The History of
St. Joseph Catholic School
Est. 1948

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St. Joseph Catholic Church was founded in 1844 by seven families who emigrated from Ireland. It is the oldest continuous Catholic community in Fayetteville and is currently located on the original site where the first small log cabin church was located east of Fayetteville.

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As the parish community grew it was necessary for St. Joseph’s to relocate in 1878 to the corner of Lafayette and Willow Streets. At this time a group of Mexican nuns established the first formal Catholic educational institution in Fayetteville to serve the members of the parish. Throughout the school’s history, several religious orders, including the Sisters of the Incarnate and the Ursuline Sisters came to Fayetteville to supervise the school’s educational programs.

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In 1948, the parish acquired a residence on the corner of Lafayette and Walnut and opened a school with 39 pupils taught by Benedictine sisters from St. Scholastica in Fort Smith. The school grew to 105 students by 1954, and construction began on a new school building for 1st through 8th grades. An all-day Kindergarten program was added in 1955 and a ninth grade was added in September of 1956. As the years passed, enrollment dropped, and the 7th, 8th and 9th grades were discontinued. The Benedictine Sisters continued to run the school until 1971 when the Franciscan Sisters of Wheaton, Illinois joined the teaching staff with an additional four lay teachers. From 1982 to 1986, a Franciscan Brother, Andrew Schmidt, served as principal of the school. He was followed by Mrs. Ann Ferrell Wilson, who served as principal for 10 years. During her tenure she oversaw an expansion of the school to nearly 300 students and 14 teachers. Deacon Chuck Marino succeeded Mrs. Wilson in 1996 and Mrs. Paula Thiessen became principal in 1999 at which time the school added a 7th grade class.

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In May of 2001, St. Joseph received Vatican approval to construct a combination Chapel Center, Parish Offices, and Educational Facility on the property where the church was first established in 1844. Construction of the facility on Starr Drive was completed in August, 2002 and continues to serve as the school’s facility today. The PreK 4 program was added in 2002, and PreK3 program was added in 2006. Mr. Mark Holley served as principal during the 2005-2006 school year, and was succeeded in the following year by Mrs. Ann Finch, who served as principal through the 2010-2011 school year. 

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In the spring of 2011, the church and school broke ground on the DeBriyn Family Life Center, a $3 million project named in honor of long-time parishioners Norm and Carolyn DeBriyn. Deacon DeBriyn served many years as the University of Arkansas baseball coach and was ordained a permanent deacon in 2012. In the spring of 2012 the DeBriyn Family Life Center opened, housing a full-size gymnasium, an art room, a music room, and four new classrooms.​

 

Mrs. Marcia Diamond was hired as principal to begin the 2011-2012 school year. Mrs. Diamond had previously served as a Catholic school principal in Maine. In her first year, Mrs. Diamond created a part-time assistant principal position and hired Mr. Mark Wilburn, who also taught in the middle school. The following year, the assistant principal role became a full-time position, and athletic director duties were added to manage the expanded athletic opportunities created by the DeBriyn Center. Mrs. Diamond served as principal through the 2013-2014 school year. That same year, the decision was made to add an 8th grade class to begin the 2014-2015 school year. This was in response to the reorganization of building grade levels within Fayetteville Public Schools.

 

Mr. Jason Pohlmeier was hired as principal in 2014. Mr. Pohlmeier was principal of St. Edward Catholic School in Little Rock from 2009 to 2014 and served on the ANSAA accreditation team at St. Joseph in January 2014. ​In September 2014, St. Joseph School was named as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon Exemplary High Performing School by the U.S. Department of Education, becoming the first non-public school in NWA to receive this highest award in American education. Also in 2014, St. Joseph was named “Best Private School” in Northwest Arkansas by CitiScapes Magazine for the first time. ​At the end of the 2014-2015 school year, Mr. Wilburn announced he was moving, and Mrs. Michelle Hightower was hired as Assistant Principal. Mrs. Hightower had served as a teacher at St. Joseph for fourteen years and as a school board member for two. 

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In January 2017, St. Joseph parish purchased 7.5 acres of land north of the parking lot to be the site of the future St. Joseph Church. Upon completion of that sanctuary, the existing worship center within the school building will be renovated into a performing arts center with other important upgrades to be determined. The St. Joseph campus is now approximately 25 acres. 

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Prior to the start of the 2019-2020 school year, it was announced that Mr. Mark Wilburn would return to his position as Assistant Principal. The Wilburn family had returned to Fayetteville in January 2019. Mrs. Michelle Hightower returned to the junior high teaching team. ​In the fall of 2019, St. Joseph was named “Best Private School” in Northwest Arkansas by CitiScapes Magazine for the sixth consecutive year. In October 2020, St. Joseph Catholic School was again named a National Blue Ribbon Exemplary High Performing School. In receiving this award a second time, St. Joseph became the first repeat winner of this award among all nonpublic schools in the state of Arkansas.

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In March 2020, all schools in Arkansas and many throughout the country transitioned to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Joseph continued to offer instruction in new content through a variety of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools. Student test scores remained at the consistently high standard that the school had set despite the challenges of remote learning. ​The 2020-21 school year began in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The return-to-school options that were offered by other area schools did not meet the needs of many area families. As a result, St. Joseph began the 2020-2021 school year with an enrollment of 340 students in grades PK3-8, which included ninety-two new students from sixty new families. By the start of the 2022-2023 school year, the enrollment had grown to 378 students.

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​In 2022, Mr. Pohlmeier was ordained as a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Little Rock, making it the second time that the school principal has been a deacon.  During the 2022-2023, the school celebrated its 75th Anniversary and marked the occasion with a variety of activities during the year-long celebration. Prior to the 2023-2024 school year, Mrs. Paige Coppola was hired as assistant principal. Mrs. Coppola moved here following a long career as a teacher and assistant principal at Christ the King Catholic School in Little Rock.

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The school announced a new mission statement to begin the 2024-2025 school year. The new mission statement was developed with input of school board, staff, and others over the course of two years. The school motto of “I will try my best every day to Learn, to Love others, and to Act like Jesus,” has been foundational for the St. Joseph culture for decades. The new mission statement is intended to be viewed with the motto to show a complete picture of what St. Joseph Catholic School intends to be. The new mission statement reads:

“St. Joseph Catholic School provides well-rounded Catholic education to the Northwest Arkansas community, forming students to be lights to the world. St. Joseph maintains the high standards of the Catholic educational tradition by meeting students at their individual academic and physical levels and leading them to higher achievement. Members of the St. Joseph family uphold the two-fold commandment of Jesus Christ to love God—through prayer and liturgy—and to love neighbor—through service and mutual respect—recognizing the dignity of all people made in the image and likeness of God.”

St. Joseph opened the 2025-26 school year with an enrollment of 416 students, which is the highest on record. With the full implementation of the Arkansas LEARNS Act beginning in the 2025-26 school year, we hope to see that number continue to grow for the future. St. Joseph remains the only nonpublic school in Arkansas to be a repeat winner of the National Blue Ribbon Award, and has been named Best Private School in NWA by CitiScapes Magazine for twelve consecutive years. 

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