Lakeview Christian enjoys large growth for second year

Since 2008, Duluth's Lakeview Christian Academy has nearly doubled in size.

For the second year in a row, enrollment increased by 20 percent. The preschool through 12th-grade independent academy is still shy of 250 students, but the growth is something head of school Todd Benson has never seen in his career.

"We're a little school," he said, "but it's been really amazing for us."

Benson points to several reasons for growth, including its focus on learners of all abilities, its College in the Schools program and its niche as the only faith-based school in the area that teaches grades 9-12.

He doesn't say the 62 new students last year and 67 this year are fleeing the Duluth school district because of the Red Plan.

"People beat up on Duluth because of the Red Plan," he said. "I wish they wouldn't do that. It doesn't help anybody. You've got schools trading students all of the time because of school choice. The community benefits when there are options."

This year, students came from Hermantown, the Duluth district, Edison, Marshall and from out of town, citing a variety of reasons. The school also usually gets a handful of students from the Catholic Diocese of Duluth's Holy Rosary School, which teaches through eighth grade.

The Catholic Diocese schools in the area have remained stable. St. James, Holy Rosary and St. John the Evangelist have seen little change in the past two years.

Holy Rosary, said Principal Jesse Murray, has increased its enrollment during the past six years but has been stable the past three. It has 293 students now but topped out at 300 in recent years.

"The middle school is healthy, and the elementary school is solid," he said.

Fifteen teachers and staff members were hired this year to handle the influx of students at Lakeview, bringing the number of employees to 45. Of that number, 25 are full-time faculty. Small class sizes are a major selling point for the school.

Growth at Lakeview has allowed the school to invest more heavily in its academic programs. All high school teachers are qualified to teach college courses on site so students don't have to leave to get post-secondary credits. A new science lab was added this year.

Lakeview caps grades 6-12 at 24 students, and there is only one class per grade. Lower grades have even smaller classes. The second-grade class this year has nine students.

Class-size limits can be a problem, Benson said, when families who want all of their kids in the same school can't get in because a particular grade-level is already full. The school, housed in the old Lowell Elementary off Central Entrance, has room to hold perhaps another 60 students and added staff.

Families are drawn to a number of Lakeview Christian Academy's features, said Mary Kaye Caskey, vice president of the school's board of directors.

She said the "moral compass" the school helps instill, the senior/first-grader mentoring program, high academic achievement, drama and music programs and the successful basketball team all play a part.

The addition two years ago of Benson as administrator has also helped the school, Caskey said.

"Some (past) administrators weren't visionaries like he is," she said. "Every detail, every idea, he implements and does from top to bottom."

Being a faith-based Christian school means it teaches the foundation of Christianity, not adhering to any one denomination, Benson said. It teaches evolution and the creation theory and doesn't choose a particular doctrinal interpretation.

"We would say God created the Earth and everything in it," Benson said. "But when it comes to interpreting scripture, there's a lot of room for interpretation."

Families who choose Lakeview, Benson said, care about their kids having a faith-based education.

"That's a huge factor for us," he said. "For those who have sought it out, they think very highly of what we're doing here."

That news appears to be spreading.

"I have gotten a number of calls from colleagues across the state and other states from faith-based schools. They're going, 'Hold on. What are you doing?' " Benson said. "Twenty percent, two years in a row. That's not normal by any standards. I am glad to be a part of it."