It was a series of starts and stops for St. Edward School after its doors opened for the first time on November 18, 1918. Delayed weeks due to the Great Influenza epidemic, and then having classes paused for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and celebrating the New Year, the fitful beginning gave way to nearly 110 solid years of Catholic education for the youth of the New Iberia community.
Those years saw grade levels fluctuate, enrollment highs and lows, the Civil Rights Movement, integration, demolition of the original school and church, construction of a new building that has been remodeled and expanded. It has also seen moving from being fully staffed by Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to a total lay staff today, and so much more to make it a place that is thriving and flourishing today. Through it all, one goal has remained the same: There has been a commitment to stay true to the legacy of our foundress, St. Katharine Drexel. Her example continues to permeate everyday life on campus and is instilled in the hearts of all who walk the sacred and holy grounds of St. Edward.
Mother Katharine named the school in honor of her brother-in-law, Edward Morrell, who purchased the property on which the school still sits. She entrusted it to be operated by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the religious order she also founded, which is based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The school started with 1st to 5th grade in a two-story church/school building, with the church being housed on the bottom and the school on top. In 1922, 6th and 7th grades were added, and St. Edward School’s first high school graduation was celebrated in 1925.
In the early 1960s, the combination church/school was torn down to make way for a new school facility, with a new church being built on the next city block. Several St. Edward Church parishioners spent many hours contributing to the school’s construction as the concrete block walls were erected, which can still be seen today and serve as the building’s main structure.
With desegregation in the early 1970s, St. Edward School was integrated and became the kindergarten through 3rd grade school for the Catholic school system of New Iberia. Pre-kindergarten for 3 and 4-year-olds was later added. Currently, St. Edward is a major feeder school for Catholic High School, which hosts 4th-12th grades.
St. Edward School was led by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament until the summer of 2004. The entire staff is now a lay staff under the leadership of a lay principal. The relationship between the Sisters and the influence of St. Katharine remains alive and strong within the school. Day-to-day operations continue to focus on the school’s mission of “Living the Eucharistic Reality that All are One in Christ.”