BY MARK SKERTIC
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Years of saving will help St. Ursula Villa pay for a new school building without boosting tuition.
A groundbreaking will take place Monday next to the school in Columbia-Tusculum. The new building will have six classrooms and a lunchroom, freeing up much-needed space in the present building, said principal Paul Loechle.
"We need the space; it's critical," he said. "By doing a lunchroom, it sets up some dominos." The art program will move into the present lunchroom, and kindergarten and preschool activities will move into the art room.
The school, which has about 500 students up to the eighth grade, is undergoing a series of changes. In addition to the building program, St. Ursula Villa has hired its first president. Jeanne Rolfes, current director of development at Springer School in Hyde Park, will join St. Ursula Villa this summer.
It's one of the biggest changes since the private, Catholic school was sold by the Ursuline nuns in 1993, said Patrick Fischer, the school's chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Since then, volunteers have assisted Mr. Loechle with the business side of running a school.
"Now, he will head up academics, and she will handle business, development and maintenance," Mr. Fischer said.
The planned classroom building is expected to cost about $1.5 million. It is being constructed so that additional development is possible. "It makes sense to do that planning now," Mr. Fischer said.
School officials said they were proud the work can be done without raising tuition.
"We can do it because of fund-raising we've done the past few years, from savings and we'll finance some of it," Mr. Loechle said.
