In June of 1955, Father Arnold F. Witzman received a call from Archbishop Karl J. Alter to move from Cincinnati to Dayton to organize a new parish which came to be known as The Church of the Ascension. Fr. Witzman’s mission was to establish a school, so in 1956 a school building was dedicated and for the first six years served as a church also.

     In 1960 an addition of 6 classrooms was made to the north end of the school building. Notre Dame sisters served as the first teachers in the school. School Enrollment reached as many as 1000 students, with over 50 students in each classroom through the 60′s and 70′s. Mr. Walter R. Miller served as principal from 1970-1982 during the transition from a largely religious staff to a lay staff. Father Witzman retired in 1980 to become Pastor Emeritus and was joined by Father Edward Rudemiller (Father Rudy), who began a 12 year tenure as pastor.

In 1982 Sister Maureen Heavey, R.S.M., was assigned school principal. The Parish Activity Center (the PAC) was completed in 1988. Father Rudy made his farewell in 1992, and was succeeded by Fr. David Brinkmoeller. After 18 years of faithful service to the Ascension School, Sr. Maureen retired in the summer of 2000.
 

     Mr. Brent Devitt followed Sr. Maureen as principal in 2000, the same year a new gym floor was installed and a connector was built to join the school to church building. From 2001-2004, multiple renovations took place throughout the building to transform the school with dropped ceilings, new lighting, windows, storage, and replacement flooring. In 2004, a new playground was added to the northwest corner of Ascension Field. Fr. Chris Worland became Pastor in 2004.  The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006 and currently serves approximately 305 students, from nearly 230 families, in kindergarten through grade 8. The school was re-accredited by the Ohio Catholic School Accrediting Association in 2019.

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         In 2014, Mrs. Susan DiGiorgio followed Mr. Devitt as principal of Ascension.  Since then, increasing the number and variety of educational experiences for students has been a strong focus through incorporating the arts and sciences into the curriculum, taking field trips, and having guest resource visitors in the building. Another emphasis has been to increase access to technology in all grade levels. In 2017, the junior high students went 1:1 with Chromebook technology, opening the lab and previous Chromebook carts up for other classes to use. For the 2018-2019 school year, increased building security and the construction of a new playground for younger students is planned. Our pastor is Fr. Ed Pratt.

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