Many of the students attending local Catholic schools are continuing a tradition started by their parents or grandparents.

"I went to Catholic schools, and I sent my children to them," said Nancy Heberlie, principal at St. Vincent de Paul School, which along with other area Catholic schools is celebrating Catholic Schools Week this week. "It's a continuity of faith."

"Many of those who attend Notre Dame are the students of students," said Brother David Migliorino, principal of Notre Dame Regional High School. "The parents who went to Catholic schools want their children to experience what they experienced."

That experience, the principals of local Catholic schools say, includes a challenging curriculum, small classes, strict discipline, dedicated teachers and, perhaps most important, an emphasis on Christian teachings, values and spiritual growth.

"I think more people are seeing the importance of private schools and their teachings of values, character education and Christianity," said Tracy Dumey, principal at Immaculate Conception School in Jackson. That school, which now has an enrollment of 259, has been growing by eight to 10 students per year for the last several years.

The enrollment at Notre Dame, which has 393 students this year, its second year in a new and larger building, has been increasing each year for the last five years, Migliorino said.

"More people want an alternative to public education," he said.

"We are allowed to teach about God and Jesus and the whole religious aspect," Dumey said. "That helps makes students grow into better people."

Dumey said when you combine the three Rs of respect, responsibility and religion with what are called the three educational Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic, you get better students.

And educationally, students at local Catholic schools tend to do well on test scores and in later schooling. Dumey and Heberlie said the students at their schools, which are both kindergarten through eighth grade, excel in high school and beyond because of the discipline and study habits they learned early.

"Our students score above state and national averages," Migliorino said of Notre Dame students. "We are able to do so because of the quality of our teachers and the interest of our parents."

Parent support is crucial for good students and good schools, Migliorino said, and Catholic schools generally have a lot of involvement from parents.

"The best thing a school can have is active parents," said Heberlie of St. Vincent de Paul School, which has an enrollment this year of 446 students. "Whenever our school needs anything, our parents are right there."

Parents are the primary educators, Dumey said, with the school supporting parents and parents supporting the school.

"Without the support of parents, our school wouldn't be what it is today," Dumey said.

Migliorino said he thinks the tuition parents pay for their children to attend Catholic schools provides an incentive to stay involved.

"They have bought into this product, and they want to work to get the best out of their investment," he said.

At Notre Dame, the tuition for a student from a parish that provides a supplement is $2,100. The parish pays $765. The rest of the $3,442 per year it takes to educate that student is made up with school fund-raisers and an endowment fund.

Migliorino said the school's faculty and staff make sure parents and students get the most out of that investment. This includes providing the comparable technology, equipment and sports and other extracurricular activities available to students in public schools.

Dumey said Immaculate Conception offers sports, band, student council and other programs often offered in public schools so students don't miss out.

Programs that Catholic schools don't offer themselves, like gifted and talented classes and special education classes, are often made available through a collaboration with the public school system, Dumey and Heberlie said.

And Dumey sees Catholic schools offering many things large public schools don't.

"Our school is like a big family," Dumey said. "I don't think you get that in big public schools. We know all of our students by name."