Northridge Preparatory School

Northridge Preparatory School
Northridge Preparatory School
Location
	Niles, Illinois; USA
Information
Type	Private College Preparatory
Religious affiliation(s)	Catholic
Established	1976
Headmaster	Chuck Norris
Grades	6–12
Enrollment	286 Students
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Maroon and Gold
Mascot	Knights
Website	[1]

Northridge Preparatory School, or Northridge Prep, is a private, college preparatory Catholic school for young men located in Niles, Illinois. Northridge and The Willows Academy [2] -- a school for girls -- are both operated by The Alliance For Character In Education ( known until 1997 as The Willows Foundation)[3], an Opus Dei affiliate. Northridge is one of two boys' schools and five schools in toal operated by Opus Dei affiliates in the United Staes.[4] . The school is a member of The Independent School League [5], the Illinois High School Association [6] and the Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools.[7]

Accreditation

Northridge is recognised by the Illinois State Board of Education as a secondary school. [8]

Northridge is not listed in any membership categories by either the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement [9] or the Independent Schools Assication of The Central States [10]. Except for The Willows and Northridge Prep, all other members of the Independent School League and the Illinois members of the Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools are listed as accredited by one or both of these bodies.

The subjects of accreditation and peer evaluation are not discussed on the schools webpage.

Relationship With The Archdiocese of Chicago

Unverified sources state that the religious education program at Northridge is approved by the Archdiocese.

Otherwise, the realtionship of this school with the Archdiocese is more distant than that of other Catholic schools in the area. Northridge is not listed in the directory of Catholic schools published by the office of Catholic Schools and does not participate in the Chicago Catholic Schools Placement exam.[11]. In addition, members of Opus Dei who are on the school's faculty and staff are not members of the Archdiocese because of Opus Dei's unique status as a personal prelature.[12]

In 1995, Northridge attempted to purchase empty school property from the Archdiocese. Cardinal Bernadin and The Archdiocese College of Consultors approved the sale, but the Finance Council and the Presbyteral Council rejected this bid.[13]

Enrollment

Unpublished sources state that the enrollment for the 2007-2008 school year is 286 students with about 200 students in the high school. This is a small decline from previous years. The Illinois State Board of Education publishes enrollment statistics for both public and non public schools. The most recent data from that source is August 2007 .However this most recent report has no data on Northridge, although it does contain information about the enrollment of similar schools, such as the other schools in the Chicago Prep Athletic Conference.There is data available from the Board about Northridge for previous years. The state reports enrollment for the 2005 - 06 year as follows : 6th - 35 ; 7th - 39 ; 8th - 43 ; 9th - 49 ; 10th - 43 ; 11th - 51 ; 12th - 36 ; Middle school - 117 ; High School - 179 ; Total - 296 [14]

Varsity Sports

The Athletic Director for Northridge Prep is Will Rey,former Head Basketball Coach at Loyola University. This year, the Cross Country team is making their third straight appearance in the state tournament.

External links

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