St. Martha Catholic School History
Saint Martha Catholic School was created in 1950 as a vital ministry of St. Martha Catholic Church. It was originally located on Orange Avenue in downtown Sarasota, and moved to our brand new facility on Fruitville Road in 2001. We are so grateful to all of the donors who helped to make our new facility possible. Our school is now a certified hurricane shelter and we are happy to be able to provide this service to our community.
Bishop McDonough of the Diocese gave the following description of Catholic Schools back in 1950. "We have Catholic Schools to give children a spiritual workshop, to give them all the necessary foundation on which to build their character. To teach them how to love, to serve, to learn, and to acknowledge God." On the first day of school back in October of 1950, despite hurricane weather, 26 students reported to first grade (which was the only classroom ready to hold students). At the end of the first year, enrollment grew to 174students. Within three years, enrollment at St. Martha School soared to 490 students. Classrooms and facilities were rapidly developed to handle this capacity. At one point, enrollment was as high as 900students prior to the creation of Cardinal Mooney High School in 1959.
After the first ten years of school at St. Martha, Father Elslander (the founder) was quoted as saying "St. Martha's Parochial School has enjoyed an enviable record for the intellectual and spiritual accomplishments of its students." Both this statement and the statement by Bishop McDonough remain true now more than 50 years later.
We are now a part of Bishop Nevins Academy which contains St. Martha Catholic School for Junior Kindergarten (Age 4) through 8th grade and our sister school for children with special learning needs called Dreams Are Free.
Our mission at St. Martha is to encourage the formation of self-confident,motivated, faith-filled students and instill in them a lifelong love of God and learning. Our students are nurtured and challenged in a Christ-centered environment to achieve strength in faith and excellence in knowledge while embracing the Christian values of personal responsibility, moral courage, respect, patience, humility, sacrifice,and social justice.
You are invited to come and experience the sense of community at St. Martha Catholic School. Stop by during an all-school mass, or register to volunteer in the library, cafeteria, or classrooms as needed. Volunteers are always welcome! All are welcome to attend our masses on the first Friday of each month at 11:15.
*Volunteers are required to attend safe environment training and obtain fingerprints through the Diocese of Venice.
