Christian school on Columbus’ Hilltop to be model for more across Ohio
A Christian school that is expected to be the model for similar schools planned across the state is scheduled to open later this year on Columbus’ Hilltop.
The Westside Christian School is slated to begin operating this fall for kindergarteners through second graders, and is part of a broader network of Christian schools being started throughout the state, according to Troy McIntosh, executive director of the Center for Christian Virtue‘s Ohio Christian Education Network.
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The network, founded in 2018, is a group of Christian schools and community members that want more school choice.
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Pastor Ben Douglass, who preaches at Faith Community Church on the Hilltop, has been the driving force behind Westside Christian, McIntosh said.
Douglass reached out to McIntosh about a year ago and shared a vision for a school for kids on the Hilltop. He said he saw a need while helping struggling children who attended his church find success. For those not succeeding in public schools, there were few, if any, nearby alternatives that were accessible and affordable, he said.
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“We said, ‘What can we do? … We have to advocate for the neighborhood. We have to do something for the kids here,'” Douglass said. “It’s not fair. Poor kids in poverty should not be held back.”
So he reached out to other local church leaders and McIntosh. The school is being funded by private donations and the contributions of eight churches: Faith Community Church, Garden City Church, Hope City House of Prayer, Lower Lights Community Church of the Nazarene,Memorial Baptist Church, Revive Church Hilltop, Second Community Church and Veritas Community Church – West.
“We’re starting a Christian private school because we have Christian values,” Douglass said. “We want to help our kids grow up in a Christian worldview.”
Brenda Williams, the school’s principal, agreed.
“I’m just excited to help them get that started and off the ground,” said Williams, a resident of Galloway. “I think there’s a great need over on the West Side.”
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Williams has been attending Memorial Baptist Church, 2435 Eakin Road — where the school likely will be based — for 34 years. She has worked in education for 30 years in a number of positions, including teaching at a Christian school for 10 years.
She recently retired from another principal position at an East Side charter school, and said she was waiting for God to show her what was next when she was asked to lead this new school.
Her church always has been very involved in serving the community around it, Williams said, and this is an extension of that.
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Williams said the school will begin enrolling in mid-March and will serve about 15 to 18 students per classroom, with one classroom per grade level. She hopes to build a relationship with parents and children, and, through those relationships, minister to them.
“One of our major goals is to share the free gift of salvation with our children,” she said.
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Westside Christian is the first of dozens of schools that the Ohio Christian Education Network plans to open across the state in the next decade, McIntosh said.
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There are about 12 in the process now and planning to open for the 2023-2024 school year, he said.
The group’s focus is to help places that may be underserved, urban or rural, he said.
“We’re trying to identify churches in those areas who are willing to start a school using existing facilities,” McIntosh said. “It’s driven by this sense that it is part of our calling as Christians to provide education for children.”
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The hope is that students will be able to attend the schools in part through the EdChoice Scholarship Program from the state, which allows students from certain public schools to attend participating private schools.
Douglass said the school has gap funding and will apply for the scholarship program once it gets the charter with the state. School officials hope to be part of the program soon after opening.
There are Christian schools locally, but they aren’t easily accessible for some, McIntosh said, unless they are able to drive their children 25 minutes away each day.
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“We really wanted a neighborhood school,” McIntosh said. “One that’s going to be able to invest in the West Side, in the Hilltop.”
Sydney West, 61, of the Hilltop, is taking care of her grandchildren and is really glad the school is starting in her community. She hopes to send one of her grandchildren, Layla, 4, to kindergarten at the school next year.
“I just believe that the Christian school will teach them more about the world God has created for them and also how they can find purpose and meaning in life,” West said. “This school will also help them recognize the relationship of Christ. Instead of just Sunday morning, they can have a biblical worldview all through the week.”
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@DanaeKing
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