St. Augustine Prep Academy announces groundbreaking expansion

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee's St. Augustine Prep Academy is a very young school. It is just finishing up its fifth year on the city's south side.

But it's growing fast. They are already working on an expansion.

This was more of a mud-breaking than a groundbreaking in the morning rain near 5th and Harrison Street. Aug. Prep, as they call it, is building a new elementary school that will expand total capacity to 2,400 K-12 students.

St. Augustine is a Christian school -- part of the Choice Program. It opened in 2017, and the school president says it is expanding, partly because of demand. In February, they started taking applications. There were 1,500 openings and 2,000 applications.

"This community is filled with parents who want great schools for their kids. And our waiting list and our experience with applications is just one piece of that picture," said Abby Andrietsch, president of St. Augustine Prep.

Right now, St. Augustine Prep's student population in 96% students of color. 91 high school seniors will graduate on Friday and they tell us that all of them have been accepted into two or four year colleges.