Christ the King Catholic Elementary School (Terrytown, Louisiana)
Christ the King Catholic Elementary School was a Catholic elementary school in Terrytown, Louisiana, United States. The school's final year of operation was the 2019 - 2020 school year after several years of decline in enrollment.
History
Mass was offered for the first time in the parish on the Feast of Christ the King, October 28, 1962 by Father W. Michael Landry, who had been appointed founding pastor on September 12, 1962 by Archbishop John P. Cody.
The school opened in 1963 in three residential homes while the physical building was under construction. It was staffed originally by the Marianite Sisters of Holy Cross. Sr. Judith Coreil, MSC was the founding principal, followed by Sr. Marjorie Hebert, Sister Marie Noel, and Sister Aloysius Blazio. Coreil taught while serving as principal. Hebert and Noel taught at Christ the King before they became principal.
Lay Principals followed, the first, Lana O'Dwyer.
Other Marianite Sisters who taught at the school included: Sr. Kateri Battalia, Sr. Doris Daigle, Sr. Audrey Strassel, Sr. Marlene Ste. Marie, and Sr. Ann LaCour. LaCour also served as Assistant Principal.
Sr. Sally Bourgeois, MSC, served the parish for a time, as the Director of Religious Education.
The MSC behind the sisters' names is an abbreviation for their order, founded in France, the Marianites de Sainte Croix (Holy Cross). Unfortunately, the sisters left the school by 1980.
Student body
Although classes were small in the beginning by the middle to late 70s, there were 3 classes of students in grades First through Eighth with at least 35 students in each class, and two kindergarten classes (which had first started out as AM and PM kindergarten classes). The need for early childhood education arose, creating pre-kindergarten classes. However, with a down economy and the advent of charter schools, enrollment shrunk class sizes back down to two groups for each grade.
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