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Lutheran churches propose new academy | Appleton Post Crescent | postcrescent.com:
DE PERE — Local Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod churches hope to offer better programming and services by building a joint school.
St. Mark Lutheran Church in De Pere and Green Bay and St. John Lutheran Church in Wrightstown plan to open the Foundation Christian Academy to serve students prekindergarten to eighth grade for the 2014-15 school year.
The idea is to create a central school that will offer religious studies while also providing the educational programming, such as music courses or special education classes, that individual church schools can’t afford on their own, officials said. Current schools likely would close.
“Lutheran schools across the country are facing significant challenges,” said Jeremy Bock, president of the proposed new school. “The current funding model has served us well but is not sustainable.
“An area Christian school serving the needs of multiple congregations draws from a larger pool of students. We are losing schools and closing schools across the country. We need to consider a new model.”
St. Mark School, on the other hand, has seen growth. It served 225 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in 2010-11, and 237 this past school year. Administrators project 265 students for the 2013-14 school year, based on the number of members with young children.
The school will charge tuition, expected to range from $2,600 to $3,400, he said. The goal is to reduce current support from the congregation — 45 percent to 60 percent, on average — for Christian education to only 25 percent of the operating budget for each, he said.
Lisa Everard, who has two children attending St. Mark School, supports the idea of a new school.
“Christian education is something that’s very important to my family, teaching the right values and the right morals,” she said. “This opens up the opportunity to more families, to families who may belong to churches that don’t have schools. I was blessed. I had a Christian education all my life, and I wanted our kids to have it as well.”
Bock said the group hopes to encourage more Lutheran churches to join the partnership as plans move forward.
The new academy would sit on an independent campus and would not be tied to any congregation, nor would it be limited to Wisconsin Synod families. Busing would be available.
The group plans to locate the school in Lawrence or the southwest area of De Pere.
Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton serves as the Wisconsin Synod secondary school for elementary schools in the Fox River Valley and Green Bay areas.
Fundraising efforts have started, Bock said.
The first phase of the project is expected to cost $12.4 million, and future expansion could cost an additional $3 million. About 75 to 100 prekindergarten and kindergarten students, and 300 in first through eighth grades could be enrolled during the first phase, he said, and the second wave would make room for another 150 students.
“So far the support has been very positive,” Bock said.
The new school would include improved technology, labs and art space, as well as teachers who are specialists in certain areas, such as special education or music.
— Patti Zarling writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette; on Twitter @PGPattiZarling
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