Sept. 1, 2021
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Will Nathan
Office: 443-563-2589, ext. 122 / Cell: 301-852-1585 / wnathan@lelc-balt.org
Open House: Mount Vernon neighbors to hear about plans for The Loyola School
When: Saturday, Sept. 4, 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Where: Ground floor of St. Ignatius Church, 740 N. Calvert St. (cross street: East Madison Street.)
What: Neighbors in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon community are invited to St. Ignatius to learn about the expansion of the Loyola Early Learning Center (a preschool) into The Loyola School, a pre-K to fourth-grade elementary school offering a free Jesuit education to 200 low-income Baltimore City children. Attendees will be able to talk directly to school leaders, including the founder, the Rev. William J. Watters, S.J., and director, Erica Meadows, and to teachers and students. News media coverage of the open house is welcome. Attendees may drop by at any time during the two-hour open house. There is no formal program.
Background: The Loyola Early Learning Center, founded in 2017, will grow over the next four years into an independent, Catholic pre-K to fourth-grade elementary school in the Jesuit tradition. The expansion begins with the start of kindergarten classes on Sept. 7. The Loyola School will offer full-tuition scholarships to children from low-income Baltimore City families. It will complete an “ecosystem” of free Jesuit schools founded by Watters in Baltimore to serve such families. The schools, which also include St. Ignatius Loyola Academy and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, will by 2025 cover all grades from preschool through 12th grade.
Starting next spring, The Loyola School plans to convert townhouses across East Madison Street from St. Ignatius Church into a school facility. The work is scheduled for completion in time for the 2023-24 school year. It will incorporate the facades and fronts of existing townhouses with new construction to their rear and a main entrance on Calvert Street. Architectural renderings of the planned school facility will be on view at the open house.
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