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St. Henry’s School operates under the academic guidelines
of the Diocese of Madison. Yet the
school’s curriculum is patterned after that which is used in the Watertown
Public School System and it participates in the program of Public Health
Services provided by the city nurse and dental hygienist.
St. Henry’s
Home and School Association was organized May 20, 1952,
under the guidance of Monsignor Anthony J. Herrmann. Any
family with a child in the school is automatically a member of the Home and
School Association.
The HASA parent members are not only con-cerned about the welfare of their respective children, but
also conduct fund-raising projects which have enabled the school to expand its
academic resources.
The aims of
the Home and School organization are the following:
to coordinate the spiritual and educational forces of the
home and the school in a program of Catholic child training;
to offer information of particular interest to parents by means of a well-planned
program;
to encourage the maintenance of high standards of family
life; and
to create a greater appreciation of the role of parents
in Catholic education.
The Education Commission was established by the Parish Council to
recommend and define policy for all forms of Christian education in the parish
and assumes responsibility for that part of pastoral concern that deals with
education.
The Athletic Association is a self-supporting group of parents and
students who promote athletics for those students enrolled in grades four
through eight or those students in the same grades and enrolled in the
Religious Education Program.
St. Henry
School has been an integral part of the parish since its founding in 1854. The reason for the many generations of
sacrifice given in wholehearted commitment to the school can be found in these
excerpts from its mission state-ment.
The staff at St. Henry’s School is committed to gifting their students
with the opportunities to grow toward becoming responsible and resourceful
adults who are deeply, unshakably rooted in Christ. While providing a fine, grade school
education for kindergarten through eighth grade students, they strive to
challenge and support the youngsters as they develop the skills and talents
appropriate with their abilities. Highly
prized, modeled and celebrated at St. Henry School are these signs of Christ’s
Spirit among us: Joy, prayer, honest
effort, ongoing achievement, cooperation, and service. Adults and children attempt to live in the
school community with the words of the prophet Micah ringing in their
hearts: “This is what Yahweh asks of
you, only this; to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your
God.”
Parental
involvement is considerable in the school as witnessed by the very active
Education Commission, Home and School Association, Athletic Association, the
different scouting groups, and the innumerable ways in which time and talent
are contributed throughout the school year.
St. Henry’s School does not discriminate on
the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin.
1980’s
The 1953 School. Picture taken in the 1980’s
1985
Four teachers were honored in Madison in 1985 for over 20
years of service to the Madison Diocese.
They were Marguerite Klinger, Jean Zoelle, Sister Nerine, and
Sister Alvina.
Sister Alvina assisting
Margaret “Peggy” Surdick
1986 Eighth Grade Graduates
June 1986 Eighth Grade Graduates
Top Row: Father
Krogman, Brian Plasil, Gary Crupi, Tim Mommaerts, Jason Gruss, Robert Agasie,
Tim Kruesel, Father Nolan.
Third Row: Terry
Schubert, Principal, Tom Westrick, Tony McDonald, Mike Ladaika, Jim Beranek,
Joe Hernandez, Miss Oleshko.
Second Row: Mrs. Butzine, Barb Quamme, Vicki
Brennecke, Jenny Taylor, Carri Marquis.
First Row: Sherry
Werner, Kerry Manke, Mary Ann Reiss, Peggy Eisner.
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Tuition for the 1987-88 school year had risen to $250 for the first
child of a family, $200 for the second, $150 for a third and $50 for each addi-tional
child.
In 1988 a “Letter to the Editor” was published in the Watertown Daily Times that highly
com-mended the eighth grade class.
Editor, Daily
Times,
A few words to
the eighth grade class of St. Henry’s School.
The senior
citizens to whom I talk to only have wonderful things to say about this class’
behavior towards the elderly and youngsters at St. Henry’s.
One day they
saw girls taking home groceries for the Sisters of St. Henry’s. Another day
some boys helped a man get into church when the walks were slippery.
A girl on the
corner of Cady and Second helped an older lady with her groceries one morning
and wished her a wonderful day.
Then the day
the winds were so cool and strong a lovely dark-haired girl was in front of
school helping the little ones cross the street. She also helped bundle them
up. She treated each child as if it were her own brothers and sisters.
I just want to
let those parents and teachers know that they have every right to be very proud
of the class of ‘88.
For the
parishioners of St. Henry’s are very proud of them.
- A very proud St. Henry’s Senior Citizen
________________________________
A retirement reception was held for Sister Mary Alvina Putzer, School Sisters of Notre Dame, immediately following Mass in May,
1990. Sister Alvina began her teaching
career at Notre Dame School in Chippewa Falls.
She taught eighth grade at Notre Dame before coming to St. Henry’s
Catholic School in Watertown in 1973.
While at St. Henry’s, she taught grades six through eight and was the
school’s librarian and learning center director.
A member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sister Alvina received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee. She
also received special recognition from the Dominicans for additional studies in
theology.
Sister Alvina died in 2001
at the age of 90. The well-liked sister
was a grade school teacher at St. Henry’s from 1973 to 1986.
Mrs. Jean Zoelle announced her retirement,
end-ing her 33-year career of teaching at St. Henry’s in May of 1991 and was
honored at a Sunday Mass.
Mrs. Zoelle began at St. Henry’s in 1958 as an assistant teacher for
the third grade. She then gradually began helping different teachers with
reading classes. Eventually she added
secretarial work to her teaching duties, and at the time of retirement her
duties were mainly secretarial along with occasional substitute teaching.
A thoughtful second grader had a suggestion for rewarding his favorite
teacher. “You should get paid for all the work you do,” he said. “How about
every student giving you 10 cents?” Mrs.
Zoelle later was quoted as saying that this remark was just one of her many
fond memories of St. Henry’s.
A contribution in 1992 by John Gleason and Nancy Aygarn in the memory of their mother, former teacher Henrietta Gleason, enabled the school to begin implementation of their new com-puter lab with 12 Macintosh computer
terminals.
Another plea in 1994 to parishioners and dona-tions from teachers
themselves and $2,000 from the Catholic Knights Branch No. 120 made possi-ble
the purchase of 15 more Macs, with Gleason and Aygarn again major contributors.
Barbara Mommaerts was coordinator of the ex-panded
lab educational resource and assisted students in learning basic computer
skills, with teachers themselves frequently learning alongside their pupils.
The average class size in the school in 1994 was 25, and all children,
K-8, were exposed to the 27 PCs on a routine basis.
The WNSAA (Wisconsin Non-Public School Accrediting Association) is a
non-profit organiza-tion formed in 1991 to provide non-public schools with an
ongoing school improvement process.
Schools accredited by WNSAA must annually demonstrate that they continue
to meet associ-ation standards and that they have made signi-ficant school
improvements.
St. Henry’s School participated in the WNSAA three phase accreditation
process, providing the school with the opportunity to explore every aspect of
its academic program and to receive valuable feedback from objective, outside
educa-tors. Upon completion of the
process in 1995, the school was accredited by the association.
Mrs. Lavern (Marguerite) Klinger was the special guest at a
retirement party held in her honor in 1998. She had been a teacher at St.
Henry’s School for the previous 28 years.
Francine Butzine had moved from Minnesota so to teach the middle school
grades at St. Henry’s and served as principal from 1986 to 1996; Francine then
returned to the classroom to teach eighth grade from 1996 to 2000.
Francine is a 1967 graduate of Marian College in Fond du Lac with a
B.A. degree in both English and secondary education. She received her master’s
degree in educational administration from Madison’s Edgewood College.
Mrs. Klinger’s retirement
Standing: Father Michael Richel;
Dr. Paul Sommers, master of ceremonies; John David, church council presi-dent; Francine Butzine, school principal; son
Michael Klinger; Fathers David Liners of Illinois and David Timmerman of
Janesville, former students.
Seated: Lavern and Marguerite
Klinger
In the summer of 2000, after working with middle school-aged children
for 32 years, Francine But-zine was again named principal of the school.
Barbara Mommaerts, English teacher at the school, retired in December of 2000 after 25
years of involvement in the education of the students.
Barbara began her academic career with a degree in French, English, and
secondary education from Marquette University.
She also taught middle school in Neenah before coming to St. Henry’s,
originally as a volunteer. For the last
17 years Mommaerts was a member of the teaching staff, not only giving
instructions in English, but also developing an intramurals sports program,
initi-ating a foreign language project, and the school’s technology program.
Fifth through eighth grade students performed the musical play “In
Search of the Perfect Song,” in the sanctuary of the church in 1998.
Also, in December, a “Jesse Tree” holiday program (a traditional Advent
celebration) was given by the sixth-grade class in the church. A Jesse Tree traces the lineage of Jesus from
his birth in the New Testament back through the Old Testament to Adam and
Eve. The name, “Jesse Tree,” refers to
the prophecy in Isaiah 11, 1, “A shoot shall sprout from the tree of Jesse, and
from the roots a bud shall blossom.”
Fourth grade teacher Nancy
Aygarn retired after
20 years of teaching at the school.
2001
Parents Day
Parents Day, 2001. Andrew Heiden spends time with his
kindergarten daughter, Megan.
2008
Misako teaching
the seventh grade about the Japanese tea ceremony
05 23 Mrs.
Zache, our third grade teacher, will not be with us next year.
05 30 Miss
Boettcher will be the third grade homeroom teacher next year.
06 10 Grade
School Graduates
06 08 Demolition
[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] of 401 N
Second; expansion of St Henry’s property (former home of Dorothy Schlieve)
2009
01 25 Catholic Schools
Week
From bulletin of Feb1, 2009
Did you know that St. Henry School is now one of the sites for the
Watertown School District’s Four-Year-Old Kindergarten program? We offer an
excellent program with two outstanding teachers, Mrs. Carmen Burdick and Mrs.
Allison Kemp, guiding and fostering these delightful youngsters. Please
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