The first new Catholic school in Scott County in over 50 years opened for students in northeast Bettendorf a few weeks ago and showcased the new facilities to guests this week.
At a ribbon-cutting on Thursday, St. Joan of Arc Catholic School welcomed guests to a new building with an up-to-facilities with a modern STEM lab, gym, libraries, and chapel.
School officials and priests stood in front of the chapel doors and introduced the new school to guests, who included city officials and religious leaders in the community. Finally, the priests said a prayer for the future of the school.
Bettendorf 5th Ward Ald. Nick Palczynski said the new school represents growth in the city.
“From the city perspective, this new school is the flagship for the Catholic education in in the city of Bettendorf. We are incredibly excited to watch the city continue to progress and grow,” Palczynski said, noting the residential area around the school is also growing.
The school has 350 students but has the capacity to grow to 650.
Principal Katie Selden hopes the school can grow in the following years.
“I hope to be able to grow our population, grow our enrollment, so that we can bring, evangelize as many children as we can. Bring them to the faith, help them to really have a strong foundation as they grow and learn and prepare to go off into our big world,” Selden said.
Selden has been working in Catholic education for 26 years. She has taught first and fifth grades, as well as middle school classes.
The new school was built since the prior school, Lourdes Catholic School, had begun to age, Selden said, including issues of leaks caused by the school’s aging boiler.
The new school is still affiliated with Lourdes and much of its funding came from the Lady of Lourdes and St. John Vianney parishes.
Selden said there is an effort is trying to build the official St. Joan of Arc church on the school’s campus sometime in the future.
For now, the focus is on paying their bond which cost around $35.5 million. The two parishes’ fundraising has raised over $18 million, but, Selden said, the fundraising efforts will continue.
Selden is excited about the possible education the new facility will offer for students.
“As far as increasing access to our engineering skills and all of those foundational skills for the sciences and engineering. That’s very important. We’ve maintained we still have our computer lab; we still have our library. And, but with the growth of us, or the addition of the STEM lab, we’re able to grow our Lego robotics program, which is very important for our children,” Selden said.
But Selden’s most crucial hope is that students can learn not only academically but “spiritually.”
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