Hillcrest adding middle school next fall

KALONA — Hillcrest Academy, a private Christian high school near the Johnson and Washington County line, has announced plans to add middle school students in the 2022-23 school year after the operations board voted unanimously to do so.

"This is a big step in the history of our school,“ a blog post from the institution said. ”More than 75 years after our founding, we are still building toward a bright future for our school. We feel good about the process so far and are thankful for your prayers.“

Historically, the school has only hosted grades 9-12, but Principal and Head of School Dwight Gingerich said they would add sixth-graders next year, with plans to expand into seventh and eighth grade as the new students progress the following years.

“It allows us to maybe get started a little bit sooner, and get a little more time to think about adding all the things that go with grades seven and eight,” he said. “The best way to do that the soonest would be to go with grade six initially.”

Gingerich said school officials heard ongoing demand for the expansion to younger students.

“Board members have received calls like that, I’ve received emails,” he said. “There’s just been widespread interest expressed even after it felt like maybe it wasn’t a go … at this point, the board was like, ‘You know what, we’ve talked about this for over 30 years, let’s go.’”

The transition will be planned by several subcommittees, covering a range of areas like curriculum, communication and logistic issues.

Gingerich said the younger grades would be placed in one wing of the current building, with older kids moved elsewhere on the campus.

“They will not be in the same space as the other students,” he said. “They’ll share space like the cafeteria, things like that, but their classes will be held in a part of the building that the rest of our students will not be in.”

The transition will involve hiring at least one new full-time teacher, but Gingerich said the rest of the workload would likely fall to staff that don’t currently work 40-hour weeks.

“We have some part-time people currently on our staff,” he said. “Music, for example, we can add to their load. Physical education, we can add to that person’s load … if we happen to have enough demand right off the bat, maybe it means adding two sections, but right now, we’re wanting to get started with just one.”

The school’s operating board opted not to add middle school in 2020, after releasing a survey on the subject to the community. Gingerich said interest had grown since then, possibly due to reduced anxiety about COVID-19.

“The inquiries have continued, and it seems like the level of interest has actually picked up again,” he said. “It led our board to figure this was the time to move forward. Our enrollment director … has received calls, emails, inquiries from folks saying, ‘We really do want to see a middle school.’”

Gingerich said he and other school officials felt good about the plan, but were open to community input at the current stage of planning.

“We wanted to get the word out because we are not in an exploratory phase anymore, we are in a planning phase,” he said. “We just want people to know what’s ahead, and invite feedback. If people have questions, ideas, suggestions, we want to be open to those.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com