Stepping in Faith November 26, 2012

There has been much talk about the happenings of late at the school as well as plans for the future.  As we look at the school’s current economic reality we need to address a trend of declining enrollment at the school.  We also realize that the best laid plans would be considered fruitless if we did not stay firmly rooted in our trust in God’s faithfulness and ability to provide.  We do not want to lose sight of the fact we are called to bring our community and school to our Lord in prayer and we ask for your continued prayers as we seek God’s will and direction for our school.  The Board has delved deep into this issue and have worked on plans that they believe will help aid this school and its enrollment issues.  The Board, through the Golden Anniversary Fundraising, has addressed facility improvements, tools to enhance the quality of the education, as well as long term planning around the mission of the school to ensure we are doing all we can to aid the school in its existence from year to year.  As we move forward we look to the next steps in this process.  We continue our search for a Director of Recruitment to help spread the word about our school and Christian education.  The Program and Personnel Committee is looking into the development of a band program at the school to help enhance the education of our students.  The Board is also looking at the next steps in regards to a name change at the school.  Tonight there is a motion forward to the membership regarding that name change.  This is reflective of the general consensus from the information meeting that we had on October 22^nd and the recommendation at the committee level.  It is the shared opinion of the board that the proposed name change will not only broaden our geographical cache of prospective families and students, but the name Providence also embodies our reliance on our Lord’s leadership and reinforces the Christ-centered vision of the school.  The other proposed name, Grace Community emphasizes our dependence on God’s grace in each and every step we take and, additionally, highlights one of our school’s strongest attributes, the community.  It is this community and the passion for Christian education that we want to share with others.