Q & A

Where will the school be located?

We plan for the school to open and operate within the greater Portland metro and Southwest Washington area.

What’s the school’s financial model for sustainability? Are benefactors ready to fund the startup for 3-5 years?

The school will be an independent (i.e., not an Archdiocese of Portland) 6-8 grade school. Governance model involves a Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.

Potential benefactors are currently being engaged to consider investment in our school’s mission and vision. We are in the process of funding and executing a New School Study that will establish the enrollment potential, community interest, and financial projections so that benefactors know the school’s viable and the associated plan to make it a reality.

We do not currently have benefactors committed to fund our startup school for the first 3-5 years of operation. We are developing relationships with and in the process of soliciting funds and support from several trusts, foundations, and individuals interested in furthering Catholic education in the Portland Metropolitan area.

Classic model of curriculum may be attractive to parents, but maybe not to boys. What about when your students graduate? Are you also planning an all-boys, Catholic high school? Why do you think your school will have initial and long-term success?

Columbia Boys School will teach a classical, Catholic education for grades 6-8. For elementary school (i.e., grades K-8) choice, parents are overwhelmingly the primary decision makers for their children. (Our board will only consider a grades 9-12 high school later and then only if warranted based on enrollment projections, available funding, etc.).

As students returned to school this fall, interest and enrollment in classical education has been booming. Why? Some report the cause as Covid 19’s disruption of the country’s educational system. School closures and the near immediate need to teach and learn online gave parents a close look at what their kids were learning, and many did not like what they saw: declining standards, watered-down criteria, lack of meaningful content, etc.

Any student taught well can learn. Lowering or removing achievement standards does a grave injustice to students. Parents are looking for quality alternatives and a classical, Catholic education serves as an excellent example of one.

Classical education options are growing but in many cases demand for it outstrips the supply. For example, Great Hearts Academy (the largest public provider of K-12 classical education) currently has 30 schools operating. They had over 13,000 students on their wait list in 2020! And the Chesterton Schools Network, a classical, Catholic 9-12 grade high school model continues to grow in the United States and Canada with over 34 schools operational to-date.The Board of Columbia Boys School believes there’s ample interest from Portland Metro and southwest Washington area boys and their parents in receiving a classical, Catholic 6-8 grade education.

Will school rely on full tuition? What is vision for size of school? There were good reasons Jesuit (1993) and Central Catholic (1980) went co-ed.

Our school will be tuition-based. We will have an endowment to help as many parents we can afford sending their boys to our school. The endowment will be setup to accept earmarked donations as capital investments with the related earnings leveraged by our Board to further our overall mission (e.g., tuition assistance).

The recommended student body size will be determined as a component of the New School Study.

The Board will rely on the consulting experts commissioned to conduct our New School Study to discern both expected enrollment and the associated space and facilities available to properly educate them. We know the history behind both Jesuit High School (in the 1990s) and Central Catholic High School’s (in the 1980s) decision to go co-ed: survival. The war against boys and masculinity was milder then compared to now (see Articles & Press: Boys in Crisis). Today, American schools, with a few exceptions, are unfriendly to boys. Boys doing what they have always done (e.g., pointing their finger at each other and saying “bang, you’re dead”) can now lead to big trouble at school. Boys continue to be turned off by education. A recent national study shows the current 61% female and 39% male 4-year private college graduation rate as reflection of that reality. And the experts predict that within a few years there will be two women graduating from college for one man with dire consequences to America’s well-being. The lack of an all-boy Catholic school option in the greater Portland Metro area precludes boys who would otherwise thrive in such an environment from reaching their full potential during the critical 6-8 grade period. Columbia Boys School will provide that opportunity for its students. The school’s staff and teachers will celebrate the boyhood of every student and teach them as such using proven brain science single-sex teaching approaches and methods.

Many boys and their parents are attracted to schools with a strong athletic program tradition, Arts and Drama, and/or science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) classes. What will your school have for boys in this regard? It’s very difficult to develop programs without supporting facilities…fields, gyms, theaters, etc.

Our school will have humanities, fine arts, science, and math classes, and sports offerings.

The detailed curriculum (and extra-curricular) program not yet finalized. We are in communications with Cana Academy to help us develop our curriculum and provide associated teacher training.

Very difficult to develop a long-term benefactor base with no alumni. Requires a non-traditional revenue source.

This initiative involves a brand-new start-up of something that has not existed in Oregon for 30 years: an all-boys Catholic school. Alumni are not the chief source of income for a school in its first 20 years of existence. Our donor base for the next several years will come primarily from individuals and organizations who believe in the mission of the Catholic Church and the importance of being a positive force in raising boys into outstanding examples of Christian manhood.

Our school’s operational expenses will paid primarily from tuition collected from parents of boys attending. Ongoing development activities (e.g., grants, endowment, annual fund) will secure the start-up and long-term future of the school.

What level of expertise does your board have for such an undertaking? Does survey data support interest in this model? A lot of competition to maintain enrollment from Portland Metro.

The Board includes President Brian Burby, a long-time boys youth coach (football, basketball, and lacrosse) here in Portland, and former faculty member and coach at an all-boys Catholic school. Brian also benefited from an all-boys, Catholic education. Board Vice President Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, a nationally and internationally known Catholic faith apologist, teacher, and leader, has been bringing the joy of a deeper understanding and practice of our faith to thousands of people every year. And Deacon Harold too benefited from an all-boys, Catholic education.

We consider the single most important hire to make in the near term: Principal. When we get that right, our day-to-day school leadership will be set. The principal will in turn hire the right teachers and staff in keeping with our mission and vision.

With an all-boy student body, our school has no similar public or private competition in the Portland Metro area.

Appears to be a traditional, Classical, Catholic curriculum – why?

The cornerstone of Columbia Boys school will be to administer a classical, Catholic curriculum.

Our school will follow the classical model steeped in great books, liberal arts, and sciences that extends back for centuries. Boys who attend our school will learn how to think, not what to think. The Catholic faith component of our school’s curriculum will provide us an overarching purpose: to love God and his son Jesus Christ. Toward that end, our school will strive to teach its students to develop a lifelong love of learning and seeking of the truth.

Why use classical education methods?

Classical education was the model used for centuries and the foundation of Western Catholic Civilization.  Classical education challenges students as it develops virtue in each child.  It utilizes the Trivium, which begins with the grammar stage at elementary(K-5), then moves into logic at the middle grades (6-8), and at high school (9-12), teaches students rhetoric.  Each stage builds upon the other, allows a child to become a critical thinker and well equipped to communicate their ideas effectively.  Classical education also allows the students to view truth and beauty as it was intended to be through the Creator.  By infusing our classical model with a strong Catholic Identity, students will develop a love of learning and grasp a deep understanding of their Faith. 

How large will your class sizes be?

We plan to cap our class sizes at 25. This will ensure all students receive a quality education and will receive individual attention from the instructor. 

Which grades will you be offering in the future?

We plan to open 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade classes.

Why do you teach your students Latin?

Besides Ecclesiastical Latin being the official language of our Church, there are many other benefits to learning this language. Latin roots make-up nearly half of our English Vocabulary.  Learning Latin can help students broaden their understanding of the English language as they will build an understanding of the meaning of complex words. Latin also forms the root of many of our medical and scientific terms.  Latin is the language of our government and the legal system (i.e., habeas corpus) as well. Students who learn Latin become better writers as they gain a deep understanding of the grammatical rules of the English language. Students who learn Latin score significantly higher on verbal examinations and entrance exams into the university systems. These are just a few of the reasons studying Latin will benefit your son.

What kind of course schedule and faculty staffing do you currently envision?

Table below provides a potential schedule for grades 6-8 (times TBD).

We currently expect potential staffing based on 75 students (e.g., three classes of 25 boys with one class each for grades 6, 7, and 8) as follows: Increase teaching FTE 1.0 per class added)

1.0 FTE Teacher 6/7/8 (Lit./Hist./House)

1.0 FTE Teacher 6/7/8 (Math/Sci./House)

1.0 FTE Teacher 6/7/8 (Latin/P.E./House)

1.0 FTE Secretary/Admin. Assistant

1.0 FTE Principal

1.0 FTE Custodian

For each additional class added, we plan to add one teaching FTE.