History of Renton Christian School

1979-1980: The leadership of Renton Assembly of God felt God's direction to birth a Christian school. The doors of Renton Christian School opened in 1979 with 37 students. The two original teachers were Betty Ratzsch (Kindergarten) and Gail Foster (1st-5th). At this point, the church and school were located on Hardie Ave. in downtown Renton.

In 1980, the parent organization of Renton Assembly of God purchased over 50 acres along the Maple Valley Highway, a few miles east of I-405. But it would be many years before a move could and would happen.

1980s: Early in the 1980s, junior high was added. The initial electives included Music, P.E., Art, Yearbook, and Computers/Keyboard. Junior high was briefly discontinued and restarted a few years later, although overall school enrollment continued to increase each year, which required the addition of new faculty and support staff.

RCS became a member of Associated Christian Schools International in the mid-80s as well. In general, RCS experienced steady growth throughout the decade of the 80s as enrollment grew to 190 in 1990.

1990-1992: Several staff members from these years are still connected to RCS or New Life Church. These include Karen Sanderson, Abby Durrett, Diane Krogh, Mickie Cavin, and Judy Grandstrand.

About 1992, the Parent-Teacher-Fellowship was inaugurated. This group of parents quickly became a great source of support and additional income for the school through fundraising events. The enrollment grew to 237 by the 1992-1993 school year.

1993-1995: For those who still remember the Hardie Ave. campus, you will recall that from 1993-95, the school used ever last square foot available. 5th grade moved into the Fireside room. Band moved into the lunchroom, 4th grade expanded to 30 students with a full-time aide and had to rent the vacant Schuck'­s store across the street from the Hardie campus. Chapel also happened in the lunchroom.

In 1995 the church completed construction of Phase 1 of its new building on the property purchased 15 years earlier. That year the elementary school moved with them, while the junior high continued to meet at the Hardie Ave. facility until that property could be sold. RCS provided bus service between the two campuses at this time. Sam Jacobsen and Rich Carpenter served as bus drivers.

Phase 1 consisted of the Sonshine Learning Center corridor, the Multi-Purpose Room, and the small chapel where junior high chapel meets today. This was also the first year of current elementary principal, Cheri Schoenrock, who was a teacher at that time. She recalls June of 1995, when students were transported by bus over to the new property in order to plant trees as part of the dedication of the new campus. In 1995, enrollment surpassed 300 for the first time.

1997: The school purchased four modular classrooms in 1997 because space was limited in the building and room was needed to fit all the students. They were located on the gravel parking lot where the SLC playground now sits. A platform and covered awning allowed the modular doors to open to a common covered area. 5th and 6th grade occupied them at this time. Yet more square footage was necessary and soon to come.

1998-2000: In 1998, Phase 2 of the education wing was completed and a ribbon-cutting ceremony occurred on September 14th of that year. The sons of current board member, Chris Bodlovic, Tyler and Ryan were the official cutters (an auction purchase by Chris).

Phase 2 included rooms 114-122 and rooms 217-222, plus new restrooms on the first and second floor. Room 114 (currently the computer lab) became the teachers' lounge. The lunchroom was located across from the kitchen in room 215 which was much larger than today. This was an exciting time of growth as New Life Church continued to invest a great amount of resources into facilities for the school.

A new level of fundraising activity began during these years. The spring of 1998 saw the 1st annual auction fundraiser and in the fall of 2000 the first Jog-a-thon was held.

The growth of the school during this time was swift and Phase 2 of the building almost immediately reached full capacity, which accelerated the pace for the construction of the 3-story educational wing. This addition would add 15 classrooms that included a high-school quality science lab. Ground was broken for this project during the 2001-02 school year.

The modular classrooms were relocated to the back-side of the campus, where they still reside, in 2000 or 2001 to make way for the proposed sanctuary to be built on the gravel parking lot.

In 1999, the first RCS computer lab was put together which included 24 stations of KDS monitors and E-machines and were placed in a modular classroom. The technology committee and drivers behind the project at that time were, Rich Carpenter, Lisa Novotny, Dick Harrigill, Cheri Schoenrock and a few others. In the second year of that lab there was a bee infestation in the roofing which led to the need for a better location.

2001: About 2001, a stronger effort was put forth to have more teachers assistants in the classrooms. When the playground was moved from the central courtyard to the "East 40," teacher assistants were few and far between. One assistant might be shared by all the teachers in one hallway. Teachers covered PM recess duty and some other recesses much of the time and did all their own paperwork and classroom support. Teachers did much of their own copying, bulletin board presentations, typing of newsletters (on typewriters), figuring grades by calculator or adding machines, hand-producing report cards on CCR paper, etc. Adding many more teachers' assistants became a huge upgrade for the daily life of our teachers.

In 2001, the lower playground and field upgrades were completed and a fence installed. New playground equipment was purchased as part of this project.

The School Office was re-modeled in the summer of 2001. Rooms 103 and 105 were reconfigured to make the office expand from 101 to 105. Previously, the office staff and administrators had all occupied room 101 at the same time. These were very tight quarters!

The flagpole was installed about 2001.

2002-2003: Phase 3 was occupied in 2002-03 although school started late that year. The building construction was behind schedule, and school did not get to start until occupancy permits were granted. The computer lab moved to room 114 when phase 3 was finished. The teachers lounge was relocated from room 114 to room 227.

The enrollment for this year reached an all-time high of 511 students.

All classrooms including the modulars were outfitted with TV's and VCRs when phase 3 happened. TV's with the current bracketry were eventually mounted at a later time.

2004-2005: In 2004, a small commercial kitchen was installed in room 222 in exchange for the church getting primary use and remodeling room 215. RCS agreed to accept 222 as regular lunchroom. The church paid for the kitchen installation and remodeling costs. The cooks were relieved not to haul food everyday from the church kitchen down the hall to the lunchroom.

2006-2008: Several new things have occurred since the fall of 2006:

• The school website has been upgraded and become a primary source of communication and information for RCS families and prospective families.
• The school office has been remodeled again which has opened up much more space for parents and students to conduct business.
• Generous private donations have funded the installation of Smart Boards into some junior high classrooms.
• Drama productions and our annual spring auction have been moved off-site to environments that make these first-class events.
• A campus security officer has been hired.
• A quarterly newsletter from the RCS Board of Directors is now a regular part of school communication.
• A Five-Year Strategy for RCS has been conceived, written and communicated to parents.

2009-2011: In the fall of 2009, RCS completed its full-accreditation with the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), receiving a six-year term of accreditation. ACSI is the largest guild of Christian schools in the world and provides accountability, professional development for teachers and staff, and the mark of excellence, so that families can be certain of Renton Christian's quality.

During these years, RCS underwent several important facilities upgrades.

• In the spring of 2010, New Life Church completed its long-awaited new building that includes a main auditorium, lobby and smaller north auditorium that provide state-of-the-art venues for RCS chapels, concerts and other activities.
• A covered outdoor play area for students was completed.
• The playground was moved from "the lower 40" next to the new building
• The parking lot was enlarged for more capacity and better traffic flow.
• A new gym floor was installed with basketball hoops and scoreboards as well.
• The field on the other side of the creek began to be developed and usable for school activities with the ultimate goal of establishing a full soccer field in the future.
• The library was moved to a larger space, nearly doubling its size.

For the 2011-12 school year, four kindergarten classes were offered for the first time in school history as RCS continued its return to growth in student enrollment. And now with Renton Christian's student enrollment drawing near to its building capacity, plans for the future must be established.

Renton Christian School has come a long way since 1979, and we look forward to adding to our history as we journey down the road together! God has blessed us thus far and He has tremendous plans for our future!