The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is opening a city school for the first time in more than 70 years.
Bright Futures Fund, which raises money for schools in the diocese, is acquiring the Derrick Thomas Academy charter school building as the future home of a new Catholic elementary school.
Officials told The Kansas City Star that the plan also calls for closing two Catholic schools — Our Lady of the Angels and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Both schools have operated in Kansas City since the early 1900s.
Bishop James Vann Johnston said the decision to relocate two of its schools closer to the east side of the urban core is a sign of the diocese's "commitment to the core of the city."
