School History
In September of 1963, Saint Paschal Baylon School was opened with grades 1-7, and staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame along with three lay teachers. The Saint Paschal Baylon School sports teams for grades 5-8 were named the "Bears", and our 23 school teams currently compete in the Valley Catholic Sports League.
In January 5, 1964 dedication of the Church and School took place. 290 children were enrolled in the school. As a matter of pride and interest, the first flag flown over the school originally flew over our State Capital Building in Sacramento. In August of 1965, construction of the second and final school building was started.
In September of 1966, completion of the school took place with duplicate grades added. Shortly thereafter, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles mandated that double grade classes be eliminated. Therefore, SPBS complied, and we have one class per grade to this day. Kindergarten was added in 1993, and a new section of the lower grades' building was built to house this new program. A new faculty lounge was also added at the same time.
SPBS continues to be a thriving Catholic parochial school and has been under lay leadership since 1997, when the Sisters of Notre Dame withdrew as an order from SPBS, due to a decrease in vocations. SPBS currently has 350 students in grades Kindergarten through eighth, with 34 faculty and staff members to serve their needs.
During the summer of 1998 the upper grades' building and school offices were renovated; a junior high science lab was added; and air conditioning was installed throughout the school. The school patio area was rebuilt; a new patio cover complete with lights and fans was added; and new lunch tables were installed during the summer of 2000. In 2001 the school's Health Room was renovated and re-designed to include a lower building copy/work room for the school's teacher aides and an office for the Junior High aide. During the summer of 2004, the lower grades' building was completely renovated; its bathrooms were remodeled; and a "small group instruction room" for our younger students was built. In addition, the school was networked for both hardwire and wireless technology use, and computers were provided for all classroom teachers. We also upgraded the students' Mac computers in the computer lab, and added a mobile cart with 22 student-use PC wireless laptops for use in all classrooms, K-8th grade.
During the 2005-2006 school year, we renovated the kitchen in the Faculty Room, and with the help of our Parent Teacher Organization have landscaped the large hillside from Columbia Driveway to the Rectory. Summer 2006 saw the complete renovation of the SPBS library, with the addition of new technology and computers for students; along with new carpet, and bookshelves, to accommodate our growing book inventory and our students' "Renaissance Reading" software program. During this past summer of 2007, we built a much needed Art Program Room. This is the 45th year St. Paschal Baylon School has been providing quality Catholic education to Catholic students in the Conejo Valley!
We continue to plan for the future at SPBS by creating new and innovative ways to best meet the evolving needs of our students. At the same time, however, we strive to maintain an appreciation of our amazing history and legacy of the almost one-half century of excellence in Catholic faith formation and academic education at the elementary level, here at Saint Paschal Baylon School.
