After Hard Decision...Sioux Falls Catholic School Set To Close

It's now official: A neighborhood Catholic School in Sioux Falls is set to close its doors after the 2025-2026 academic year.

Despite the community's appeal, petition, and funds to keep the school open, the Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools Board of Directors' decision to close Christ the King Elementary School remains.

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Located on South Lake Avenue, Christ the King Elementary School will be "consolidated" into other Bishop O'Gorman Catholic Elementary schools. This "difficult decision" was due to "rising costs and stagnant enrollment."

Christ the King Elementary (via Facebook)

In a new letter to parents and parishioners, Pastor of the Divine Mercy Pastorate, Fr. Paul Rutten, says the dedication of the Christ the King community has not gone unnoticed. Now the mission is about moving forward together.

It is my hope and desire that we, as a parish community, can walk through this difficult moment with our eyes on Christ and our hearts open to what He has in store for all of us. We will continue to have a vibrant sacramental life and parish community by bringing the message of the Gospel to all of those we encounter.This decision was not made lightly, and it will take time for all of us to work through this new reality.

Christine Manika (TSM), Canva

Christ the King Elementary School was awarded a Blue Ribbon for academic excellence by the U.S. Department of Education last year. You can read the entire letter about the school closing below.

Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools (via release), Canva

Unfortunately, I can relate to the pain the students and parents of Christ the King Elementary School are feeling. I've witnessed a grand total of three of my schools closing: My grade school (2005), high school (2017), and college (2017). When Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, announced they were suspending operations after the 2016-2017 academic year, I was just a year shy of graduation. So yes..I know the frustration.

Let's all hope and pray for the students, their families, faculty, and staff at Christ the King Elementary School, that they may find peace and joy during the remainder of the school year.

Sioux Falls Through The Generations

13 Times Sioux Falls Made it into a 'Jeopardy!' Question

If the world was divided into Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune people, I would be down for Jeopardy! all the way. It's a lot more fun, it makes me feel smart because I can retain lots of trivia, and I am a horrible speller. So Wheel is out, no whammies.

Recently I discovered (I mean wasted a lot of time on) a website that is an archive of clues that have been on Jeopardy!.

While digging around the archive, I wanted to find out how often Sioux Falls came up in a question (Answer) on the show. Since 1990 Sioux Falls has been part of a question or an answer 13 times.

Source: j-archive.com