Greene County has its first private school that will be accepting students soon.

Abundant Life Ministries Pastor Isaak Wangler says they have established an accredited program for kindergarten through third grade students to attend the Foundations Elementary School at their church. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio after hearing from families, other pastors and those in early childhood education that felt they wanted another choice for young kids to receive schooling, he partnered with the Iowa Association of Christian Schools, who were the driving force that propelled them toward being accredited by the Christian Schools International.

“They really know what it takes to run schools, accredited, private, Christian schools in the state of Iowa. And so, last summer we entered into a partnership with them so that they could help advise us to plan the guidelines, and the policies, and the handbooks and really everything that you need in order to operate a school.”    

Pastor Isaak outlines that they wanted to focus on k-3rd grade because it was attainable for them to handle, allowing for those ages of children to adhere to what it means to attend Foundations Elementary School.

“Our primary mission is to build a solid foundation of biblical world view of Christian morals, of strong academic excellence and to do it early in a kid’s life so that they have that foundation to grow from and build upon as they get into upper grade levels and start making more selective and unique decisions with what directions they’ll go in life.”      

Pastor Isaak points out that students will follow a hybrid model of learning, with three days of on-site classroom teaching and two days of at-home learning provided by the parents. He details that enrollment begins February 2nd and they are looking to hire a teaching staff that has a degree in early childhood education or a similar field of study, along with being licensed by the state. He adds that renovations to the learning space within the church will be completed ahead of their open house on March 5th. To learn more, click here.