Search
Our School History
-
Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic School was established and opened on August 14, 1996 under the direction of Father Dan Morales, Pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. The school began with 43 students in Grades K-6. Classes were held in what had originally been the School of Religious Education.
The first staff consisted of three School Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (Franciscan Sisters of Christ the Light) from Panhandle, Texas and two lay teachers from the surrounding area, under the guidance of the administrator, Mr. Bob Knippenberg (now Fr. Bob Kippenberg), and the principal, Sister Clare Jones. Since then, the staff has expanded to include 18 lay and religious teachers with additional office and cafeteria support. In June 2004, the Franciscan Sisters returned to Panhandle, TX, and the administration of the school was taken over by its first lay principal, Mrs. Theresa Dent. The Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province out of Houston, TX also joined the school faculty in August 2004.
Timeline of school growth:- 1996 - Grade Pre-Kinder (PK4) was added and one 7th grade student was accommodated using a home-school curriculum.
- 1999 - Grade 7 was added.
- 2000 - 8th Grade was added.
- 2001 - Internet was networked to each classroom.
- 2004 - The Diocese of Victoria curriculum was implemented.
- 2006 - PowerSchool, an on-line student information system, was implemented to allow teachers and parents to share student academic information on-line.
- 2007 - School fully accredited by the TCCED
- 2008, - On-line learning & diagnostic tools such a Renaissance Learning (Accelerated Reading) began to be added to support the curriculum.
- 2009 - OLG partnered with Catapult Learning to provide Title I services for struggling readers.
- 2010 - Transitioned to Iowa Test of Basic Skills to perform annual Fall diagnostics on student academic skills in grades 1st - 8th
- 2011 - Major upgrades were made to the main building and the middle school wing was enclosed. The school also won the Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award.
- 2012 - School partnered with TAMU Texas SeaGrant and AgriLife to begin a wetlands restoration project.
- 2013 - School received a grant from ALCOA to build an outdoor classroom at the wetlands project and purchase science equipment to support the project. The school also receive a grant from DOW for a water reclamation project.
- 2014 - School completed the Louise & WH Bauer Gym & Performing Arts Center.
- 2015 - 2 New Classrooms added to Middle School Wing & New Playground & School Garden added
- 2016 - Fencing Completed
- 2018 - New Roof installed on Main Building and School Security System installed across campus