THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506230199
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
WITH TWO MONTHS to go, Dr. Ron White, administrator of Greenbrier Christian Academy, is confident the private school will meet its enrollment goal of 75 students in Suffolk.
Nearly 50 students are already registered for classes at Greenbrier Christian's new satellite campus at 629 Turlington Road, White said. He expects to gain admissions from a recent open house attended by 75 local families.
``But we'll be here this fall even if we only have the 45 students who are already enrolled,'' White said. ``We're committed to building a school in this community.''
And student by student, that's what Greenbrier Christian Academy is planning to do in the 36,000-square-foot, former school building it purchased last January from the Maryland-based Potomac Assembly of God Churches.
Although a church had been meeting in part of the building, most of it had stood empty since Suffolk Christian School closed in 1987. Norfolk Christian School talked about opening a satellite campus there in 1991, but scrapped the plans due to low enrollment.
This fall, the non-denominational Greenbrier Christian Academy will offer pre-kindergarten through 7th-grade instruction on its Suffolk campus, White said. By next year, students will be able to complete 8th grade on the Suffolk campus before transferring to Greenbrier's main campus in Chesapeake for high school.
By the time school opens, Greenbrier Christian will have invested $750,000 in refurbishing the school. After purchasing the building, school officials gutted the interior and rewired the electrical system, installed new security and fire alarms, built a new corridor, and painted and recarpeted the entire building.
Students will take the same basic core subjects as their peers attending public schools: reading, math, social science, science and the like. Students will also take one of five different electives - computer, music, art, elementary Spanish and physical education - every day.
In addition, White said, all students will attend chapel each Wednesday and take a Bible class every day.
``We want people to recognize us for providing a quality, Christian-based education,'' White said. ``We try to give our students a philosophy for life that is Bible-based . . . and teach them that their first accountability is to God.
``I believe a growing number of parents nationwide are looking for a basis of education that teaches not just academics, but also moral and religious responsibility, to their children,'' White said.
Most Christian schools nationwide belong to the Association of Christian Schools International, a professional organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Each student attending an ACSI school is also registered as an individual member of the organization, said Dr. Ollie Gibbs, ACSI's vice president of academic affairs.
ACSI's membership has soared over the last five years, with 3,411 schools enrolling 732,436 individual members in 1994. The organization has added almost 200,000 members since 1991, when the 2,778 schools enrolled represented 523,000 students, Gibbs said.
Greenbrier Christian Academy's main campus is at 311 Kempsville Road, on a 30-acre parcel in the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake. About 760 students, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade, attend the school.
Greenbrier's Suffolk campus has the capacity to hold 400 students, White said. The school expects to add about 100 students annually for three years after its first year.
Few - if any - classes on either of Greenbrier Christian's campuses will ever have more than 20 students, White said. But while the Suffolk campus is growing, classes are likely to average between 8 and 12 students.
Greenbrier Christian Academy's 10-year growth plan calls for the addition of two or three satellite campuses over the next decade. The Suffolk campus will be the school's first.
``Our growth plan calls for students from the satellite campuses to funnel into the high school on the main campus,'' White said. ``But we are open to change if Suffolk continues to grow the way it has in recent years and there is the demand for another high school here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Dr. Ron White, Greenbrier Christian Academy administrator, is eager
to open a satellite campus in Suffolk.
Graphic
TUITION RATES
Half-day kindergarten: $1,350
Full-day kindergarten: $2,150
Grades 1-5: $2,600
Grades 6-7: $2,800
Additional fees:$50 application/testing fee; $95 book fee
Discounts for multi-student families. Financial aid programs
available.
Call 547-9595.
by CNB