Koinonia school looks for new home
Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 16/01) - A Christian school that had to close because of a $19,000 debt hopes to reopen its doors this fall.
During its year-long hiatus Koinonia Christian school hosted enough car washes and spaghetti suppers to climb out of the red, but still has no home.
It has asked to rent one of the public school district's double-wide portables, but the district won't know if any of its 11 portables will be available until it gets a better grasp of September's enrolment, says Yellowknife Education District No. 1 chair Dan Schofield.
For now Koinonia plans to teach kindergarten to Grade 5. Ideally the school would be housed in its own building, "to help us create our own culture. Everything we do is based on the Bible," said Judy Reath, the school's principal and only teacher so far.
In the meantime it would be convenient being part of another school because of facilities like a gymnasium and playground, Reath said. In 1999-2000, the school rented portables outside J.H. Sissons school.
Department of Education spokesman Paddy Elliot says Koinonia has a good reputation but the department likes private schools to have a minimum of 10 students. Taxpayers will pick up 40 per cent of the school's costs, and families pay tuition of $250 per student each month.
"They're diligent and work hard," Elliot says of Koinonia, which is Greek for "fellowship."
A decision to close last year was driven by the debt and an enrolment drop from a dozen students to eight.
There were 50 students during Koinonia's peak a few years ago, Reath said. In the past year two families have moved away, said Gillian Belsheim-Laycock, chair of the Yellowknife Christian Education Society, which runs Koinonia.
Koinonia began five years ago in portables at Weledeh Catholic school, owned by Yellowknife's Catholic School Board. The next year Weledeh needed them back, and Koinonia got a rough ride from city hall after setting up in the Pentecostal Church basement.
City officials quickly turned them out, citing rules.
"The kids showed up for school one day and they weren't allowed in the building," Reath recalls.
Belsheim-Laycock said the school and the Pentecostal Church spent a lot renovating the church basement but municipal officials were never happy, although city councillors had indicated the school should be able to stay.
"A bunch of things were really unclear," she said of the turmoil.
In February of this year, the city turned down the Koinonia's request for a grant worth just under $10,000 following debate and a one-vote defeat.
Koinonia is part of an organization based in Didsbury, Alta, that runs four other small private Christian schools.
