Community News
High School Co-Ed in 2024-25
July 20, 2023
After several years of careful deliberation within our community, I am proud to announce that Palma School will accept young women, grades 9-12, beginning with the 2024/2025 school year.
For a number of months, Palma's leadership engaged with the Diocese of Monterey to investigate the possibility of establishing a co-educational high school in the Salinas Valley. After a study conducted during the Fall/Winter 2021/2022 by Catholic School Management, Bishop Daniel Garcia and then-Provincial Leader of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, Brother Kevin Griffith, released a joint statement that concluded: "The families and children in the northern part of the Diocese of Monterey could be better served by a co-educational high school structure in Salinas."
Since the release of that statement, Palma School and Diocesan leadership teams have actively explored a path to bring this vision into reality. Unfortunately, circumstances at this time prevent the Diocese and Palma from cooperatively forming a co-educational high school.
With a resolve to serve all of our local young people, while following the direction of this study and the wishes of our community, we are excited to come full circle back to Palma School's co-educational roots.
I want to thank the Palma and Diocesan leadership's work over these past months and our entire community for your love and passion for Catholic education in our area.
NHS Students Volunteer to Help Their Fellow Chieftains
Palma’s National Honor Society (NHS) students are ready to engage in peer-to-peer tutoring. They are in the Cislini Study Center from 2:40pm to 3:15pm Monday through Thursday. This is a great opportunity for students to get a little extra help with their studies. As part of their charter, the NHS program empowers and equips students with the knowledge and skills to be transformative leaders in their school, communities and beyond. Students in the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) offer tutoring for middle school students during lunchtime, Monday through Friday. For information about joining NHS or NJHS, contact Mr. Bergez.
Chieftain Moms Help Bring AIM to Campus
Kimberly Hell and Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin, both Chieftain moms, gave a presentation to faculty and staff about AIM Youth Mental Health programs. With their assistance, Palma will bring Teen Mental Health First Aid onto our campus. The program provides training for select students who can become a “bridge” between a student suffering a mental health crisis and a trusted adult. Teenagers are often hesitant to speak with adults, whether it be parents, coaches or teachers, about their stresses and anxieties. This program will ensure that students are surrounded by trained individuals who are prepared to recognize and respond to signs of mental illness, substance use disorders and other mental health crises. Step one is a number of faculty and staff be trained and become “trusted adults” on campus to whom boys can turn. The training introduces common mental health challenges for youth and teaches a five-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Among the topics covered are anxiety, depression, substance use, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders including ADHD, and eating disorders. The number one protective factor in youth mental health is a trusted adult — one who is trained with skills and knowledge about what to do and what to say.
