The Future of RCS

We are excited about the future of our school. God is calling us to reach SE King County through Christian education. In His providence, God has brought Rainier Christian and Renton Christian together, collectively with over 105 years of rich history, to accomplish this calling. As society’s culture strays further from a Biblical Worldview, we will remain resolute in keeping Christ at the center of everything we do. Imagine what God could do with 100 students graduating every year who are rooted in Christ and equipped to change the world!

 

Our dream is to see a school where each campus is safe, Christ-centered, and fully resourced, where students learn about and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Our school will partner with parents and local churches to develop a Biblical worldview in each student, instilling Godly wisdom and Christ-like character while encouraging them to express God’s love to one another. It will prepare every aspect of a student to make a difference in this world.

 

Executive Summary:

As Rainier Christian and Renton Christian combine into one school, we will need to make some strategic investments to existing campuses and adjust the grades each campus serves. These changes will prepare us to best serve families across four safe and fully resourced campuses. The three biggest changes will be:

  1. Major renovation to the Fairwood Campus (currently Maple Valley Elementary) that includes adding a 10,000 square foot new gym & meeting space facility (by September 2025),

  2. Relocate students currently at the Black Diamond Campus to Fairwood Campus (September 2025)

  3. Combining Renton Christian 7th & 8th grades to the Fairwood Campus in two years (September 2026) to become our regional junior high (and temporary location for high school while our new high school campus is being built).

These changes will help us expand our capacity to serve families. This additional capacity will help us better fill and fund our new high school campus (see attached for an exciting rendering!). Please read below for additional information about what is prompting these adjustments and how God is directing our school.

 

Campus Plan

To accomplish this vision, we need to make some strategic investments into our teachers, campuses, and practices. Our dream is to see a school with two elementary campuses that feed into a regional middle school that feeds into a new regional high school. We see four safe and fully resourced campuses designed to develop the faith, character, and wisdom of every student. There are several phases over the coming years to see this vision become a reality. Below are these phases:

Phase 1: Foundational Year | 2024-2025 School Year

Throughout this current school year, we will continue to serve the existing students and grades at each campus. We are designing and implementing academic and operational systems to align our practices and operate efficiently as one school. We are investing in our staff and facilities.

 

Phase 2: Transitional Year | 2025-2026 School Year

This will be the first school year we will operate as one combined school. Currently the 7th-12th grade students of Rainier Christian meet at Black Diamond Camp. Our lease with the camp expires in June 2025 and we need to find another home for these students. Therefore, we will be renovating the campus in Fairwood, prior to next school year (September 2025), to serve as our regional junior high school and temporarily serve our high school students until our new high school campus is built (see below for more details about this renovation). We will invite the 34 elementary students currently at the Fairwood Campus to join our Renton or Kent View campuses in September 2025. We will invite the 21 early childhood students to join our Renton, Covington, or Kent View early childhood locations by July 2025. The Renton Campus will continue to serve KP – 8th grade during the 2025-2026 school year. The Kent View Campus will continue to serve K-6th grade during the 2025-2026 school year.

 

Phase 3: Aligned Year | 2026-2027 School Year

During this year (September 2026), we will invite all Renton Christian 7th & 8th grade students to attend our renovated Fairwood campus. The Renton and Kent View Campuses will serve early childhood – 6th grade students. All 7th & 8th grade students will attend our junior high campus in Fairwood. 9th – 12th grade students will continue to temporarily attend the Fairwood campus while our new high school campus is being built. We will expand our campus-to-campus transportation to include a new route from the Renton campus to the Fairwood campus beginning September 2026.

 

New High School Campus:

We continue to work on site development and design for the new high school campus. Attached is an exciting initial rendering of the new high school! I can’t wait to see how God will use this new campus to shape the faith and future of our students. We believe our schools joining together is part of God’s providence to see this future high school campus completed. We continue to aim for the 2027-2028 school year to open the new high school as the construction and funding timelines allow. We will provide additional updates on this project after the first of the year.

 

4 Future Campus Locations:

  • Elementary Campuses: Renton & Kent View

  • Middle School Campus: Fairwood (East Fairwood by Lake Desire)

  • High School Campus: Lakepointe (between Covington & Maple Valley)

 

Campus Renovations:

We need to make a significant and strategic investment into the Fairwood and Kent View campuses to accomplish our vision. These investments will primarily be funded by reallocating existing expense budgets from the Rainier Christian budget. Here are some of the investments we will make:

 

Fairwood Campus:

 

The new gym will be an incredible addition to this campus, not only to facilitate PE and athletics, but also to provide a large gathering space for events and other activities. The updated exterior will provide a modern, warm, and welcoming campus environment. The renovated classrooms will provide great space for 300 students.

 

Kent View Campus:

  • Security enhancements (alert system, perimeter fencing, door hardware, etc.)

  • Classroom renovations (new carpet & paint)

  • Deferred maintenance catch-up (roofs, siding, painting)

 

Cost and Payment for Renovations:

The projected cost of these additions and renovations is $4.5 million. Our primary plan is to finance these investments. We will redirect some of the budget from the Black Diamond Campus (i.e. lease, utilities) to this debt service. The great news is that redirecting existing Rainier budgets will fund 2/3 of the expected debt service payments. Anticipated enrollment growth will fund the rest. 

 

Decision Making Process:

Over the past 6 months, we met with school leadership, church leadership and both school boards, incorporated input from staff and parents, and explored options with a design team (architect, general contractor, civil engineer, wetland biologist, gym structure firm, etc.). After much prayer and discussion, the campus plan discussed above was developed. Our desire is to make a strategic investment into existing owned campuses to: 

  1. Be better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us,

  2. Provide additional opportunities for new students to access Christ-centered education, 

  3. Better retain existing students, 

  4. Expand our base to better fill and fund our future high school campus.

 

Programs and Practices:

As we combine as one school, we will be aligning our programs and practices. We want each student and family to have a consistent experience across all campuses. We will not get there overnight but are committed to that end. The strategic investments we are making at the Fairwood and Kent View campuses is an important step toward this commitment. We want students at every campus to have access to the best curriculum taught from a Biblical Worldview. We will have well-rounded programs to develop the whole student at every campus.