The Piarist School

The Piarist School is a private, Roman Catholic college preparatory school in Hagerhill, Kentucky. It is operated by The Piarist Fathers (Piarists) independent of and with the blessing and spiritual support of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington. The present school is the second location for the Piarist School which began in 1990 in Martin, Kentucky.BackgroundThe Piarist School is a small, tuition-free college preparatory school serving students in Floyd, Knott, Pike, Johnson, Lawrence, and Magoffin counties of Kentucky since 1990. The original 1994 graduating class consisted of only three seniors. Today an approximately 85 students in grades 7-12 attend the school. Students must pass an entrance examination, which is administered in the Spring, before being admitted to the School.During the spring of 1988, the Provincial Chapter of the American Province of the Piarist Fathers voted to send two priests to work in Appalachia to pursue the work of the Piarists in the field of education. The initial contact person in the newly formed Diocese of Lexington was Monsignor Ralph Briting. He was the creator of a project to evangelize eastern Kentucky called the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP). Rev. Thomas Carroll, Sch.P. arrived in Prestonsburg, Kentucky on September 12, 1988 and initially stayed at the rectory at St. Martha Parish, and he was later joined by Rev. David Powers, Sch.P. who also went to eastern Kentucky to work in the newly established diocese of Lexington. There was a school building located next to Mountain Christian Academy in Martin, that was closed, and the Piarist Fathers agreed to rent that building from The Christian Appalachian Project for a nominal yearly amount. From the very beginning, the school was tuition-free. To pay the expenses, the fathers relied on grants, donations, and income from making mission calls. The Piarist School opened in August 1990 to serve all those desiring a quality education within a Christian setting. They were joined in February 1991 by Rev. Leonard Gendernalik, Sch.P. and later in 1992 by Rev. Stephen Bendik, Sch.P. All four Piarist Fathers had previously been teaching at Devon Preparatory School in Devon, Pennsylvania.