Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic School is located on Tucson’s east side. In November 1959, the south building of the school was completed and dedicated by Bishop Daniel J. Gerke. It housed four classrooms and three grades under the leadership of Sister Mary DeLellis and other Sisters of the Precious Blood. Over the years, the parish always attempted to have Religious teach in the school; although successful in the early years, drawing from many religious communities, there has been no Religious presence since the early 2000s. Without a religious community’s charism to draw upon, the natural choice was for the school to define its philosophy around the charism of our patroness, Our Mother of Sorrows . Her fiat is the ultimate model for our SLEs: God called and Mary answered. The shareholders strive to do the same.
The School Today
Today, the school is accredited through the Western Catholic Education Association, and the preschool is part of the Quality First Program. The teacher to student ratio is 1:10 in the preschool and 1:20 in the K-8 program. The faculty consists of 22 full-time and 4 part-time lay teachers, including a resource, physical education, art, music, and musical theater teacher. The diverse student body is comprised of students from across Tucson who represent many different cultures.
As a Catholic school, the students study religion daily, but they also learn about their faith through social outreach including making sandwiches for Casa Maria, collecting toothbrushes for Stand-Up for Kids, and collecting change to support students in local parishes in Haiti. The students also participate in daily prayer, weekly Mass, and other prayer services throughout the year.
Results from standardized tests administered over the past several years indicate that Our Mother of Sorrows School students perform above the national and diocesan averages with higher scores in language and reading. The results indicate that students show more than one year’s growth from one year to the next. The student performance information is based on the data from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) administered yearly between 2010 and 2016 and the NWEA MAP tests given for the first time during the 2016-2017 year. Information from our graduates shows that most of our students enroll in advanced high school classes including honors classes, advanced placement classes, and dual enrollment classes.
The school's facilities include 5 buildings which are equipped with wireless internet. The teachers and students can access technology to support learning through 7 Chromebook carts that are available for check-out. The students have access to a strong ancillary program which provides children the opportunity to explore the arts and physical education, and there are many co-curricular opportunities for children including a strings program, sports, Student Council, and the National Junior Honor Society.