With Exploding Enrollment, St. Matthias Expands to DANK Haus

With enrollment more than doubling in the last decade, room at St. Matthias Elementary School is getting a little tight.

That’s why Principal Adam Dufault has announced an expansion. Starting in August, junior high students will attend class at the DANK Haus.

Just two blocks away from the school down Western Avenue, the German cultural center had its entire third floor available for rent. 

“We’re supporting them, they’re supporting us, we’re just really excited about it,” Dufault said about the partnership. “It’s kind of a miracle everyone came together.”

The expansion comes at a perfect time for the school. Dufault said he’s adding a classroom to each grade every year, and with this year’s third grade addition, the school would have been out of classrooms.

Three classes of six, seventh and eighth grades students will have plenty of space in the DANK Haus, as the third floor has 11 rooms available.

“We were really lucky to find it at the right time,” he said. “In the worst case scenario, we would have had to limit the number of students we take in. No one would have wanted us to do that.”

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Students will attend primary classes at the center, and come back to St. Matthias for art, gym and music classes.

The principal credits Ward 40 Ald. Patrick O’Connor with the idea of expanding to the DANK.

When Dufault got an enrollment number of 350 students for the fall, he realized space was getting tight.

“We spoke with Ald. O’Connor and he leans back and gets this thoughtful aldermanic expression and says, ‘Did you ever look at the DANK Haus?’” he said. “We called the next day and it was like Christmas for them.” 

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