Rapidly Growing Valley Christian Starts School on Thursday

Missoula's Valley Christian School is nearing the 250 student plateau and with school starting on Thursday, the kindergarten through 12^th grade facility is ready to host students for all day in-classroom instruction.

High School and Junior High Principal and Head of School Healey Glessner said the COVID 19 preparations are firmly in place.

“We are opening our doors this Thursday the 27th and we are going to keep the schedule as normal as possible,” said Glessner. “We've made a lot of accommodations so that we can keep our students safe and secure. We are doing a lot of hand washing, we have sanitizing spray bottles and we have the mask mandate. We are doing as much as we can. We have physical distancing and we do have our desks spread apart and we also have our lockers spread apart. In addition, we do have a bit of a staggered start in the morning, the first day of school to keep our kids separate.”

Glessner said one of the points that please both parents and students is that Valley will have only in-classroom learning.

“We are doing all in classroom learning,” she said. “We are not doing remote learning simply because we just don't have the staff. If we are mandated to go back to Phase One we will do distance learning with the entire school, but for now since we are allowed to be in the seats, that's where we're going to stay.”

I know of several parents who have mentioned they do not like the staggered schedule in other schools or how they're only doing a couple days a week with remote distance hybrids, so with us being able to open completely that first day has been a draw as well.

Glessner said the steady, predictable day-to-day schedule is drawing more families to the school on Sunset Lane just off Reserve Street.

“On a positive note of COVID, it has allowed us to do some things that we haven't been able to do before,” she said. Plus, it's allowed some parents to look at us who might not have even considered us before, for example, I know of several parents who have mentioned they do not like the staggered schedule in other schools or how they're only doing a couple days a week with remote distance hybrids, so with us being able to open completely that first day has been a draw as well.”

All that being said, Glessner emphasized the fact that the name is Valley ‘Christian’ School for a reason, by sharing the school’s motto.

“‘Valley Christian School exists to partner with Christian families who desire educational excellence taught through a biblical worldview. So their children will be prepared for a lifetime of authentic faithfulness and service to Jesus Christ.’ And so basically what we believe is we are biblically integrating in every class, from spelling to wood shop to English to grammar.”

Valley Christian opened its doors in 1979 and the first graduating class was in 1986.

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