History
1956 – 2010 "The First Fifty Years and
Beyond"
Holy Spirit is an educational community rooted in
the Catholic tradition. It has always reflected the growth and diversity of the
parish and the community surrounding it. The idea of the school was first
seriously envisioned by the third pastor of the then Holy Ghost Church, Fr.
John Curran, after his first arrival in 1951.
At this time, the surrounding community was growing
rapidly. The Glenmoor Gardens and Cabrillo Park housing developments brought a sharp
increase in the population, and the need for a parish school became more
urgent. Fr. Curran began buying land around the church grounds from neighbors,
which could be used in accommodating the envisioned school buildings. Fr.
Curran left Holy Ghost in 1953, but his work continues.
Thanks to a sizable donation by the Brophy sisters,
the goal became a reality. Ground was broken for the school in February 1956,
and in September, Holy Spirit School opened it’s doors and welcomed its first
four classes: grades first through fourth. In 1961, the school’s founders, the
Holy Names Sisters, saw the success of their efforts when Holy Spirit graduated
its first class. For the next quarter century, the sisters steered the course
of the school, molded and influenced the lives of countless students and their
families.
On Pentecost Sunday, 1969, at the dedication of the
newly enlarged church, Bishop Floyd Begin officially changed the name of Holy
Ghost Church and school, to Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Names Sisters withdrew from the
school in June of 1978, the responsibility of educating Holy Spirit’s youth was
passed on to a completely lay staff. Those staff members, and all who have
followed, have passionately continued the work the sisters began so long ago.
In order to meet the needs of its community
throughout the years, Holy Spirit has undergone many changes:
- 1984: a School Board was appointed.
- 1984: the classrooms were switched to house
the primary grades inside the main building and grades 4-8 were placed in
the courtyard.
- 1986: the Kindergarten opened.
- 1986: the Computer Lab was established.
- 1987: the Extended Care Program began
- 1988: the Science Lab was built.
- 1994: the Holy Spirit Preschool opened.
- 1997: the Computer Lab was refurbished with
iMacs.
- 2001: the staff was expanded to lower
teacher/student ratios in the upper grades.
- 2006: Holy Spirit School celebrated it’s 50th
Anniversary!
- 2007: Teachers are outfitted with Laptops
- 2008: Mobile Classroom Computer Labs Roll out
with 44 Laptops
- 2009: School Library expands & relocates
under the church
- 2010:
1st Annual Science Fair held for grades 7 & 8. Winners went on to compete all the
way to the State Level.