History

St. Mary Parish has been built on a tradition of sacrifice by dedicated priests, sisters, lay teachers, and parishioners. The early, sparsely populated Spokane Valley, with few farms and dirt roads, attracted missionary priests from Mt. St. Michael's and Gonzaga College. They traveled from home to Sunday Mass in the Veradale area. This is how St. Mary Parish began. 

To fulfill the desires of the parishioners, sisters were found to start up a new school at St. Mary Parish: the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. Registration for the new school was held on September 2, 1958. One hundred fourteen (114) students enrolled. Sister Barbara, the Superior and Principal, taught a combination of third and fourth grades; Sister Lourdes was the first-grade teacher. Sister Bernadine was the housekeeper and Sister Agnetta from the Order's Provincial House, served in a supervisory capacity. In 1958, the fourth-grade classroom was used for a combination of fourth and fifth grade. The extension to the convent and hall was added in 1960. By 1961, the students were using the present-day kitchen and faculty room for classrooms.
 
As the goal of parents was to have the class that started as fourth graders graduate as a class, a building to house fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades began in 1962. A list had been compiled of different people who had skills in construction. These volunteers met every day for six months between the hours of 6-9 pm to work on the new building. The parishioners of St. Mary, by doing the work themselves, cut the cost of the school by 75 percent. The entire upper unit cost $23,000 and was paid for by the time it was completed. The 150 parish men had donated over 6,000 hours of labor to this building project. The women of the parish raised money to meet the weekly construction bills, with the grade school students helping where they could.
 
In 1989, a Kindergarten was established to minister to the needs of the younger children. In response to the changing commitments of the parish, the school board initiated the implementation of the Fair Share/Stewardship tuition concept in 1991. Families are provided with the opportunity to support the school as their financial means allow, to volunteer the time necessary to realize St. Mary's goals and to be aware of the importance of their commitment to and participation in, the life of the school. Also in 1991, an Educare program was implemented at St. Mary Catholic School. This program offers families the opportunity to have children cared for in the school setting before and after regular school hours. The Media Center opened in 1995, with an expanded Library and a Computer Lab. We welcomed the four-year-olds to Pre-Kindergarten in 1997, the Kindergarten was extended to include both morning and afternoon sessions.  

The decision was made in 2004 to expand Kindergarten from a half-day to a full-day program. This decision reflected the changes in academic expectations for Kindergartners with the knowledge that early childhood education develops children academically, socially, and emotionally. In response to the growing need for Pre-K education for 3-year-olds due to a greater number of families where both parents are employed outside of the home, the school looked for space to expand. It was determined that the garage could be converted into a library and that the library space for the growing afterschool Educare program. The garage remodel took place in the summer of 2008 and the school welcomed its first Pre K 3 class in the 2008-2009 school year. The cost for the garage-to-library conversion was approximately $42,000. 

St. Mary Catholic School has participated in six in-depth studies of the school. The Bishop's Viability Study of Diocesan Schools (1993), United States Department of Education "Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Program", a parish-sponsored assessment of parish/school programs' facilities and their needs, and most recently, accreditation. In 2018, St. Mary received full accreditation with no restrictions for the maximum term of 6 years from the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.