Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Grand Rapids receive their accreditation from the Michigan Association of Nonpublic (MANS). Schools are on a five-year cycle. In the fourth year of the cycle, schools evaluate themselves and prepare evidence to prove they are meeting the standards necessary for accreditation. In the fifth year, a site team consisting of administrators and teaching staff members of the Diocese visit our school for two days. They review the self-study and the evidence presented and they also spend two days on campus.

The site team sends us a copy of the final report and lets us know whether or not we are recommended to remain accredited.

Our most recent accreditation was done during the 2021-22 school year.

St. Patrick School is open to all. You do not need to be a Catholic to send your child to St. Patrick School. About 3% of our students belong to other Christian denominations. Your children do not not even need to be Christian to attend school at St. Patrick School.

The simple answer is yes they do, but there is more to it than that. Teachers at St. Patrick School are expected to be certified and highly qualified in the area they teach, and to be practicing Catholics. If there are no applicants who meet both of these requirements, exceptions may be made to this rule.

• If we do not have a qualified candidate who is Catholic, we would give precedence to a member of another Christian denomination who has a strong, faith-filled background assuming they meet the rest of the qualifications

• If a non-certified teacher is hired, they must submit a plan that shows how and when they will be receiving certification. This plan is submitted to the Michigan Association of Nonpublic Schools in our annual report.

The only exception to this is a religion or theology teacher. There is no state certification to teach religion or theology. Instead, we have other qualifications and they are expected to receive Master Catechist Certification through the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

Shared Time is an agreement between a public school district and non-public school. This agreement provides for private school students to take non-core classes taught by teachers from the public school district. The public school district pays for their teacher to be in the private school. The public school receives funding from the state for the shared-time students.

The private school must request an agreement with the public school in whose district it is located or with any public school district in which it is contiguous. A private school may have an agreement with more than one public school district.

The same class (grade level and subject) must be offered to the public district’s students at a site within the public district in order for them to provide a teacher at the private school for that same subject. There are some other logistical items that may include scheduling, staffing, travel time, etc.

St. Patrick School has a Shared Time agreement with Portland Public Schools in Art, Physical Education, elementary computers and secondary computers.

Shared Time teachers are supposed to meet the required guidelines for teaching in the public district. They should be certified and highly qualified in the area in which they teach just as they would be required to do to teach at the public school.

St. Patrick School students are required to wear school uniforms.  The complete Dress Code is available on the school website.

We work hard to keep our tuition levels affordable, and have succeeded in staying well below the levels charged at Catholic High Schools in Lansing and Grand Rapids.  Tuition rates for the current school year are available on the website.  Please note that scholarships are also available at all grade levels.

SCHOOL CALENDAR/EVENTS:  We use Google Calendars to keep track of most of our schedule and activities.  You can find a pdf version of the general school calendar on the Documents and Forms page, located under the About Us tab. School activities can be found on the school events calendar.

ATHLETIC SCHEDULES:  As soon as schedules are finalized each season, a link to the complete athletic schedule will be available by hovering over the Students tab, clicking Athletics, and then clicking Printable calendar of all sports.   Individual sports schedules will be published on the individual sports pages.

Wallet-size sports schedules can be picked up at the school office, Westside Grocery, and Portland Federal Credit Union at the beginning of each sports season.

St. Patrick elementary students are tested each year, using MAP Testing.  Our students consistently score in the top 25% in the nation.

Our high school students take the same tests that the students in the public schools take with the exception of the SAT.  Our juniors and seniors take the ACT.  Through the years our students have consistently scored higher than all of the area schools (high schools in Ionia County and CMAC).

Directions to the school:

Coming from the east:  Take I-96 west to Exit 77.  Turn right onto Grand River Avenue and follow it approximately 1 1/2 miles.

Coming from the west:  Take I-96 east to Exit 77.  Turn left onto Grand River Avenue and follow it approximately 1 1/2 miles.

The school is located at the corner of Grand River Avenue and West Street.  Enter the building through the main school office entrance, located off the parking lot behind the church.

Directions to athletic events:

Football:  Varsity games are played at Portland High School, located at 1100 Ionia Road.  All other football games are played at Father Flohe Field, located across the street from St. Patrick School.

Basketball:  Varsity/JV games are played at Portland Middle School, located at 745 Storz Avenue.  Freshman/middle school and elementary games are played at St. Patrick School, 122 West Street.  The gym entrance is located on the corner of Church and Center Streets, directly across the street from the parish office building.

Softball/Baseball:  All games are played at Father Flohe Field,765 Union Street, across the street from St. Patrick School.

Volleyball:  All games are played at St. Patrick School, 122 West Street.  The gym entrance is located on the corner of Church and Center Streets, directly across the street from the parish office building.

Track:  Track meets are held at Portland High School, 1100 Ionia Road.

Bowling:  Matches are held at Meadow Bowl Lanes, 7888 East Grand River Avenue.

Golf:  Matches are held at the Portland Country Club, 4901 Divine Highway.

For complete information, please use Google Maps.

School Board meetings are held approximately every six weeks in the Parish Hall.  For a current schedule and complete information, please visit the School Board webpage.

Athletic Association meetings are held on the first Sunday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall.   For complete information, please visit the Athletic Association webpage.

PTO meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. in Room 116 unless otherwise noted.  For complete information, please visit the PTO webpage.

Minutes from the meetings are also available on the same webpages.

The school/athletic handbook is available on the Documents and Forms page of the school website.