GRACE Christian Academy interested in former Mt. Morris school

MT. MORRIS — The Mt. Morris Village Board announced on social media Monday that GRACE Christian Academy will host an informational meeting at the former David L. Rahn Junior High School in Mt. Morris, on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m.

The proposed school is affiliated with a growing private education movement called GRACE, an acronym for Gracefully Reclaiming a Conservative Education.

Sauk Valley Christian Academy, a GRACE-affiliated school, opened in September and conducts classes at New Life Lutheran Church in Sterling.

“I’m very excited about the fact that we’re re-purposing a school building for a potential school,” Mt. Morris Village President Phil Labash said. “If that happens, it’s a plus for the community.”

Families of Faith Christian Academy in Channahon is the founding school of the network and has operated for 16 years. Founder and headmaster is the Rev. Randy Blan. He issued a statement on the occasion of the Sauk Valley Christian Academy opening last month.

“The difference between the public and Christian school is not in the professionalism of its staff or perfection of its student body, but rather it is in the focus and goals of its education,” Blan said in a release. “At GRACE, parents are assured that every teacher will not only challenge their student with rigorous academics, but also teach their curriculum through the lens of scripture and openly model the love of Jesus Christ through their actions and words.”

The private school in Sterling offers classes for students in Pre-K to Grade 12 and has 27 students. The curriculum is provided by Abeka, which specializes in home schooling and Christian school resources.

Tammy Marks is serving as school administrator. According to the school biography, she has homeschooled her own children and serves as office manager for a family-run IT support business, Secure Consulting Methodologies.

She said the school is blending elements of one-room classrooms and homeschooling that allows them to embrace traditional teaching methods. The school’s guiding principals, Marks said, is excellence, faith and character.

The school in Sterling, which has five teachers, is one of several network schools opening this school year, including Faith Christian Academy in Naperville and sites in Romeoville, Lincolnway-New Lenox and Springfield. According to GRACE’s website, there are plans to open association schools in St. Charles, Rochelle, Fairbury, Wood Dale and Arlington Heights in 2023.

The Village of Mt. Morris offered two links for those interested in attending the meeting, one on Facebook and another that offered a three-page document titled “Mount Morris Christian Academy.” The post said the document had been created to provide information “on how God has been helping GRACE Association impact lives and communities across our state.”

Anyone interested in registering for the informational meeting was directed to the GRACE website: www.graceassociation.org.

The Oregon School District voted in February to close DLR at the end of the 2021-22 school year and move seventh and eighth graders to the Oregon High School, five miles to the east.

In May 2021, Oregon Superintendent Tom Mahoney proposed closing DLR and moving seventh and eighth grade students to Oregon citing decreasing enrollments throughout the district and increasing maintenance costs at DLR as reasons for the closure.

In August, the Oregon School Board accepted a high bid of $51,000 from Fred Kenney, of Oregon, for the building and surrounding property.

The Oregon and Mt. Morris school districts merged in 1994 after the Mt. Morris School District dissolved due to financial reasons. Before the merger, the DLR building was Mt. Morris High School. DLR was the last remaining school in Mt. Morris.

Alexa Zoellner contributed to this article