.259
(home) 270.756.6460 1217 Hwy. 261 North
Hardinsburg, KY 40143 ST.