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A SPICE 2006 Program
Continuing Excellent and Financially Viable Catholic Education in Southeast Iowa
Holy Trinity Catholic Schools, Inc.
Fort Madison, Iowa
The State of Iowa has seen dwindling population for the last several decades. Population shifts have the number of family farms decreasing, the job market moving to the urban areas, the economic picture of Southeast Iowa is depressed as factories relocate to cheaper labor areas. The Diocese of Davenport shows the nationwide trend of smaller Catholic families, fewer Catholics attending Mass regularly, etc. matched with competing needs for parish dollars this combination of change in the demographics of the area that were external to the Church and changes that were taking place in the laity of the Church itself led to the realization that if we were to have a viable Catholic education presence in Southeast Iowa we would need to merge Catholic school systems.
The two systems had investigated merger approximately 8 years earlier—in fact had gotten to the point of selecting a building site—when the efforts collapsed.
In the fall of 2004, Bishop William Franklin asked that the Keokuk Deanery look at schools with the directive of having a sharing of existing facilities and/or new buildings for the 2006-2007 school year. The Aquinas Catholic School System of Ft. Madison, Iowa and the Marquette Catholic School System of West Point, St. Paul, and Houghton, Iowa decided to merge in February of 2005 using existing buildings. The two systems would incorporate and students would attend elementary years in the current buildings: St. Paul – (pre-school through grade 5), Ft. Madison Early Childhood Center – (pre-school – K), Ft. Madison elementary (grades 1-5), a middle school (grades 6-8) would have their attendance center in West Point, Iowa, and the high school (grades 9-12) attendance center would be in Ft. Madison, Iowa.
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