Thomas More Prep-Marian High School will expand next year. The four-year Catholic high school will add a junior high program to its curriculum.
Pastoral leaders of Heartland Parishes of Ellis County, along with the Salina Diocese, gave their approval to the plan last Friday.
Principal Bill DeWitt says TMP-Marian Junior High for 7th and 8th graders will open Fall 2012 in the high school. The program addition will give Hays an inclusive Catholic education system for pre-school through 12th grade.
About half of the $3.7 million for the five-year plan for a middle school in the Kennedy building has been pledged.
USD 489 voted earlier this year to close Kennedy Middle School next May, leaving a single public middle school in Hays. The Kennedy building is owned by Saint Joseph Parish and was leased to the Hays school district.
An information night about the new TMP junior high program will be held January 8 with enrollment beginning January 31.