OST, Kan. (AP) While many rural schools struggle to survive, a Catholic school in an unincorporated Reno County town is attracting so many students that an addition is being planned.
St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Ost needs the extra room for students who are enrolling from surrounding communities.
The growth comes eight years after the Renwick School District closed the school and returned the property to the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. It reopened as a Catholic school in 2004 with 83 students. On Wednesday, the first day of this school year, 103 students were enrolled in kindergarten to eighth grade, with 33 preschool children.
The Hutchinson News reports the Reno County Commission is expected to approve a special-use permit for the addition next week. Nearly all the work will be donated.
