
By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
With school out for the summer, remodeling plans are well underway at St. Joseph Christian schools as enrollment numbers continue to climb.
This first phase of the school's remodel includes seven new classrooms, a new band room and a new storage and restroom facility, which will be added onto the Lions Athletic Complex.
St. Joseph Christian Secondary Principal Danny Maggart says this expansion comes as the school's record enrollment numbers continue to go up.
"We've needed a new band room for quite some time," said Maggart. "Even before our enrollment was starting to go up here. So, we were fortunate to be able to do a lot of things by adding on to our current weight room facility. That frees up a lot of space for our band kids."
St. Joseph Christian saw a record enrollment of 353 students from Pre-K through 12th grade in the 2020-21 school year, and that number is expected to exceed 425 for the upcoming year.
"So, we are trying to do everything that we can to provide space for students to come at all levels for those families who desire for their kids to have a quality education," Maggart added.
This first phase is just the beginning of expansion and remodel plans at St. Joseph Christian. Other ideas include a second gymnasium, a fine arts wing and additional secondary and early education classrooms.
Maggart clarified that those plans are only ideas at this time. There's no specific timeline as to when those things might happen.
"The next phase might be a new gym or more early education or secondary classrooms," Maggart said. "So, we've tried to be open-minded to keep things flexible, but there are about 6-7 total phases that we're looking at. We're trying to be as fiscally responsible as possible. We're just excited to see what God is going to do."
Maggart is hopeful that the most of this first phase will be finished by the start of the school year. This first phase will cost around $800,000, which is being funded by seed money set aside for the project.
Beyond that, the school will continue to raise money and figure out what part of their expansion plan comes next and when that might be.
"So, that's kind of the beauty of it," Maggart said. "We're not bound by a certain date. Selfishly, of course, we'd like to have it all built as soon as possible, but we're just thankful to have what we have currently."

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