From the earliest days of the parish there was a desire to provide Catholic Education. However, with only a small number of children, the remoteness of the parish and its parishioners, the poor quality of the roads and the lack of mass transit, it was nearly impossible to provide a Catholic Education in a rural setting.
In 1948, the Sisters of Notre Dame bought property in Munson Township. In 1957, they opened a Kindergarten classroom in a converted chicken coop. This is the beginning of Catholic Education in Geauga County. Soon the school grew to include Kindergarten through eighth grade. In 1964 a Montessori school and the Sister’s Novitiate rounded out the Geauga Campus. Father Maher purchased 21 acres on North Street across the road from the rectory in 1952 for the future development of the parish school. The land included a house and several outbuildings. The house was rented out and later sustained a fire. Father Walsh, who was then the pastor of St. Mary, inquired about the suitability of renovating the damaged house and turning it into a school. Unfortunately, this plan was rejected due to not meeting the required code.
Three schools were opened in Geauga county: In 1961 St. Mary School opened with first through fourth grade classes. In 1962 St. Helen in Newbury opened a school. In 1963 St. Anselm Parish in Chesterland opened a school. All three schools opened in the care of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
St. Mary School Chardon is a fully accredited, Roman Catholic Elementary School in Chardon, Ohio. Over the past 60 years, St. Mary School has been serving Preschool through eighth grade. Many capital improvement projects were undertaken to update the school. These projects included new administrative offices, converting the former church into a new gymnasium, as well as expanding and remodeling the library. The computer lab was redone and a science lab was added. Classrooms were updated with Newline Interactive Touch Display, and all students in Kindergarten through eighth grades are using chromebooks provided by the school for instruction, projects, and assignments. Preschool and PreK students are using iPads.
In 2017, St. Mary School became the first designated Ohio Department of Education STEM school in Geauga County. As one of the school’s student-led STEM projects, a greenhouse was built out of two liter pop bottles on school grounds. Students are growing plants, fruits and vegetables around the year. Our amazing Makerspace room allows our students to create, explore, learn and promotes critical and creative thinking to foster lifelong learning.
A sensory room was added in 2019. It helps our students improve their visual, auditory and tactile processing, as well as fine and gross motor skills. By providing a sense of calm and comfort, our sensory room helps students learn to self-regulate their behaviors. This ultimately improves focus, so they can be better prepared for learning and interacting with others.