Michael F. England

B.A. in Secondary Education (Math)
M.A. in Secondary School Administration

Start Year at St. Mary's: 2013

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

The 2023-24 academic year is Mike’s 11th year at St. Mary’s as school President. This year, though, will be his first year as President of the “new” St. Mary’s South Side Catholic High School. On September 26, 2022, the Archdiocese announced their intent to close St. Mary’s at the end of the school year. Mike’s response was that this could not be allowed to happen given how important the school is to the young men being served and to an already struggling Dutchtown community which would be devastated to lose the “anchor” of its neighborhood. Mike and the Board of Directors led the school community to mobilize and quickly negotiated a new lease agreement with the Archdiocese and a new sponsorship agreement with the Society of Mary (the Marianists). A capital campaign, “The Work Is Ours,” was started with a goal of raising $12 million over the next 5 years and in the first 5 months $5.3 million was raised. St. Mary’s South Side Catholic High School is now fully independent of the Archdiocese and welcomed 75 freshmen this year, the most in the last 5 years.

Mike is very involved with The Little Bit Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to address the needs of at-risk children to break down the barriers that prevent them from receiving a good education. He has been a board member since 2011. This year, The Little Bit Foundation will serve over 14,000 children in 48 schools throughout the metropolitan area. Mike and St. Mary’s High School were also instrumental in starting a new non-profit, the St. Joseph Housing Initiative, that purchases and renovates homes around St. Mary’s, most being vacant, and then selling them to low/moderate income families allowing them to build family wealth/equity through home ownership. The offices of SJHI are located at St. Mary’s.

In June, 2023, Mike was selected to St. Louis Magazine’s 2023 A-List recognizing the efforts of community leaders “Shaping the Region.”

 

WHY ST. MARY’S?
No other Catholic high school in the St. Louis metropolitan region is as important as St. Mary’s South Side Catholic High School for two reasons. First, our mission is to provide a quality Catholic education to all young men, especially those that cannot afford it. Second, if any other Catholic high schools were to unfortunately close, their neighborhoods would not be effected. If St. Mary’s were to close Dutchtown would be devastated. We are a positive resource of education, opportunity, and hope in the city of St. Louis and our city cannot afford to lose any of its positive resources.