It’s hard for St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School Principal Melanie Brintnall to contain the enthusiasm she harbors, heading into the school’s opening year as the first parochial school affiliated with a parish in the archdiocese of San Antonio since the early 1990s.
The church broke ground in August 2024 on the 44,000 square-foot school building on land adjacent to the church, purchased from the neighboring Benedictine Sisters of Boerne campus.
St. Peter will be opening a school of pre-K3 through sixth grade in August of 2025, utilizing existing classroom at the church until the new two-story structure is ready sometime in the summer of 2026 for the 2026-2027 academic year.
While that building is under construction, Brintnall and her staff will use the church’s Family Living Center classrooms for “year one” of the school’s existence.
An open house is set for 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 10, to introduce the community to Brintnall, her staff, the school and its Classical teachings.
Upon arrival at the open house, Brintnall said families will receive a “Passport to St. Peters” and visit different classrooms, where they’ll have their passports stamped, and be able to see the curriculum the school will use.
There will be activities in the gymnasium for families to find ways to become active in the school and in their children’s education.
Brintnall received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Notre Dame, where she participated in the Alliance for Catholic Education teaching program, which assigns teachers to teach at Catholic schools throughout the country.
Brintnall arrived at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in San Antonio in 2015. She then was part of the founding faculty at Great Hearts Northern Oak, where she was assistant headmaster for four years. She transitioned to curriculum manager for Great Heart Academies for two years before coming to Boerne and becoming part of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church school plan.
“As a Classical school, there is content and skills, but in a Classical education, we’re focusing on things that have stood the test of time,” she said.
Students will learn Latin, she said, math and the sciences, and history in a chronological sequence, “so students can see the heritage that is theirs, and be able to engage with that and bring that into their own lives.”
She said three purposes of a solid education are to have skills to be a contributing member of society; to become a good citizen, someone who’s able to live well within the community; and for human flourishing, because we were created to know and to wonder and to inquire.
“Classical education includes a focus on Socratic instruction, learning by asking and answering questions,’ she said. “You can tell (through) dialogue that when people realize what they know, or more often what they don’t know, it leads to a deeper understanding of the concept at hand, but also of their own ability to grow in knowledge and wisdom.”
The new St. Peter school building, once completed, will feature a first floor of offices and its pre-Kthrough- second grade classrooms. The second floor will house students in grades 3-8, its science lab, chapel, art and music rooms and a “cafetorium,” as the cafeteria will be built to allow for use as stage as well.
To find out more about St. Peter, the open house, and the enrollment process, go to https://stpetersboerneschool. org or call 830-816-2233.
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