By Don Murtha
The Silverton Christian School on Eureka Avenue will soon be enlarged by four new classrooms in a 3,584 square-foot addition to the existing space.
The addition will mean fewer students per classroom but no more students in the school, said Principal Bruce Visser.
“With a new teacher we have hired and the extra classrooms we will go from five teachers in five classes to six teachers in six classrooms,” he said.
“We won’t have any new students since we are limited by law as to how many students we can have.”
The school has 60 students in K-8 and plus preschoolers.
The school, an outgrowth of the Silverton Friends Church, operates on a common core curriculum, which Visser said, is “very challenging.”
The common core curriculum involves students, teachers and parents working together in the learning process with the goal of a quality education for the students.
The four new classrooms will be assigned by grades 1 and 2, grades 3 and 4, grades 5 and 6 and grades 7 and 8 with one teacher per classroom.
Pre-school and kindergarten will be in another part of the existing school complex.
“The kids all work and play together, whatever class they’re in. We have no discipline problems,” Visser said.
The new addition came about because of the need for improvements to the school facilities.
“The old chapel, had issues and it was too expensive to rebuild,” Visser said.
“In addition, the heating system was very costly to run and the modern building will be more economical to heat and maintain.”
The chapel was torn down along with a giant fir to make space to build the new classrooms.
C.L. Rose, the construction company, expects to have the new facilities completed in November, but the classrooms will not be occupied until after the Christmas break, Vissser said.
“After Christmas we will go into the new configuration with the teachers and students assigned as planned,” Visser said.
During construction, students have been taken out to learn about the work of the project.
“They have watched the framing of the foundation and learned about using a tape measure. It is a learning experience for them,” Visser said.
The project was funded from donations from throughout the community.
“Some people contributed money before the project got off the table,” Visser said.
“Some have been willing to take out loans for the school.”
“We are all tickled. The kids are looking forward to having a drinking fountain in each room and there will be restroom and a storage room in each room,” he said.
