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Christian School enters second year

FAIRMONT — Fairmont Christian School, currently located inside Bethel Evangelical Free Church, will be starting its second school year. The school, which is interdenominational and welcome to all children, is slowly growing by adding a second grade class this year.

The idea to start a Christian school was born out of Bethel’s Small Sprouts preschool program. Parents who sent their children there would talk among themselves and ask Kimberly Fast, director of children’s ministries at Bethel, if she had ever thought of adding another grade beyond preschool. After some consideration and Bethel Church offering their space to be used as a school, Fairmont Christian School became a reality.

Fast is still maintaining her role as director of children’s ministries at Bethel, although now she doubles as Fairmont Christian School’s principal.

Last year as it was starting out, there were 10 students enrolled in kindergarten and first grade, most of which were graduates of Small Sprouts. This upcoming school year, however, there are 10 students enrolled in kindergarten, though they can take up to 15, five students in first grade and two students in second grade, with the latter two classes being combined. Since the beginning, the plan has been to add one more grade each school year.

“We knew that we were going to grow from the bottom up and we’re OK with that,” Fast said of the school size.

“We’ve hired our staff. Our kindergarten teacher is coming from Pennsylvania. Our first and second grade teacher is coming from Bemidji,” Fast said, adding that there are several teaching assistants as well.

Kindergarten students just come to school Monday, Wednesday, Friday, which is different than how other schools in the area do it, but Fast said it works for them and parents are happy with it. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the kindergarten teacher will pull the second grade students from class in order to push them more academically.

Fast said that they do work with the public school system on things such as offering speech and that the Fairmont Christian School board is in the process of working on a bussing system. For now several of the families have been carpooling. The hours of the school day are slightly different than other schools in the area with the school day going from 9 a.m.- 3:30 p.m.

There are four classrooms which all of the classes rotate through during the day. The students bring their own lunch, which they’re strongly suggested to pack themselves, and they eat in a variety of places.

“Our philosophy is that about every 15 minutes we need to be changing either location or routine. We have a large gym and a large kitchen upstairs. Other than heating up lunch, the kitchen is only used for cooking activities. They sometimes eat in the gym or outside,” Fast explained.

The four classrooms include the preschool “small sprouts,” kindergarten “brave buds,” first and second grade “tender twigs,” and a discovery room. Students rotate through all of the rooms during the school day.

Starting a school from scratch is not easy, but Fairmont Christian School has had help from Mountain Lake Christian School, which is located in Mountain Lake. MLC has been providing administrative support as well as a student tuition database to Fairmont Christian School. The two schools share a superintendent and share the goal of providing a Christian education to students. There is talk of moving MLC somewhere down the line so that it is more centrally located. It is the hope then that after students go to Fairmont Christian School, they will continue going to MLC.

One parent who sends two of her children to Fairmont Christian School, Amber Droegemueller, said she wishes they had a fifth grade so that she could send her oldest child there, too.

“It’s more than just school here. It’s home and it’s fun and it’s so Godly. They’re building these children spiritually, academically, and they’re building their character,” said Droegemueller.

Another parent, Melissa Hardie, shared her thoughts on the school.

“I have never felt at any point dropping off my children for school here that they weren’t going to be cared for,” said Hardie, adding that even though she and her family don’t belong to Bethel, she’s found that they have been nothing but welcoming to everyone.

While there’s no denying that those who choose to send their children to school at Fairmont Christian School are happy with the decision, Fast acknowledges she’s not one to judge the decisions parents make regarding a choice in school.

“God tells everyone where they should be. We don’t want to say we’re against public education or other schools, God called us here for one reason or another, but we know that God might not call everyone here and that’s OK, too,” Fast said.

“We never want the tuition piece to interfere with anybody coming. We reach out to people who believe in a Christian education and we’ve had great donors, everything from a $25 gift to a $20,000 gift. We’ve had both and neither amount is more important,” Fast said, going on to explain that people have also donated books and other supplies.

While everyone is appreciative and feels welcomed by Bethel, plans to get their own school building are still in the books, though no one knows when that will happen.

“The church has been very gracious in letting us use the building and some support staff and electricity, heat and some supplies. That’s the way they support us. I think we easily have two more years here but when we start to feel that pinch we’ll start doing separate fundraising for a building,” Fast said.

Halfway through last school year, the school obtained a companion dog, Birdie, that will be part of the upcoming school year as well.

“That has been one of our very fun decisions. We did a lot of research before we got Birdie, but now she’s a natural part of the classroom,” said Fast.

As for the future of the school, Fast looks forward to seeing the school grow and wants the school to be part of a three-legged stool, along with family and faith, that can add support.

“We want to always be seen as a support to families. We’re really committed to increase our enrollment to the point where the people who are supposed to be here are the people that God has for us so we’re not going to get hung up on a number, but we know that there are probably other kids out there that could benefit from this kind of environment,” Fast said.

Anyone who wants more information on Fairmont Christian School can call the office at 507-235-5513 or check out the website at fairmontchristian.org.

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