School History
Immaculate Conception Catholic School began in 1880, one year after the appointment of Immaculate Conception Parish's first permanent pastor Fr. William Schmidt. Nine years later when the school became too large for one teacher, the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood from O’Fallon, Missouri took over. At that time the school numbered just 71 students.
In 1923, under the supervision of Fr. Woeltermann, a new brick school was erected and the school moved next to the church. Eventually with the growth of the parish, in 1959 there was a need for a larger school. Under the guidance of Fr. Fuchs, an addition to the north end of the existing school building began and was completed in 1961. Kindergarten classes were added in 1980 and housed in the basement of the convent, they were later moved to the school building.
The fall of 1999 saw the start of a new era at ICD when the school welcomed Janet Eaton as the principal, this was a time of major change and growth at ICD as the Dardenne Prairie area saw a boom in housing construction. A larger school was needed. During the summer of 2002, ground was broken to begin the current school building and was completed in October 2003. On August 19, 2003, the doors opened to 511 students!
However, with the ever increasing population of Dardenne Prairie and surrounding areas, the school once again found itself in need of more space. On December 17th, 2006, ground was broken to begin the construction of a 16,000 square feet west wing. Nearly a year to the day after construction began, on our Feast Day of December 8, 2007, the school moved to the new wing. Interestingly, on December 17, 2007, one year after the groundbreaking, the students ate lunch for the first time in the new cafeteria. 705 students were enrolled for the 2007-08 school year.
The 2008-09 school year began with an enrollment of 747 students and for the first time in ten years, all school expansion and construction projects were completed. Mrs. Eaton served as principal until 2011. During her tenure at ICD, she was supported by three assistant principals, Mrs. Debbie Pecher, Mrs. Ann Hoffman, Mr. Jonathan Batchelor. Mr. Batchelor was appointed interim principal in 2011-2012 until ICD welcomed the new and current principal, Mr. Dan Mullenschlader.
Mr. Mullenschlader was named principal at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. During his leadership, Mr. Mullenschlader has been supported by three assistant principals, Mrs. Maureen Lovette, Mrs. Michelle Knapp, and Mrs. Melissa Liszewski. He has continued the trend of excellence in education with a strong faith-based foundation.
In the year 2013-2014, Immaculate Conception opened a Pre-Kindergarten program that included 3-year-old and 4-year-old classrooms. This vibrant pre-school has over 130 students enrolled in the program.
Currently, the full-time parish school serves over 500 families and welcomes nearly 800 students. The school has over 100 staff members including administration, office staff, resource department, teacher aides, support staff, homeroom teachers, and special area class teachers (PE, music, technology, Spanish, art, and library). Immaculate Conception School fosters a “community of one Spirit in Christ Jesus”, dedicated to serving the mission of the Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the needs of its families.