JEFFERSON PARK — Parents will get their first detailed look at the curriculum planned for the newly created regional academy that will merge the schools of four Far Northwest Side Catholic churches Thursday night, officials with the Archdiocese of Chicago said.
Theresa Allen, the director of instructional technology integration for the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Catholic Schools, will introduce parents to the global studies curriculum along with the principals of the four schools from 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday at St. Cornelius, 5252 N. Long Ave.
Pope Francis Global Academy, the first Chicago school named for the pontiff, will have a curriculum that focuses on global studies in an effort to help students "develop into critical, analytical and creative 21st Century thinkers and problem solvers in a faith-filled environment," officials said.
St. Cornelius, Our Lady of Victory, St. Pascal and St. Tarcissus schools will be consolidated into one school — with two campuses — over the next year, with the new school opening in fall 2016-17, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The school's campuses — each with preschool through eighth grade — will be at St. Pascal in Portage Park and the other at St. Tarcissus in Gladstone Park.
Allen and school officials will detail the school's plan to use digital projects to connect students with other pupils around the word as well as their plans to build students' ability to collaborate across cultures and the role technology will play in the classrooms at the newly created school.
Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at the four schools set to be consolidated are working on a project dubbed Digiteen "to promote effective digital citizenship."
Child care will be provided during the session, organizers said.
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