(BRANSON, Mo., AP) — The College of the Ozarks will open an elementary school in August and hopes to eventually add a middle school to its existing high school, college officials said.
The evangelical Christian school said its new kindergarten through fifth-grade school will likely have about 15 to 20 students per grade when it opens. A survey conducted this fall found significant interest in adding lower grades to the high school, which is called the School of the Ozarks, said Sue Head, dean of character education.
Head said the survey indicated there were enough families for an elementary and middle school, but grades six through eight will not open for at least one year.
“We want it to be excellent, and we want to do it right,” she said.
The College of the Ozarks does not charge tuition, with students participating in on-campus work programs in order to graduate without debt. Scholarships are offered to low-income students. Like the college and high school, the elementary school will emphasize patriotism, good character, college preparatory academics and a “Biblical world view,” Head said.
The K-12 program will use minimal technology and emphasize grammar, logic and rhetoric. Students in the lower grades will have chores such as cleaning their desks and keeping common areas clean, The Springfield News-Leader reported (http://sgfnow.co/19cmCoZ).
“We believe in cultivating a strong work ethic early on,” she said.
The college reopened its high school two years ago and currently had nearly 90 students enrolled in 9-12 grades. The high school is in a building on the college campus and the lower grades will start in an upper floor of the college’s agricultural building.