From Setback to Solidarity: How Two Catholic Schools Came Together for Students
- Carol Nesbitt
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 11

What do you do when your school community goes on spring break and can’t return? You pray, and you pivot. And you count on the spirit of community to find solutions.
Such was the case this spring for the students and staff of Shrine of St. Anne Catholic School in Arvada. When they went on spring break in April, the maintenance staff planned to update parts of the building — until asbestos was unintentionally uncovered.
Work came to an immediate halt. Asbestos testing crews came in to see how much work would need to be done to make the school safe to return to. Suddenly, the school community had nowhere to go — and no books, laptops or supplies to go with, since students and staff had left them behind for the planned week-long break.
“I prayed the initial results would come back negative,” said Dana Ellis, the school’s principal. “I knew asbestos cleanup was expensive and would take considerable time, so I worried we would be out of our building for the remainder of the year. Then my thinking moved to how to keep school moving forward so we would have a place to continue.”
They considered moving into the Shrine of St. Anne parish center, but once they counted classrooms and looked at the space, they knew they needed more.
“I didn’t want to move to remote learning, and neither did the staff. We looked at a community building in Arvada for some extra room; I called Jeffco Public Schools to see if we could use a vacated school,” Ellis said, explaining the efforts to find a backup plan for the remainder of the school year — options that didn’t pan out.
Realizing they needed a new school home they could use until the end of the school year, Ellis reached out to Toni Vaeth, archdiocesan associate superintendent of schools, to explore options. As they talked, one option came to the fore: the school at St. Bernadette Parish in Lakewood. Formerly known as Wellspring Catholic Academy, the school closed in the fall due to low enrollment and serious financial challenges and had been mainly sitting empty for months after being well loved for generations.
Ellis literally jumped in the car with Father Sean McGrath, the pastor at Shrine of St. Anne, a teacher and an office assistant to meet with St. Bernadette’s pastor, Father Joe McLagan, and “beg for a home.”
“I learned of the extent of the situation, and, without deliberation, I immediately offered the use of the school property,” Father Joe said. “Their staff came on site to see the facilities and figure out their next moves. I had no concerns with the prospect of the school being utilized or having an influx of people for however long the school would be used.”
So, with only a day or two to pull everything together, the teachers and staff hustled to get the classrooms at St. Bernadette ready to welcome the Shrine students. Ellis says she was incredibly grateful for the immediate generosity and willingness to help.
“Avery Coats, the former Wellspring principal, and Father Joe helped us find desks, chairs, all kinds of needed materials. By Thursday, we had classrooms set up, and on Friday, we held a welcome back open house for our families to visit the new location,” Ellis shared.

Ellis worked diligently to help St. Anne families ease into the new school location, arranging busing with the help of Holy Family High School for families that needed it to take them the five miles from St. Anne to St. Bernadette, running a free after-school care program and organizing staff volunteers to ride the bus each day and help watch students until parents could pick them up.
Seeing the thought and effort put into the unforeseen temporary move, parents trusted that the school’s leadership would have the kids’ best interests in mind.
“I knew that the intentions of the school were always to keep the kids safe, so I didn’t have any major concerns over not being in our school,” said Katie Kelley, parent of three girls at the school. “My concern was not doing remote learning because I felt that would be harder. The fact that Dana [Ellis] was able to put this together so quickly was amazing. It’s had its challenges, but it’s also been a great way to show your kids that ‘It’s okay … you can adapt.’”
As St. Anne students, families and staff arrived at St. Bernadette, Father McLagan and others went the extra mile to make sure they felt welcomed, Ellis and others said.
(Photos provided)
“When we came into Wellspring on Friday of that week, Father Joe had created a special place in the lobby for a St Anne relic. We met as a staff each morning in that area to pray together, focus on the abundance of blessings before us, and then update everyone on the progress being made on the abatement at St. Anne’s,” Ellis remembered.
“It was a blessing because Father Joe and Avery Coats offered everything to us — supplies, books, pencils, crayons. We had parents help as well to create fully functioning classrooms within two days,” added Kristen Trinder, a first-grade teacher at St. Anne. “Our first graders wrote thank you letters to Father Joe and Avery. It was really sweet. The students were so grateful because the last thing they wanted was to ‘go remote.’ Father Joe has done Mass for the students, Stations of the Cross and he even came into the classrooms to visit the kids.”
For his part, Father McLagan said he was “delighted” to have the Shrine of St. Anne students and staff in the school building.
“I enjoyed having them all on campus and showing our hospitality in making them welcome. I believe, as Christians, our care for others is important, especially in desperate situations, as Jesus calls us to. With respect to parish collegiality in the diocese, I believe this is an essential to avoid any siloing and stretches us to be loving and generous with the goods the Lord entrusts us with as stewards, knowing God is not outdone in his generosity,” Father McLagan said.
(Photos provided)
While students and staff got back into the swing of things at the new location, abatement work was underway at Shrine of St. Anne. Though crews initially thought the St. Anne students would be out of the building for the remainder of the school year, they progressed much quicker than initially thought, and students finished the school year at St. Anne.
As she looks back at the chaotic few weeks, Ellis is grateful for the wonderful spirit of cooperation and community, not only from her teachers, students and parents who handled the curveball with amazing grace and fortitude, but also the support they all received from Father Joe and the St. Bernadette community. She is still amazed that everything worked out, but proud of how the community pitched in to make it all work.
“When I look back and think about what we did in the short amount of time we did it, I realize how blessed we were. We made it work because we were all determined to make it work, and we did it together,” Ellis said.
“The Lord in his providence allowed me peacefully to assist in another’s need. To triage without much effort for a greater good is effortless when we cooperate with God’s grace. The leadership of Father Sean, Dana Ellis and the front office, teachers and staff exhibited great trust in the midst of unfortunate circumstances. They were able to pivot without much conflict, joyfully bearing the move and time away. While on campus, their presence, joy and eagerness to continue classes and time together shows that no matter the building, their culture bore an ethos of embodying Christian love and education, that I submit any parent should be grateful to partner with in educating their children,” Father McLagan concluded.