The parish is only 12 years old. Shrader said a site next to the church is being cleared for the school. The project has been approved by Bishop Walter F. Sullivan but needs a building permit before construction can start. The school will enroll 500 pupils from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. Shrader said it's too soon to say when the school would open.
Plans are far more preliminary on the west side of Norfolk.
A couple of weeks ago, Catholic parents there responded to a telephone survey underwritten by the James Barry-Robinson Trust, which was established by a Catholic businessman in the 1920s. McPhillips said the survey simply acknowledges that there is no Catholic school in Norfolk in the area west of Granby Street, from Wards Corner to Ghent. Sacred Heart and Blessed Sacrament, the two Catholic parishes in the area, closed their schools more than 10 years ago. Sheila Breeden, a Catholic parent who lives in the survey area, said the telephone poll asked for preferences about tuition, student uniforms, lay teachers, class size and prospective locations for a school, including Little Creek Road and the Old Dominion University neighborhood. Breeden, who attended parochial and public schools as a child, said she is pleased with her children's public school.