History & Tradition
Archbishop Borders School is located on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish campus, where the School Sisters of Notre Dame began educating students in the year 1876. By 1916, over 1,000 students were enrolled at Sacred Heart School! Over the past 150 years, the Sacred Heart School was rebuilt, renovated, and expanded multiple times. Our current building was completed in the year 1932. In 1951, Pope Pius XII bestowed a special Apostolic Benediction upon the School Sisters of Notre Dame for their Diamond Jubilee of 75 years of educating students at Sacred Heart School. In 1974, Sacred Heart School, as it was then called, merged with St. Brigid School in Canton to create Bishop John Neumann School. Archbishop Borders School opened as a community school in 2002 in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore after the merger of St. Elizabeth's and Our Lady of Pompeii Schools.
We are one of four schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore to hold the title of community school. A community school program establishes partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus is on academics, services, supports, and opportunities that lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities.
In the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, a former principal, Ms. Cathy Marshall, noticed the need to bring the Spanish language component into the classroom. Our students were losing their native Spanish skills, which was a critical part of their cultural identity. So in 2010, Archbishop Borders School partnered with the Roche Center of Boston College and their Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools (TWIN-CS) and launched its dual-language program in English in Spanish beginning with its Pre-K students. The goal of this program was that students were to be biliterate and bilingual by 5th grade. In 2022, we are still the only program of this kind in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. Ultimately, we follow the Archdiocese of Baltimore curriculum, but we teach it to our students in both the English and Spanish languages.
With a diverse community, Archbishop Borders School places a special emphasis on fostering an understanding of the different cultures and traditions present. Events focused on this work include the Annual International Fair, celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and other days dedicated to the various virgins of Latin America, and more.
We are excited to keep developing this program and curriculum and to serve as a model for other schools in our area and across the country.