“After thousands of hours of hard work by hundreds of people, it’s really exciting that we can say we are fully recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education,” said Mike Scholtz, Father McGivney principal.

The ISBE recognition process takes over a year, as a school must be in operation for an entire academic year before receiving its official state visit. Now operating in its second academic year, Father McGivney has an enrollment of 50 students, and school officials anticipate over 40 more students will register next year.

The school is housed in a private wing at the St. John Neumann Catholic School campus on Wilma Drive in Maryville. The high school has six classrooms with 70-inch flat screen TVs to interface with the teacher’s computer and wireless Internet connection.  

“Each teacher has a state-of-the-art tablet computer to interface with the TVs as well,” said David Michael, the high school’s development director.  

A capital campaign is under way to help construct its own permanent facility.