Eastside Catholic School

Eastside Catholic School is a private Roman Catholic secondary school located in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle within the Archdiocese of Seattle. It has a faith-based educational program for students in grades 6 through 12.

Eastside Catholic School
Address
232 228th Avenue SE

Sammamish
,
Washington

United States
Coordinates47°36′25″N 122°01′33″W
Information
TypePrivate, coeducational
secondary school
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
Established1980[1]
CEEB code480067[2]
PresidentGil Picciotto
DeanJeff Rodenburg, Dominic Daste, Soonja Larsen
Principal
  • Ryan Aiello (High School)
  • Ashley Hylton (Middle School)
Teaching staff74.5 (FTE) (2019–20)[3]
Grades6–12[4]
Enrollment862[3] (2019–20)
Average class size19[5]
Student to teacher ratio11.6[5] (2019–20)[3]
Campus size50 acres (20 ha)[6]
Campus typeSuburban
Color(s)Orange, Navy Blue   
Fight songCatch the Spirit
Eastside Catholic
(Mighty Oregon) [7]
AthleticsWIAA
Athletics conferenceMetro 3A
SportsFootball, Volleyball, Baseball, Track and Field, Cross Country, Fastpitch, Basketball, Lacrosse, Swimming, Wrestling, Special Olympics Bowling and Tennis.[8]
MascotCrusader[8]
Nickname"EC"
"Eastside Catholic"
Team nameCrusaders
AccreditationNorthwest Association of Independent Schools,[1]
Northwest Accreditation Commission,[1]
NewspaperThe Insider
Tuition$29,800[9]
AffiliationNational Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Washington Federation of Independent Schools (WFIS)[10]
Alumni4,600+
Websiteeastsidecatholic.org

Description

Founded by parents in 1980, the school is governed by an elected board of trustees. It is accredited by the state of Washington, the Northwest Association of Independent Schools. It is a member of the National Catholic Educational Association and the Washington Federation of Independent Schools (WFIS). Eastside Catholic consists of a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 215 students, and a high school, grades 9–12, with approximately 646 students.[11] The athletics mascot is the Crusader and the school colors are orange and navy blue. Eastside Catholic also offers an integrated special education program for high school students, the Options Program.[12]

History
Eastside Catholic campus in spring

For the first nine years, the campus was south of the Bellevue Square mall, at the former Bellevue Junior High School (old Bellevue High), which is now the Downtown Park.[13]

The next campus was also rented from the Bellevue School District at the former Ringdall Junior High (1970–87) at 11650 SE 60th Street in Newport Hills. Classes were held at that campus from 1981 to June 2008. In August 2008, Eastside Catholic opened a new $42 million campus in the city of Sammamish. The school also included an expansion to include grades 6–8.[1] The Sammamish campus features a chapel and 2,000 seat athletics stadium.

The school made headlines when the resignation of vice-principal Mark Zmuda was announced in December 2013.[14] Zmuda said he had been fired.[15] Media reports said he was asked to resign because of his same-sex marriage in July 2014. Over 400 students conducted a sit-in protest in his support, with many teachers supporting the protest as well.[16] The school stated in a letter to parents that "Mark's same-sex marriage over the summer violated his employment contract with the school" and that the school had been "directed to comply with the teachings of the church".[17] Though many at the school advocated retaining Zmuda, the Archdiocese of Seattle maintained that Zmuda either needed to be terminated or the school would lose its credential as a Catholic institution.

In response to the student protest, the school administration stated that students would be sent home for any additional campus protests.[18] This failed to quell the controversy, and on January 22, 2014, the president of the school, Sister Mary Tracy, resigned.[15] The school board of trustees accepted her resignation, saying, "For Sister Mary it was a difficult but necessary decision so that a new leader can be brought in to ensure the entire Eastside Catholic community is on a positive path forward."[15]

In August 2017, the school underwent another major disruption of its leadership. The overall principal of the school and the principal of the middle school were both dismissed, and 13 other faculty members resigned in response.[19] Amid the dispute, an online petition was established that collected more than 400 signatures, calling for the dismissals to be reversed. The school's interim president, Father William Heric, and the two co-chairs of the board of trustees were reported to have fired the principals without the permission of the rest of the board of trustees.[19] The two trustees who were blamed for the action then resigned and the board of trustees removed Heric from the position of interim president. Heric was also removed from his position as school chaplain and relocated to another Catholic church in the Seattle area. The dismissed principals and other faculty members were invited to return.[20][21] The turmoil resulted in the school being unable to open on time for its fall session, so the start of classes was delayed by a week.[19][21]

Sporting Championships

Eastside Catholic has won eleven state titles from 1984 to 2018: The cheerleading team has won various UCA national and world titles.

  • 1984: Girls Cross Country
  • 2010: Division II Girls Lacrosse[22]
  • 2014: 3A Football[23]
  • 2015: 3A Football[24]
  • 2016: Cheerleading Non-Tumbling
  • 2016: Girls' Lacrosse
  • 2017: Cheerleading Non-Tumbling
  • 2017: Girls' Lacrosse
  • 2017: Boys' Lacrosse – Private School [25]
  • 2018: 3A Football[26]
  • 2019: 3A Football

Notable alumni

References
  1. "School History". Eastside Catholic High School. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
  2. "High School Code Lookup". Vanderbilt University. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  3. "Search for Private Schools – School Detail for Eastside Catholic High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  4. "EC at a Glance". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  5. "High School Profile" (PDF). Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  6. "Our Campus". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  7. "School Fight Song". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved October 1, 2008.
  8. "Eastside Catholic Athletics". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  9. "Tuition and Tuition Assistance". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  10. "EC at a Glance". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  11. "EC at a Glance". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  12. "Options Program". Eastside Catholic School. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  13. Eastside Heritage Center Archived October 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine - Bellevue Schools Timeline – accessed September 19, 2013
  14. "Mark Zmuda Personnel Action Letter" (PDF). Eastside Catholic School official website. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  15. "Catholic School President Resigns after Gay Vice Principal's Ouster". CBS News. January 22, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  16. McNerthney, Casey; Rosoff, Henry (December 19, 2013). "Gay vice principal dismissed by Catholic school, 400 students walk out". KIRO-TV. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  17. Turnbull, Lornet (December 19, 2013). "Eastside Catholic students rally around ousted vice principal". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
  18. Langeler, John (January 6, 2013). "Eastside Catholic back to school; will discipline protesting students". KING-TV. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  19. Grande, Alison (August 18, 2017). "2 principals fired, 13 faculty quit at Eastside Catholic". KIRO-TV. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  20. Esteban, Michele (August 18, 2017). "Eastside Catholic flip-flops on faculty changes, interim president, 2 board members out". KOMO News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  21. Hahn, Elisa (August 18, 2017). "Eastside Catholic reverses controversial faculty shake-up". KING-TV. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  22. Kevin, Endejan (May 17, 2010). "Eastside Catholic girls lacrosse wins state title, makes school history". Issaquah Reporter. Issaquah Reporter. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  23. Liebeskind, Josh. "Eastside Catholic snaps Bellevue's 67-game win streak to win Class 3A title". The Seattle Times.
  24. "3A football: Eastside Catholic roars back to beat Bellevue in overtime". The Seattle Times. December 4, 2015.
  25. Scott, Shaun (May 28, 2017). "Crusaders capture state lacrosse championship". Issaquah Reporter. Issaquah Reporter. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  26. Evans, Jayda (November 30, 2018). "Class 3A: Eastside Catholic wins third state football title of decade, beats O'Dea". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  27. "Hunter Bryant, Washington Huskies, Tight End". 247Sports.
  28. "After lengthy recruitment, Eastside Catholic DL J.T. Tuimoloau — the No. 1 player in the 2021 class — chooses Ohio State". The Seattle Times. July 4, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
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