Fish dinner Fridays throughout Lent support education

ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO Belvidere Daily Republican
With volunteers to help out, fish dinners at St. James include plenty of side dishes and dessert.

By Anne Eickstadt

Editor

“We’ve been doing this a long time and I have only been here four years,” said Dr. Kathleen Miller, Principal of St. James Catholic School. “It’s an annual event with which we raise funds for the school and use it based on the needs of the year. This year we will apply the funds to our technology. We want to upgrade out infrastructure – cables, etc. and acquire more Chromebooks for our students.

“We teach Pre-K for 3 year-old kids up to 8^th grade and we have 122 students. Pre-K runs all day, five days a week. We have all the core curriculum subjects as well as music, art, computer lab and physical education with sports such as bowling, volleyball, basketball, and soccer. All the kids from fourth grade through eighth grade take Spanish and have the opportunity to play in the band. Every other year the seventh and eighth grades go to Camp Timber-Lee in E. Troy, Wis. for outdoor sciences education. They look forward to it.

“All of my grade school teachers are certified. We are a faith based Catholic elementary school so the students receive instruction in Catholicism on a daily basis, attend Adoration on Thursdays and Mass on Fridays. Parents are required to do 30 hours of service each year. Students in grades 3 through 8 also perform service commensurate with their grade level.

“We have smart boards and upgraded technology in each classroom despite the school being over 100 years old. Our staff is seasoned with veteran teachers as well as recent graduates to combine the best of the tried and true with the latest in teaching techniques. The staff receives ongoing professional development training.

Our average class size is