The new St. Jerome Institute is now enrolling students for this fall.
The independent private high school with a curriculum built around Western Civilization themes will be located at 1800 Perry St. NE in D.C.’s Brookland neighborhood, not far from the Catholic University of America.
Although it shares a name and key backers with St. Jerome Catholic Church and St. Jerome Academy in Hyattsville, the high school is separate, with its own admission process, weighted toward an interview and open to any eighth grader.
You don’t have to be Catholic —or even Christian — to attend, although the school is upfront that its curriculum is “thoroughly animated by the Catholic intellectual tradition.”
The school has hired Peter Crawford, who has experience growing classical charter schools in Arizona and Texas, as headmaster, along with a number of other teachers and staffers with experience in classical education.
As the center of Hyattsville’s small but dedicated Catholic community, St. Jerome has played a key role in revitalizing the area, drawing national attention at times for turning around a once-troubled parish.
The high school’s location in Brookland is a small loss for Hyattsville, which would have benefited from having it in town, but it’s close enough that area parents and students won’t have to commute far, and it makes sense to for the high school to be located in the middle of D.C.’s Catholic community.
Tuition will be about $12,800 a year, although the school will offer financial aid and scholarships.
