Today is the last day of classes at St. Leo's Catholic School, maybe forever. The Minot Catholic Schools are moving the teachers, staff, and preschoolers through second-graders over to Little Flower Catholic School in the fall, combining both grades for the first time since 2004.

"I think the teachers are afraid they'd cry," said principal Gary Volk, who said teachers were reluctant to talk about the move for fear of getting too emotional.

Second-graders Gabrielle Weyrauch and Grace Candrian said they're excited to be moving to a new building next year, but first-grader Ellison Shean said she wasn't so sure. First-grader Kaden Korgel said his father went to St. Leo's Catholic School too when he was a child. The girls said they like their teachers, the school secretary and going to school in an older building. They've had a chance to do fun things this week, including a trip to the Roosevelt Park Zoo and a picnic in the park.

Volk said a reception was held at the school last week. Some former students at the school have stopped by, including one woman who was a student there one of the first years the school was open.

All of the teachers will make the move to the school, along with the roughly 90 preschoolers through second-graders. Everyone has a lot of fond memories of working and going to school in the building, which is right next to St. Leo's Catholic Church. Before Bishop Ryan High School was built, the school building housed both the elementary and the high school. Volk recalled that athletic teams from St. Leo's High School won state basketball championships. Priests and nuns and lay staff gave unselfishly to keep the school going, said Volk, who spoke especially fondly of longtime St. Leo's Catholic Church pastor Rev. Chris Walter, who spent a lot of his time with the children at the school. Walter retired last year.

Until the early years of the decade, there were two elementary schools with grades K-5 or K-6. Then, as numbers declined, the Catholic School System decided to have one elementary school and split the grades between Little Flower and St. Leo's. For the past six years, preschool through second grade have been housed at St. Leo's and grades 3-5 at Little Flower.

The Catholic Schools decided to combine the buildings next year in part because of the estimated cost of fixing a leaky roof on the old school, said Volk. As far as he knows, no final decision has been made about what to do with the building next year. Rev. Fred Harvey, the pastor at Little Flower Catholic Church, said a committee is being formed to look at the strategic planning needs of the district as it moves into the future. It's always been a goal to combine all the elementary grades under one roof, he said, and moving them to Little Flower should save the school system money in heating costs. There will also be added educational benefits for the children, since teachers will be able to work more with their colleagues and classes can work together, with fifth-graders reading to or mentoring younger students. Parents won't have to drop children off at two different schools and children won't have to contend with the busy street in front of St. Leo's at drop-off and pick-up times.

Harvey said people he's talked to have said it's a positive move. Many of the items from St. Leo's are being moved over to Little Flower and will be incorporated into the building there, said Harvey, and they will always be aware of what a special role St. Leo's has played in the history of Catholic education in Minot. He said the school isn't being shut down, just relocated.

Volk also said there will be more educational opportunities for the lower grades at Little Flower and there should be more space for the children there, though it might be a bit of a tight fit. Teachers packing items for the move to the school might find that there are too many items to fit in one school.

"Little Flower is a parish in a residential area very supportive of

children and the school," he said. "It will be wonderful for the entire elementary operation to be together. St. Leo's will be missed, but everyone will pull together to make the change a good one."

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