A Becoming Heritage

Anchors Aweigh

2011-09-23T07:26:00.000-05:00

Well . . . after 4 weeks I think I can safely say that we have a routine for the new school year. We are underway.

So much about this school year is smoother than last. As we approached the autumnal equinox last year we were transporting our office into the building each morning and hauling it out each afternoon. My Jeep was a rolling library. The school files were not where the classrooms were. Our link with the world was a cell phone which was smaller than a calculator and someone (yours truly) was always misplacing it. And while we were grateful for the use of the space, the transient quality of school life got cumbersome.

This year seems much easier. For one, we have a phone line all our own that stays in the school and doesn't go home with anybody (again, yours truly), and we can walk from our desk to our files in 5 seconds. The copier is in one location. Our library is attractive and contains our own books. We have some great pictures on the walls that both provoke thought and encourage creative whimsy. But more than that, there is an excitement and an eagerness and a hunger to learn that gives wings to a teacher's heart.

We are delighted to have on board alum LeeAnne Litzsinger for Advanced Lit / English and Paul Basham for Rhetoric. Their skills and background bring some fresh approaches to the classwork, encouraging us all to look forward to good educational fruit.

March Forward

2011-03-12T18:15:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we had our annual Fundraising Auction and Dinner. It was held at the Forest Hills Country Club in Ellisville and was attended by 235 people. What an elegant and fun evening! The setting was delightful and the company moreso. There were some very enticing packages offered for auction (especially that trip to Playa Linda Beach in Aruba) and I was able to observe a few intense bidding wars throughout the event. I lost all my bids (especially that trip to Playa Linda Beach in Aruba . . . curses!) but 3. The end result, however, wasn't so much what folks won, but that each dollar netted benefits the school. If I were to thank each and every person for their part in that evening, the list would rival the credits for the Lord of the Rings movies. In particular, though, a huge thanks to the auction committee under the leadership of Angie Lauer and Karen Clubb for a grand evening.

This week was Teacher Appreciation week. Throughout the week, snacks and goodies almost magically appeared in order to spoil us. On Thursday, each teacher took home a decorative little bag containing tokens of thanks and appreciation from students and their families. To all of you, the staff of HCCA offers warm-hearted gratitude; you make us feel appreciated for the work we do. I especially want to thank Diana Jacobsen for taking the lead on this.

Here, let me express my personal appreciation for each and every person on staff at the school. The work of HCCA is a shared labor. At every juncture, we each supply and supplement one another's efforts and gifts. No one person could truly do what this school accomplishes and few will see how much each teacher gives, and all for the glory of Christ and the improvement of the student. I proudly call each of the teachers (Matt Heckel, Lizzy Schott, Liz Hobbs, Jen Mayfield, Pete Watson, Karen Scheidhauer, Cara Monroe) joyous yoke-fellows. They are genuinely brothers and sisters, and fellow-laborers in the very best way. Not only do we teach together, we spur one another on to excellence, and stretch one another in our knowledge of the world in which God has placed us. The Administrative team is not to be overlooked in this; they are a deep deep well of blessing. Shannon Woods, Pam Graeler and Cara Monroe labor faithfully (and sometimes long) to continually refine how we do "office stuff". The combination of skill, efficiency, intuition and sheer will is a wonder to behold, especially this year which has been one of flux, improvisation, adjustment and ongoing transition. Without the Admin team that we have, we would have spun into complete disarray in October (well . . . maybe September)

SIAW 2011

2011-02-01T12:59:00.003-06:00

Shakespeare In A Week (SIAW) is the annual creative challenge that we set before the school. For one school week, Monday through Friday, we as a school community concentrate on putting together and performing a Shakespeare play. Obviously, there is lots that goes on before that week begins (memorizing lines, designing sets, working through costumes and the like) but it's all pulled together in a week. Well, really about 4 1/2 days. We do a dress rehearsal for 5th and 6th grade classes from area schools on Friday afternoon.

This year we did Romeo and Juliet, in a completely new location (West Hills Community Church) which required rethinking all kinds of logistics, and in the "round" so to speak. This created a number of new problems such as playing to an audience on both sides of the stage, building sets sixteen feet tall, and resetting stage lights to illuminate areas not intended in the original design of the theater. The students worked hard and were incredibly adaptable.

While the goal focus was performances on Friday and Saturday, the real objective in SIAW lay elsewhere. More than anything, we want the whole school to work on one thing, each person taking up their part however large or small, contributing to a final product that relies upon all of us and not any single one of us. It's an object lesson in how we build the kingdom of Christ; each doing his part in whatever measure appointed for a greater goal that no one single person can accomplish.

The second objective is to govern oneself in such a way as to live in love. The whole week is tense. It's a situation ripe for egos and misunderstandings and hurt feelings. But it is in that very situation that we must learn to lay our preferences down for others. This is love. I watched all week long as students and adults loved one another in the deference of Christ. You can't buy lessons like that, but once learned they are profitable for all of life.

SIAW is over. The set was not quite finished, the lighting had terrible gaps, the stage was a bit awkward, there was a little heartbreak in a couple of the committees, the stress caused some of us to lose a little sleep, and we ran out of time, . . . but we loved one another well in the spirit of Christ and kept the unity of the brotherhood in the bond of peace. All in all, a very successful week.

We're here . . . .

2010-11-24T19:05:00.004-06:00

I'm positive that many of you have thought there haven't been any blog entries because there hasn't been anything going on. Au contraire! It seems that EVERYTHING is going on at once.

After waiting for months, occupancy for the educational wing at The Journey was approved last Thursday. I and a couple of students went over and were hanging doors on their hinges as the inspector was walking through and examining one of the last items. Shortly afterward approval was received and occupancy granted.

Our arrival was like a summer storm. Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday witnessed a swarm of worker bees descend upon the classroom space. In that time, furniture was collected from three or four locations and moved in, shelves set up, books put on the shelves, AV equipment was relocated, desks were set into place and rebuilt, the computer network was set up, files were put into cabinets, pictures and clocks were hung on the walls, rugs were placed and "Scotch-guarded", signs and mailboxes were installed. This list could be doubled or tripled. So much was done in such little time that it took my breath away. When we walked out Saturday evening, everything was ready for class on Monday. The folks from The Journey were astounded at what had been accomplished. To a person, they couldn't believe the two-day transformation

During the whole process, of course, teachers were laying claim to classroom space. Everyone wanted to hold class in the Library. Frankly, our library is the classiest high school library I've ever seen. For the first time in months, I have an office with a full-size desk at which I can study and read . . . BUT . . . I want to be in the library. The ambience simply calls one to sit and write, to gaze out the windows, linger over a book, and visualize worlds or stories.

Monday was a bit disheveled of course. We began the day by walking around the building, singing to the Lord for his goodness and leading. Then we had a ribbon cutting followed by a breakfast reception. We had to figure out what class was meeting in what room at what time because our schedule was jostled around.

At the end of the day, we were comfortable settling in. A few students simply hung around in the library, not really ready for the day to end.

It will still take a few weeks to completely organize our workspace, but the wait has been worth it. Heritage Classical has a new home worthy of the work we have been given. Our deepest gratitude goes to all those who helped make it happen, especially to Mary Johnson, Michelle Turner, Kevin Krosley and the school board, along with the cast of thousands (ok, ok . . . dozens) who lent a hand.

Painting Party

2010-10-22T10:24:00.001-05:00

We are in the final stages of prep for the school to move to the educational wing at Journey West County. A couple weeks ago, temporary walls were converted to permanent walls and readied for painting. Mary Johnson and Michelle Turner picked out colors for the walls and furniture for the library. The colors coordinate with those that the Journey have used, and the library will have (we hope) the inviting character of a coffee shop.

There is more than 5500 square feet of wall surface that needs two coats of paint so Last night we had a painting party. About 10 people were present each weilding a roller or brush and one of the 5 colors delivered last week. Tunes were in the air, paint was in the hair, laughter and conversation were abundant and refreshing, and we completed about a third of the work before us. At one point, every person there was humming "Old Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers and moving roller or brush in time with the beat. The old adage "many hands make light work" was brought to life last night. And we are one step closer to our goal.

High Tech Circus Act

2010-10-03T19:47:00.001-05:00

"Just a moment please," I said into my cell phone. "I'll have to look that up."

Suddenly, papers were flying everywhere, some of them appearing to remain suspended in the air as I scrambled to find anything, ANYTHING that might have our Federal EIN.

"Thank you for your patience. I'll have that in a moment. I appear to have just misplaced the page."

Breathing on the other end was an AT&T service rep waiting for me to give her our Federal Employee Number so I could get a telephone hard line installed at our new location. More papers rocketed off the desk.

"Er. Uh. Well. This is a little embarrassing." I said gently as now entire folders were launched in my desperate quest. "We are in temporary offices and I'm still getting oriented to where our files are. The person who normally handles these things is out of town."

The voice on the other end simply replied. "It's okay. I'll wait."

"Yeah right," I thought. "Not as long as this could really take." as yet another folder left my hands and sailed across the room.

My embarrassment was accelerating to exasperation. Not only are we in temporary offices, but our files are really in four different locations: the temporary office at the Johnson's garage, the ad hoc office at the Bigg House, my Jeep and a couple of boxes back at Heritage in Eureka. That doesn't count what might be in Shannon's car or Pam's suburban. How would I be able explain such a nomadic arrangement to someone who couldn't imagine what we've been through the last 8 months? Heck, I wasn't even on a school phone because, at the moment, that's a pay-as-you-go cell that someone else had in their possession.

"OK, wait a second! I have one more place I just remembered." As I pulled out a file, I found the EIN at the top of the page. "Ahhhh. Here we go. I've got it. Are you ready? It's . . . are you ready? Hello? Gina? hello?"

I looked at the display on my phone. No bars. No connection. No network.

Grrrrrr...

I'm so glad prayer doesn't work that way . . .

Space Prep

2010-10-02T22:05:00.003-05:00

Over the last two days, we've had a few folks invest somewhere close to 10 hours each to move the new classroom space at the Journey closer to being ready. Much of the work involved taking stuff downstairs to the dumpster: old chalkboards, worn filing cabinets, unusable chairs, damaged ceiling tiles, corrugated room dividers, and various other items nobody wanted. In addition, Jim Frost spackled walls and two persistent, industrious souls (Mary Johnson and JoAnn Peterson) stripped Panda Bear wallpaper border from the Administrative office wall. The fellowship was delightful and the soundtrack for our day was stimulating, background tunes being provided by Harrad and Funck, Eddie From Ohio, James Taylor, Michael Buble and Elton John. I kept offering to play Madonna, but my co-workers threatened to walk out so I desisted.

Toward the end of the second day a couple of us were vacuuming and found ourselves digging around in the carpet attempting to remove metal chips from the fibers. It seems that the workers who built the classroom walls used a heated slicing device to cut metal studs to length. That process dropped slag and metal chips in what will become our library. With careful attention we were able to remove most of the slag from the carpet.

After nearly ten months, we are two weeks away from being able to relocate our Admin offices to the Journey. We have been on a journey of our own, but God has not failed to give us patience and to lead us to where we are. His provision is perfect and he is never late, even though he may not act according to any timetable we set up.

Light at Week 5?

2010-09-20T14:00:00.007-05:00

By all appearances, the Journey had their first worship service on Sunday. They were only able to use the sanctuary and the entry reception space, but nothing of the Fellowship hall or the classroom wing. It will yet be a couple weeks before they can open their children's ministry space for use, but they are one step closer to occupancy of their building, which means that we also are a little closer to being able to move into our new educational space.

While I'm hoping to hear in a couple weeks about some new work days so we can ready the rooms for classes, the most important item for our prayers is the Journey. Each week brings some new speedbump to slow them down, frustrating them in their goal of occupying the building. They have been working patiently and diligently to meet every obligation for the associated inspectors.

A small party of workers cleaned up some on-site storage space for non-perishables such as office equipment and SIAW set materials. In the next week or so, we'll enlist a few others to transfer our moderate collection from Eureka to Manchester.

In the meantime, we have begun our 5th week in temporary quarters, grateful for a workable routine and a school community that makes every effort to live graciously with not-quite-optimum arrangements for studies.

First Week

2010-08-30T20:52:00.002-05:00

This school ever amazes me for its adaptability and sense of mission. We started classes in our temporary classroom building last Monday. Scheduled to begin at 8:00 am, all the music students had been directed or shuffled to their assigned room and were listening to a sample of this year's material by 8:01. Within another 6 minutes everybody else was in their respective places and receiving texts for their course of study. Only one teacher wandered about looking for a copier with queries as to how copies were going to be made available for class (a copier was scheduled to arrive after classes were concluded for the day.) At lunch we had our ordinary football face-off. Afternoon classes and conversation, and by 3 pm the building was clean and nearly deserted.

More than punctuality, however was a spirit of cheerfulness, graciousness, and anticipation of studies. HCCA isn't a building or equipment or accouterments; it is education and study, proven amply by the teachers and students who know their calling and task.
All in all, a smooth week.

The capstone of the week was our annual Convocation service held on Thursday evening at New Community Church in Grover. Many thanks for their willingness to share their space for this event. We invited Rev. Jerry Marshall to his own pulpit to preach the message, wherein he reminded us of our primary responsibility to advance the kingdom of Christ. As always, it was good to commit the year's studies to the Lord in worship.

Next on the horizon is a small cluster of workdays to prepare the educational wing at Journey for our occupancy. More on that later.

Ready, Steady, Go.

2010-08-17T21:44:00.004-05:00

On Monday evening, in a 4-3 vote, the Manchester Board of Aldermen approved a Special Use Permit for Heritage Classical Christian Academy to set up shop at the Journey. Many thanks to the Aldermen who supported this decision. In many ways they had to make the decision on trust because they knew little of our eleven year track record, and the current placement and effectiveness of our alumni. It is our hope that we will be able to prove our worthiness to those who were not in favor of the decision, as we show ourselves to be good neighbors and faithful leaders.

So now our relocation waits upon the final go ahead from Journey, which rests only upon the completion of their last construction projects. The target date is late September or early October. In the meantime classes will meet in temporary quarters.

The temporary office is set up and pretending to operate. I still have a belligerent printer, and email servers that push back, but those are fairly minor compared to where we were a week ago.

For those of you who were unable to attend the all school retreat, I regret to inform you that you missed a wonderful day. Student presentations were made on Leadership, Image-bearing, Conformance to Christ, and Living in Christian community. Each was both edifying and challenging, and set the stage for our life together this year as a school. Interspersed with the instruction times was plenty of goodies, wiffleball, football and general reconnecting from the summer.

One thing in particular that came out of the retreat was an exhortation from my students to go see Inception. I am duly admonished and will be going to the movies this weekend.

P & Z - Part b

2010-07-20T20:53:00.004-05:00

The Planning and Zoning commission meeting on Monday last went well. Our request for a Special Use Permit was the only piece of new business on the docket. For one hour, I responded to questions about the school, it's philosophy, mission, character, its relationship to the Journey, our hours of operation, size of the student body, and all manner of related things. At one point I was asked if I hoped to gain students from the Journey and I responded with wry smile that I wanted half the church. The questioning was intense, but rightly so. These are men and women charged with care for the city and they should examine what goes on in their sphere of authority. I didn't sense any antagonism.

As an aside, if students wonder if teachers ever have to give a "40-hour project presentation" I suppose this one was mine for the Summer.

Several neighbors were there, but no inquiries or concerns were set forth by them. This may occur at a later date, but they were present as a point of interest on their part.

The P&Z Commission has 7 members. Two were unable to be present. The vote was going to be tabled until the next meeting (July 27), but one of the members graciously emphasized that the school year was fast upon us and it would help the school if a vote was taken that evening. The P&Z approved the special use permit by a vote of 5-0. Many thanks to the Commission for their diligent deliberation, considerate expediency and service to the city.

I had an opportunity after the meeting to meet some of the neighbors adjoining the property. Our conversation was brief and I look forward to future interactions with them. One particular neighbor and I commiserated over the loss of some trees in the back field claiming that we each would have chained ourselves to the largest tree rather than see it come down. I confess that I revealed my latent environmentalist leanings.

City law requires 3 public readings and vote, so there are two more. The next is at the Board of Aldermen meeting on August 2. A final vote will be taken August 16.

P&Z

2010-07-12T12:28:00.003-05:00

One of the final steps for relocation is almost in place. On June 23 we came to learn that we needed a Special Use Permit from the city for the school, which could only be applied for once Journey had applied for their occupancy permit. All of the paperwork and reference material were submitted within 24 hours after we found out and from that time it has been one more segment of waiting. The hearing with Planning and Zoning committee is tonight so we could have a final "thumbs up" as early as tomorrow.

Pray that the meeting will go well and that we can expedite the permit and the move.

The Clock of Providence

2010-06-23T17:00:00.003-05:00

In a moment of wry humor, I once had a friend tell me that "There is no hand like the clock of Providence." Try as we might to move that hand along, it keeps its own pace and marks off its own minutes. All things according to God's time and not necessarily according to our plans. However much we desired to be relocated by summer solstice, we still wait upon God's perfect time.

Where are we to date? Site preparation has been completed for the parking lot expansion, and an application for occupancy permits have been filed by the church. In the next day or so, Special Use Permits will be applied for the school to use the educational wing, after which there will be hearing by the city council in the second week of July. It is hoped that shortly thereafter we'll get to move.

In the meantime, we are maintaining operations in our current location, processing enrollment, interviewing new students, ordering texts, mapping out classes, and making prep for the next year. We've gotten some working quantities of our new letterhead, business cards and promotional literature. And there is work on a new website design which we hope to unveil very soon. There are other behind the scene preparations taking place such as boxing up science stuff and books and computer accessories, but its all pretty low-level since we can't suspend operations to wait for decisions to be made.

Pray that the July hearing goes well. The hearts of the city council, like our plans and preparations, move with the clock of Providence.

Closer

2010-05-08T07:14:00.004-05:00

After two weeks of silence, we have a bit of news from our hosts as to progress made toward getting into the classroom building. But frankly, with senior research presentations, end of year prep for Baccalaureate and Commencement, extra meetings with prospective families and potential teachers, and extra time spent on school promotion, for my part, I was glad not to have any more on my plate.

We've just gotten approval for putting out a temporary sign announcing our new location. This has been a big deal since it was a balancing act between requirements for occupancy to which our hosts had to give attention and our need to let folks know that we are really going to be there. The sign will more than likely not be anything flashy, but any indicator that this is where the school will meet is a benefit.

The folks handling renovations faced a slight delay when they bumped up against some problem associated with HVAC. Apparently, whatever it's nature, this problem had the potential of seriously affecting occupancy. Fortunately, it was easily cleared up, so we are still looking at a late June move-in.

With regard to the move, we are making a list of various "sweat equity investments" that will facilitate the move and show the Journey our interest and care of their property. This list includes tasks such as gardening, painting, landscaping, etc.; you know, the kinds of things that seem like drudgery when done alone and feel like therapy when done in the company of friends. As we get closer to mid-June, we'll post that list and start seeking volunteers.

Mary reported that the makeover of the lower level is coming along very nicely. The new carpet and wall color chosen for that area fit with our dreams even though the actual choices were out of our hands. Mary has also been discussing furniture matters with our hosts. The joint use of the lower level assumes some furniture arrangement that will be mutually satisfactory with the minimum of moving things around. Finding the right combination of items will save lots of labor.

Now that we are looking toward the new space, we obviously will want to fill it with more students. If you were able to attend the senior research presentations, the choir concert, and reflect back on Shakespeare, you saw how capable these young people are and how widely their lives are impacted by Classical Christian education. We want more folks to receive the blessing of what we offer. Tell others. Recruit, promote, invite. I'd love to see us use the new space (a gift from the Lord) to the fullest possible.

And keep praying . . .

Baby Steps

2010-04-16T20:29:00.002-05:00

However much we may long to see giant strides in accomplishing the things we undertake, most of life's forward motion is actually achieved in half steps deliberately made. This week we rejoice in a few small steps forward, deliberately made during 40 hour Project week.

Since we announced our upcoming move, we have had two solid inquiries per week by new families, several individual visits and have conducted a few interviews for enrollment. More are pending. Interest is increasing.

Mary and I met this afternoon with the architect who is designing the space changes in the new location. He works for our hosts and not for us, but he was attentive to the way we envisioned space use. It was a great conversation, as he understands the dual use of the classrooms, the requirement of controlling costs, living with the current design and the vision we have for conducting our work. His firm has been familiar with this building and the layout for nearly 2o years. I walked away with the confidence that his modifications will meet our ministry needs. The windows will most certainly be included. Wall changes will be drawn out and evaluated by next week sometime.

While walking through the building, we saw several areas where work is already underway. The changes fulfill some of the things expressed to us early on by our hosts and create a wide welcome when you walk in the doors. It's nice to see their dreams coming into reality and it gives us hope for ours. Once the official changes are approved, work will begin and will not likely take too long. My current estimate for the move is still between June 15 and July 1, but probably closer to the latter.

In all of this, it is ever suitable to set out the reminder to keep our eyes on Christ (not on contractors and architects) and to keep faithful in our prayers.

Slow, Fast, Slow

2010-04-03T10:33:00.004-05:00

This week has been slow with regard to progress on the space. The floor plans that we submitted for the use of the space have been accepted by our hosts, but there is still a need to meet with their architect to work through details. That meeting will likely take place late next week some time.

The week sped by because of new inquiries, however. We received several phone calls each day this week from families applying for admission and expressing gratitude for the move we are going to make. As word travels around, the interest in the school and this model of education increases. That in itself is very encouraging.

We are currently in the process of assessing and setting the class schedule for next year. If ever we thought we had a Rubik's Cube before, increasing the size of the lower grades adds a new layer to the puzzle. Determining the schedule has always been a painstaking task.

Classical Technology?

2010-03-21T15:23:00.014-05:00

Whether or not we like it, technology is here to stay for a while. In a classical school, technology can be a helpful tool or a dazzling and distracting replacement for real education. (Imagine being able to use Google Earth to zoom in on an ancient civilization! Would we learn about cultures in antiquity or just be dazzled at the illusion of time travel?) Our greatest difficulty is that in our American sector of culture, we long ago allowed technology to become more than a tool for our tasks; we've incorporated it into nearly every aspect of our lives (I've been playing Wii Golf all morning and am now posting this blog from Vermont) and have come to rely upon it. So the classical student, while having his thought life crafted by timeless tools of thinking and learning, must also be led to wisely use the available tools in a tech heavy contemporary world while simultaneously holding in view that more advanced tools does not make one a better student, a better person or smarter.

We as teachers and as a board talk frequently about what this looks like in our setting, with only a glimpse at the possible conclusions.

Last weekend, while visiting an area church, I got into a discussion with one of the elders about how we might (or whether we ought to) incorporate contemporary computer technology in our training curriculum. This included the use of Prometheus boards, training in productivity software, instruction in the GLR of html language for internet communications, and the ethics and unintended consequences of technology among other things. Interestingly enough, all this falls somewhat under the rubric of Rhetoric, but doesn't quite fit into any Rhetoric class that we would teach.

As always, the trick would be to offer instruction on such tools so as to make them useful yet keep them in their proper priority, since the real emphasis of classical education is the pursuit of human excellence and not technical adeptness.

Well . . the conversation continues, but don't expect any radical inclusions in the first year at the new location.

Web Domains

2010-03-20T12:58:00.002-05:00

Not that anyone will be thrilled at this small advance, nor that it will be readily visible to anyone in the near future, but we purchased two new Domain names this afternoon. For those of you who felt like it took forever to type out headmaster @ wildwoodchristianschool.org we'll ease your pain in a couple short months. The new domain names are: hcca-stl.org and heritageclassical.org

Nice, huh?

The Lower Floor

2010-03-17T21:32:00.006-05:00

The Lower floor will be a bit trickier. This space more than the Upper floor will be shared with our hosts; and in such a way that there will have to be weekly set up and take down so that they can readily conduct their childrens ministry. Any modifications to the space will come under more scrutiny because of the need for versatility.

Here I have to include 3 floor plans. First is the existing floor plan.

This has six small meeting rooms along the south outer wall, and two large rooms on the north side divided by an accordion-style temporary divider, which is not particularly sound-proof. Two existing interior walls require complete reliance upon artificial lighting in the two large rooms. Those large rooms could serve as lecture rooms/class rooms, with the cumbersome aspect of having to allow traffic to pass through into the small meeting rooms on the south. Not preferred but possible.

Ideally, if we could have our way, the dream floor plan is this:

Windows would be put into the upper parts of the interior walls so that there would be a stream of natural light throughout the wing. Walls between a few of the small rooms would be removed to make two larger classrooms. A portion of the wall along the hallway would be removed to create an open commons area for quiet homework discussion (as though that ever takes place at Wildwood.) Two walls would be installed to create slightly smaller classrooms one on either side of the commons. This floor plan, however serviceable it may be, creates certain complications that prevent its implementation, hence its dream status.

The 3rd floor plan below is the one which is most likely to be executed, for the short term at least.

Windows will be put into the interior walls to admit natural light into the inner rooms. Permanent walls would be replaced with temporary walls between some of the small classrooms to allow for versatility in area usage. The hope is to install two temporary walls in the large rooms and draw back the existing temporary wall to create a commons of sorts (albeit less open because we would not remove the section of wall along the hallway.) Again, all this would be used in an ad hoc way with all the attendant take-down and set-up.

Storage will invariably be the issue.

On another note, . . . we've received a good number of exploratory phone calls and emails related to the move. There's a wholesome buzz.

Space Plan

2010-03-14T18:42:00.006-05:00

For the most part, we will need to live with the existing floor plan. There are several reasons for this which include finances, cooperative use of space and inspection related matters. We are not strangers to living in an ad hoc kind of fashion, since we've been birthed out of such requirements. The Upper floor will be more "permanently" ours but we'll still need to be flexible.

Here's a glimpse of the upper floor plan. The space is 72 feet by 40 feet. There are temporary walls that divide the space and whatever we put in will for the time being replace the existing temporaries with a better grade temporary. We have long needed a Library which is large enough for books AND students, (you must envision a wry grin here). The area selected for the library has lots of natural light, a kind of natural appeal and can easily be monitored. Each of the classrooms is large enough for a 20-student class if needed. They also have lots of natural light.

The Reception area will have a 'gate-keeping' quality to it. Everyone who comes in and out of our section of the building will pass this area. There is enough space to comfortably receive a visiting family.

Some of us are particularly excited about the Admin offices and Conference room. After all, the sign on my office door at Heritage Pres used to read "Pastor C. Baker". Then for a while it read "Pastor C. Baker, et al." (meaning, "and others") For the last year and half it has simply read, "et al." as "the others" have needed the space more than me. The possibility now exists for me to get a desk of my own (another wry grin).

More will be said later about the lower floor.

Town Hall Meeting ...

2010-03-12T15:42:00.008-06:00

Last night was a long awaited Town Hall meeting. In it, the Board shared with the school community what has finally come together for the school to move to bigger space and a more accessible location. The process, including the search, revisiting the expansion model, fundraising efforts and other things, took about 5 years. The details finally came together on Tuesday.

Anyone who has visited our office has certainly felt the need.

Our new name will be Heritage Classical Christian Academy, and our location will be near the intersection of Carman Road and Rte. 141 at the old Manchester Baptist building. As far as we're concerned, what transpired is nothing short of a miraculous gift from the Lord. Timing, partnership, finances, location were all a surprising Providence that meets our needs; something we could not have engineered if we tried. More than those, however, was the importance of being located in a demographic that would enable more families to easily participate in what we offer.

Our target date for relocation is June 15.

Special thanks goes to Mary Johnson. Few will really know how much time and effort, how many hours and "re-calculations" and "re-thinkings", how many property viewings she took on, and how many prayers and tears she offered to move us to this point. The Lord works through people and Mary has been a significant instrument in this development.

So, what's the plan? Well ... at the moment it looks like this.

We sent out a significant postcard mailing on Thursday before the meeting. This gets the change advertised to an interested community. There is certainly more to come, but finally, we are underway.

Pray. We won't accomplish much without the presence of the Lord. Ora et Labora.
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