Ware River News Article about St. Aloysius Catholic School, an Independent Parochial School in Gilbertville, Massachusetts

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---Charles “Chuck” McQuaid, Roberta McQuaid’s brother, has provided seed money for the school to get started. He has had a successful career as a venture capitalist in Chicago, and just recently retired.
---“I’ve been very successful and I’ve supported higher education,” He said, referring to a scholarship and professorship he created at UMass Amherst. “But I got to thinking that grammar school is the foundation of your work ethic and character, so I think it’s important to support that.”
---McQuaid said he also believes it’s important for parents to have a Catholic grammar school within a reasonable drive of the Ware area, which this will be.
---He said he attended St. Mary’s School in first grade, when it was in the basement of the church, and in second grade, his class was in the new building when it opened, Roberta McQuaid said she and her four siblings all attended St. Mary’s.
---She also said it was a twisting road over the last six months as the parents looked for a suitable site. “At first we had hoped to rent the St. Mary’s School building and grounds,” she said. “When that turned out to be impossible, we looked at lots of other public locations but were finally led back to a parish, St. Aloysius in Gilbertville, which housed a school until the 1970s.”
---McQuaid said Father Richard Lembo, pastor of St. Aloysius Church, has been incredibly supportive of the school, including securing architectural plans for the space through a friend, Neil Gage, saving the parents lots of money in the process.
---Although St. Mary’s and St. Aloysius are but 10 minutes apart, they are governed by different dioceses. “My first call to the Worcester Diocese, to the superintendent Dr. Delma Josephson, was full of support for our cause,” said McQuaid. “She was just amazing, offering us all kinds of help, speaking to Bishop McManus on our behalf, and even sending out a call for desks and other school furniture.”
---Some of the former teachers at St. Mary’s will be making the transition to the new school, she said. Among them is Jennifer McNally, who pioneered the pre-school program at St. Mary’s and is past recipient of the Pioneer Valley Teacher of Excellence award, and Kathy Knight, who taught for three years at St. Mary’s, but is also a longtime veteran of Quarry Hill School in Monson. Science teacher Mickey Novak, who spent 37 years working for the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service, will also be joining St. Mary’s, as will Nancy Mangari, who will continue to teach St. Aloysius’ children the Spanish language and expand the curriculum with more in-depth studies of Spanish speaking countries and culture, McQuaid said.
---She also said the parents are excited about being able to provide their children with a school where God is in the classroom. “We’re just so excited about it, and we have a very busy summer ahead of us,” she said, with the school to be refurbished over the next couple of months by volunteers and professional contractors.
---“There is going to be a lot of heavy lifting, but there’s a very good chance that it will succeed,” said Chuck McQuaid. The school will need support for the first few years, but once it is established it is expected to be self-sustaining, he said.
--- St. Aloysius will closely follow the Quabbin Region School District calendar, with the 2016 / 2017 school year beginning on August 30. It is now accepting applications for pre-school through sixth grade. For more information, to sign up for the St. Aloysius newsletter, or to donate to the scholarship or building restoration fund, please visit our website at StAloysiusCatholicSchool.com.

For more information, please call
413-477-1049 or 413-967-5048.