A Brief History of our School

Saint Mark Catholic School was founded in 1985.  The founding pastor was Monsignor William Hennessey.  Monsignor Hennessey left the parish as he was appointed Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Miami.  Monsignor Robert N. Lynch was the new pastor for a brief 6 months.  Monsignor Lynch was then appointed the Bishop of Saint Petersburg.  The current pastor is Father Edmond F. Whyte.  Saint Mark Catholic Elementary School opened officially in August 1995 with pre-school, kindergarten and one first grade class.  The founding Principal is Shirley R. Sandusky.  Under the guidance of Father Whyte many of the tentative plans were brought to completion.  Construction began to add enough space to house 1000 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8th Grade.  The construction was completed in August 1996.  Each year a grade was added until the 2001/2002 school year with the first 8th grade graduating class.  A computer lab was installed for the 1997/1998 school year with 30 computers.  An additional 8 computers have since been added to the lab.  The computer lab has access to the Internet and is up to date with the newest technology.  Also added to the facility is a music room, an art room, and a playing field.  The media center has over 8700 books and 350 audio-visual items cataloged at this time and is networked to the classrooms 8 computers.  A newly furnished state-of-the-art science lab was available to students beginning with the 1999/2000 school year. A new playground was completed in the fall of the 1999/2000 school year and provides our pre-kindergarten and kindergarten with an atmosphere of fun, learning and cooperative play.  Saint Mark Lions began their sports program during the 1999/2000 school year with the first sixth grade class.  The program has grown offering Varsity and Junior Varsity sports for boys and girls under the direction of an Athletic Director with parent volunteers as coaches.