Growing enrollment creates need for larger facility at NCS

Newton Christian School’s enrollment is growing by about eight percent each year. Unfortunately, its school building is not.

The K-8 school has 92 students this fall, up from 87 last year and 75 in 2014-15. That’s making the school facility on North 11th Avenue East a bit cramped — and has led the school’s board of directors and the NCS Society to take steps in looking for other options.

Mary Patterson, the school’s principal, said NCS earned accreditation from Christian Schools International in the fall of 2014 and soon began to pursue follow-up actions recommended by that organization. Those included putting together a three-to-five-year plan, and for NCS, that plan includes figuring out what to do with its ongoing growth.

It isn’t clear yet exactly how NCS will address its rising enrollment. There are younger siblings of current students who will be gradeschool age soon, and no one at the school wants to see students turned away or a jump in tuition rates.

“Our tuition is lower than average, and we have two large fundraiser events each year and some generous businesses in town that help us out,” Patterson said. “But our facilities needs mean we should be considering alternative resources as well.”

Fire code regulations cap the number of people allowed in the school cafeteria at 125. The number of students allowed per classroom is 23. NCS is at 20 per classroom this year.

The NCS Society is made up of hundreds of parents and other supporters of the school, somewhat like shareholders of a cooperation, while the board has nine elected members. There are about six teachers and 12 total full-time staff members.

Fundraising will likely be a key element. Tuition covers about 70 percent of the school’s costs, while the other 30 percent is from between support from businesses and donations and NCS’s two major annual fundraisers — the Family Fun Day, which raised more than $16,000 this year, and the hog roast auction held each spring. There are platinum, gold silver and bronze sponsors.

Patterson said there have been murky times before where the school, which first opened in 1957, wasn’t sure how the path forward would look. However, that’s the nature of a private self-contained school, Patterson said, and faith is an important part of both teaching children and in sorting out NCS’s facilities issues.

“We just need to maintain that tiny mustard seed of faith,” she said. “And parents are involved, too. This isn’t the kind of school where parents just drop their kids off and drive away.”

NCS seventh- and eighth-grade students participate in Berg Middle School extra-curricular activities. There are also First Lego League, drama, music, chess, sewing club and ping pong for the students, and community service is a requirement. This year’s students represent 22 churches and come from as far away as Marshalltown.

Patterson said the school isn’t trying to resolve its facilities dilemma in a vacuum.

“We are involved with the community, every day and in our big decisions,” Patterson. “We’re not off in a ‘holy huddle’ trying to figure this all out by ourselves.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com