LCS Growth & Development Creating a Team to Propose a Plan for LCS’ Growth and Development

Growth Issues Comments from the Forum About Numbers (14) About Programming (10) About Admissions (9) About Money (9) About Space (6) About Mission (6) About Community (6) About Change (3)

About the Numbers about 14 or so comments “What are the numbers, past & future?” “What is the optimum size?” “Why are the numbers growing?” “What are other schools experiencing?”

About Programming about 10 or so comments “Are we going four-track?” “Does blended learning change class sizes?” “If the class sizes are too big, we suffer the quality.” “I want my child to have a good Christian education not just a big school.”

About Admissions about 9 or so comments “I don’t want to weed out the non- wealthy families.” “Do we just want Christian families or do we accept anyone?” “Will we change our admission policies to fill seats?” “Where do we draw the line?”

About Money about 9 comments or so “How much debt do we want to incur?” “Tuition is ever increasing. It is ridiculous.” “I love the idea of a new building but where is the money coming from?” “Has it been discussed that new families pay more tuition?”

About Space about 6 or so comments “What about a satellite campus?” “What about supporting other schools in the area?” “What about Southridge next door, they have space during the week?” “What’s happening with the portables?”

About Mission about 6 or so comments “We don’t want to be thought of as a private school.” “Some want school to be missional and some want school just for Christians.” “We are victims of our own success.” “Is it part of our responsibility to make room?”

About Community about 6 or so comments “How big do you get before you lose a sense of community?” “Community is what you make it to be.”

About Change about 3 or so comments “Growing means not staying the same.” “Any new venture is going to need families take a risk.” “We either say ‘no’ or grow.”

LCS and its Story 60 Years in 2016

Season of Planting October 16, ‘53 First Meeting ‘55 17 Students ‘56 Building committee ask for $5 per family ‘57 LCS moves into 2 room school ($7000) ‘58 60 students ‘64 Heifer committee raised $1129 ‘67 Society members take out personal loans to finance new building ‘69 New 4 classroom school built

Season of Perseverance New school built in Cloverdale with 4 rooms and teacher’s lounge and named “Shannon Heights Christian School.” ‘74 school grew to 154 students. (Portables!) ‘75 shifting values and enrollment dropped to 50. Sold and then rented from South Langley Mennonite Brethren. ‘73 Government pass bill 33 for independent schools to receive 30% funding.

Season of Promise ‘84 8 room school built in Langley with a Gym! 185 students (LCS again!) Separate washrooms for students and teachers. ‘91 6 classes added when only 2 were needed ‘ students (Portables!) ‘94 Vice-Principal added ‘94 Grade 8 started ‘94 HS property purchased ‘95 Grade 9 starts in new building Fruitfulness

Season of Fruitfulness ‘ students (need portables) ‘99 first Grade 12 graduating class ‘00 Middle/High Shop built ‘ students ‘04 Society paid off million dollar debt off before due. ‘04 Purchase of Elementary School property ‘05 Middle School wing added to HS ‘05 Planning for new Elementary campus ‘ students and a new preschool.

Season of Strengthening ‘06 Elementary School built ‘07 Three distinct campuses ‘10 Superintendent Structure added ‘14 The Fort leased & installed (8 classrooms) ‘ students Optimum maximum number of students: 1072, not counting additional classrooms in the Fort

So where do we go now?

Growth Projections

Seven Year Trend In 2011, projected growth for 2016 was estimated at 969 Source: Doug Jensen, Director of Finance ? 2016

New Families Enrolled Already, for 2016 thirty- one families have applied for LCS enrollment Source: LCS Development Office

Langley Population Growth The Langley School District will experience the highest percentage increase of the 11 School Districts in Metro Vancouver by 2036 Source: Langley’s Economic Development Manager’s Desk (September 2011) Surrey 61% 81.1% 55% Langley Coquitlam

Independent Student % of Public School Students Since 1978 number of Independent School Students have grown from 4.3% of total BC students to 13%. Source: FISA who collated numbers from Ministry of Education Annual Reports 8.9% 9.9% % 4.6% 7.0% 8.2% % % 2015

233% From 1986 t population is projected to grow by 170,000 people

25,000 Despite declining proportion of youngsters (20 and under) as a percent of the population, those aged less than 20 will increase by in next 25 years (as of 2011)

#2 By 2036 Langley is still expected to be ranked #2 as the second highest proportion of youngsters (20 and under) of all Metro Vancouver school districts

Questions to be Pursued

Questions What is the mission of LCS constitutionally, historically, and presently? What are the growth values that are evident throughout LCS’s 60 years of history? What are the implications of growth (increasing, decreasing, or status quo) in terms of finances, facilities, community spirit, and the quality of education? What is the role of the board in determining the future development of LCS? What is the role of other stakeholders? What is the role of the board in shaping the structure of educational programming in a superintendent system? What is the role of the other stakeholders? What are the options in terms of responding to growth? What are the implications in terms of capital investments? What is the recommended approach to developing the future of LCS?

Next Steps

Launch a Growth and Development Team A team of twelve members from the various stakeholders in the school appointed to provide the LCS Board, by April 2016, a recommended strategic direction for the future development of LCS. Membership of the team is recommended as follows: a.Four diverse members of the LCS society b.Three teachers - one from each campus c.The Superintendent, Henry Vanderveen d. The Business Administrator, Doug Jensen e.Three Board Members selected by the Board—one of whom will chair the committee.

Timeline November 2015: Committee Launch Research through forums/surveys etc. March 2016: Update to the Board Final Stages of Research April 2016: Presentation to Board May 2016: Presentation to Society