High Schools

The high schools in the Diocese of Columbus are different than what you might find in other Catholic school systems.  Ten of the 11 high schools are Diocesean owned and operated.  One – St. Charles Preparatory – began as the Diocesan seminary and remains all-male.  Cristo Rey Columbus is the newest high school and serves families within particular economic constraints.
 
Nine of the high schools were founded as a joint mission of a group of parishes with elementary schools in a particular geographic area.  In the 1950s, Monsignor Edward Spiers led this initiative, developing high schools to be places where parishes came together, forming an educational unity between the parishes of a particular part of the Diocese.  In the City of Columbus, the schools that derive from this model are Bishop Watterson on the northwest side, St. Francis DeSales on the northeast side, Bishop Hartley on the east side, and Bishop Ready on the southwest side.  Newark Catholic in Newark and Fisher Catholic in Lancaster were also formed in this model.
 
While demographic and other changes have resulted in shifts in the make-up of the original parish clusters, the close relationship between a geographically similar group of parish elementary schools and one Diocesan high school remains in existence and remains a cornerstone of our Diocesan structure. These elementary schools, now called partner schools or feeder schools, are tightly linked to a Diocesan high school, with close ties, deeply rooted traditions, and a strong shared community forming a Preschool-12 educational unit in each area of our Diocese.  Each group containing one high school and its feeder schools forms a boundary area of the Diocese. 
 
The boundary system, while unique among Catholic diocese in the United States, remains one of the greatest attributes of the Diocese of Columbus.


High School attendance is determined by the specific street address (not general zip code area) of a student's legal guardian.  The governing policy, including the attendance areas of each school, is available here. 

A waiver for assigned school attendance may be granted in specific instances, as defined by Policy 5104.  The waiver application is available through each high school.