Our Lady of the Wayside earns Blue Ribbon

Blue ribbon sways in the wind along the fence on Ridge Avenue in Arlington Heights as the neighborhood celebrates the recent recognition for Our Lady of the Wayside School, which sits in the middle of a residential area near the center of town.

"We are very tied into the community," said Principal David Wood of the Catholic parish school that has been open since 1954 and has been awarded the Blue Ribbon recognition twice - first in 1997 and again this year.

"Community" is the word on several teacher's lips as they talk about the school where many of their own children went and the parish they attend alongside the school's 500 students, who are in kindergarten through eighth grade.

"The whole community comes together - the parents, students, faculty, the principal, the church - all work together to make this the best school possible," said fifth-grade teacher Loretta Koulias.

Koulias is in her 25th year at Our Lady of the Wayside and lives just six blocks from the school. "I wouldn't want to work anywhere else."

A small staff of about 35 teachers meets every Wednesday either before or after school to focus on professional development and how to bring best practices into their classrooms, Wood said.

Those meetings, and a grant from Roosevelt University, have helped the school shift its curriculum in both literacy and math over the last few years.

There is more of a focus on small group learning, with groups of students working on different activities at once rather than just having a teacher stand in front of a classroom.

"It's really shifted how we look at education here," Wood said. And, he says, it's helped bring up test scores and win the school Blue Ribbon recognition.

Although Our Lady of the Wayside follows a curriculum outlined by the Archdiocese of Chicago, it is aligned with common core standards. Wood said school officials always push to be ahead of the public schools. The school has to stay on top of its game because of the academic strength of Arlington Heights Elementary District 25, he said. For example, Our Lady of the Wayside offers full-day prekindergarten and kindergarten, which District 25 does not.

Nonetheless, the major factor setting Our Lady of the Wayside apart from public school is the religion class students attend daily. Wood said this is a key component for many families who choose to send their children to the school.

"Each day different kids come up and do morning prayers over the announcements (speaker system) and that really sets the tone for the day," he said.

With only two classes per grade, students get to know one another in a family-like environment, said kindergarten teacher Margaret White.

"It's such a warm, fuzzy feeling when you come in here," said White, who has also been at the school for 25 years and lives in Arlington Heights.

White's three children attended Our Lady of the Wayside, and now she is used to seeing her current and former students at Arlington Heights restaurants, stores and at her own house when they visit for trick-or-treating on Halloween.

"It's like a whole community experience," she said.

Students play a big role in keeping the small school going. Fifth-graders volunteer for "jobs," which include everything from helping with monitoring younger students at morning car arrival, taking out the recycling, being prayer leaders, or passing out milk to kids during lunch, which is eaten in their classrooms, as the school does not have a cafeteria or hot food service.

"We are trying to teach them to be good stewards," Wood said.

Receiving Blue Ribbon recognition is very competitive for Catholic schools. Private schools have to apply separately from public schools and the U.S. Department of Education only acknowledges 50 private schools in the country each year.

"We have been working really hard to get this recognition again," Koulias said. "We are just thrilled."