A Deep Dive into Our Campus Vision (Round 1)

Join us for a special episode of the Gospel-Centered Education podcast, specifically designed for our stakeholders who participated in our recent campus expansion survey. We’re pulling back the curtain on how we align our strategic growth with our mission.

We explore four critical questions:

• The Covenantal Model: Why our identity drives our decisions.

• Campus Security: Prioritizing safety through a biblical lens.

• Our Location: The intentionality behind where we plant our roots.

• Population Growth: Navigating expansion while maintaining community.

Tune in for an inside look at how we’re planning for the future while staying grounded in Christ.

#NewEpisode #EducationPodcast #ChristianPodcast #StakeholderEngagement #SchoolGrowth #ListenNow

Produced by Vance Rutherford 

Transcript

You are listening to the Gospel Centered Education Podcast, brought to you by Community Christian School in Tallahassee, Florida.
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Hello and welcome to this special episode of the Gospel Centered Education Podcast.
Okay, and so what makes this special?

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Today we are answering questions that are a result of our campus expansion survey. And so this is kind of round one of attempting to answer some of the things and the feedback we've heard from that.

That's right. So we've chosen the categories of questions that are kind of the most common ones. We're going to be working through some of those this week and then next week we'll do some more. And then we have a couple other ways we're going to answer that, which we'll talk about later. But for now, we're going to focus on a few categories. 

So let's get started.

Okay, the first category is covenantal model.

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And the question is, will CCS remain committed to the covenantal model for Christian schooling into the future? So what is a covenantal model? Right. So the short answer to the question, will we remain committed to the covenantal model is yes.

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So let's get to the definition of what a covenantal model is. So in schooling terms, a
covenantal model is one that is, there's a solemn agreement between Christians, so between the school, the leaders of the school, and at least one parent. So at least one parent has to be a believer in Christ, a follower of Christ, so that we can enter into this solemn agreement in order to cooperate to further the kingdom, for the kingdom good. So in this case, our kingdom good is contributing through education. So that's what it essentially means. It's a solemn agreement for two believers to covenant together, to work together in order to further the kingdom, in our case
through education.

Okay, so at CCS, both parents do not have to be Christian. 

It's just, we're making an agreement with one of them.

That's right. Only one parent is necessary. It's only necessary that one parent is a believer so we can enter into that covenant or solemn agreement.

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It also is true at CCS and most covenantal model schools that the student isn't necessarily Christian.

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That's sometimes a confusing spot for somebody.

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Most of them likely are, but it's not a requirement. So as far as what the covenantal model is, it's that solemn agreement. And the basis for that is you can go all the way back to the Old Testament and get into all the roots of it there. You can get into the new covenant that Jesus talked about in Luke 22 and be able to say the new covenant is in his blood. And so essentially the way we translate that and the way actually many other covenantal model schools have translated that is we're agreeing because we've both benefited by his shedding of his blood for our sins. We're both Christians. Therefore
we can enter into this agreement together. And it has special meaning that's deeper than just a contract or just a written legal agreement.

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There's a depth to it that goes beyond just that.

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And so that's kind of the short take on it.

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What we try to do, the way we do that is really through all of the things we have in place at the school, it starts with the admissions process. I think to record a few questions around that, but how it relates to the covenantal process, at least one Christian has to be a believer.

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And there's a shalom community that we try to establish within the school, which implies that we're doing it with other believers for the most part, not everyone, but for the most part. We have a kingdom culture. We're coming together to do work to further the kingdom together as Christians.

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There's a community covenant, which is another, like a sub agreement where we agreed that this is how this works in real life, in our midst. We have our statement of faith, of course, which is the agreement of what we think about the Bible and what we think about God and all those kinds of things, what we believe. It filters down to the redemptive discipline team, the RDT, which is how we deliver consequences. And even through our consequence matrix, how we decide what are the consequences for doing things wrong.

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We try to also fit all of those things under the banner of a gospel centered school that is attempting to work within this solemn agreement. And it drives our decision making so it's an inclusive, to us, it's a very inclusive, thoughtful,

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deep thing,

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if that makes sense.

Yep. Okay.

So CCS has had this same model in place since its foundation.

Since 1977.

And it's not changing anytime soon.

No, it's not changing anytime soon. So people ask, well, how are you continuing to upgrade that or make that better? Well, one of the ways we're doing that is continually adjusting the questions we ask in the admissions process to fit a more modern audience, which means to communicate to a more modern audience without changing the fundamentals. We still expect that at least one parent will be someone who is committed to Jesus Christ in that. So closing statement on that question.

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Yes, we plan on having the covenantal model around into the future. There's no plans to change that.

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And there are many parts of what we do in place, many programs, many protocols, many
processes in place to help ensure that it continues to flourish.

Okay. Well, that makes a lot of sense.

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Let's talk about security.

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How will CCS prioritize and improve campus security?
Excellent question. And certainly on the minds of pretty much everybody in America and other places as well. So the short answer to that is security is our number one operational priority. It's easy to say, but it's an investment that we have made and we will continue to make. And I'll get into a couple of the special ways that we're going to do that. The first thing we want to do is we're going to continue to work in cooperation with our law enforcement partners. And that's everybody from TPD to the law enforcement professionals in the state,

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Corbin, our systems, our security camera people company, as well as many, many other people, talent security with our security guard.

And that's who we see around campus.

That's right. We see our talent security officer, all of those people. So they were all involved in the conversations. They have been involved. And we had a special walkthrough recently actually just for security purposes.

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So it's a team effort. That's the first thing we want to say.
The other thing is we're updating our whole threat response profile. And that includes looking at all of our policies, looking at all of our how the rapid response team works, the RRT. And by the way, for those of our listeners who may not know what that is,(...) I think the only what we were told by TPD, the only local private school that has a rapid response team, and that's specially trained people within the school community, meaning people that work here. And we're trained in special tactics in order to respond to threats, active threats, in that first 30 seconds to two minute window and assist our security officer. So basically to make sure that there's an immediate or near immediate response, which is actually really cool and really a good thing.

People volunteer for this training. And it's given by law enforcement professionals.

So they are trained to be a part of this team.

At various things. 

That's great. 

Yeah, it is. And dealing with de-escalation, how we deal with people that might have weapons or anything like that. So that's very, very important. There's that piece. Also, we're bringing updates to our camera systems, adding some more cameras, updating some of the cameras. We have pretty good coverage right now, but there's spaces and places that we need to upgrade. And even down to things like lighting, where we can, we have really good, actually good nighttime lighting. And we're also looking to improve that. But also
foliage, like how tall plants are.

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Who knew? And that's a thing. Insecurity. And so during the walkthrough we recently had, there were some trees that were targeted for just being cut off, or
at least being shortened. Bushes, particularly. Not trees, but bushes. And so in any way, we're looking at it holistically. But the one thing that people, I think, that came out of the survey that I think is specifically one of the questions is, what about a security fence?(...) And the answer to that question is yes.

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So we're getting a security fence?
We will get a security fence.

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And the idea with that is we're committed to building it as soon
as it's feasible. And what we mean by that is we have to have the money to do it. And we have
to figure out exactly where the perimeter fence needs to go. Our campus is an open campus
right now, which is not ideal.

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But as we did the walkaround, there's lots of different ways you could fence the campus,
depending on who you talk to. So we've now pretty much settled on the way it should look and what it should encase, so to speak, or protect.

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And then we're in the middle of discussions and finalizing how high should it be. We want to make sure it doesn't look like a prison. We want it to look like a school. But yet it has to be a deterrent. And so there's a lot of balancing that has to go on with those things.
So you're thinking about it and working on it.

Yeah, we're thinking a lot about it. We are working on it. And as soon as we can get work
started, we will.

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So because it really is our number one priority. And that's the most obvious
thing that we need to work on, because you can't prevent people from just wandering onto a campus that's open. And we know that. It's just a matter of figuring out exactly where, when, and of course how much it will take to do that. Yeah, so all of that update that we're doing is, hopefully, we'll show people that this, as I said at the beginning, this is our number one operational priority.

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And we're not going to stop working on this.(...) You never arrive in security. And so we're just going to keep getting better and better at it.

That's great. Makes sense.

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We're on the topic of Northeast presence.

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Will CCS remain in the Northeast quadrant of Tallahassee?
Love that question. And the answer is yes.

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OK.

Unless God providentially directs us elsewhere. And that sounds like a cop out, but not if you're a believing Christian who believes in the Bible.

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Because if we don't put that caveat in, we're missing it, right? But aside from God doing that, which he has not done so far,(...) our plan is to
remain in the Northeast for the foreseeable future. There's a lot of reasons for that. I think one of the things that we're looking at is that roughly 80 percent of our families live in the Northeast quadrant of Tallahassee. It's pretty straightforward. The vast majority of our people live here.

Therefore, it makes sense. At the end of the day, we want to be the school of choice in
Northeast Tallahassee.

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There's going to be eight to ten thousand new family homes built in the next three years. So there's going to be a lot of growth, not just in the South and not just in the East, which most people know about. But even in the Northeast, even though a lot of the older neighborhoods, there's a lot of new neighborhoods that are being built. So it makes perfect sense. So because we want to be that school of choice, then that's where we want to stay, where God has placed us. There's also the idea that God placed us where we are in the Northeast in 1977 on purpose.

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So there's a sense in which He gave us this ministry in this general area. And therefore, we
want to continue to minister to those kinds of things. Quick word, though, for those who may be troubled by that caveat I gave earlier, unless God providentially directs us elsewhere,

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for those who may not be clear on that point,

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as Christians, as we walk with God, as we listen for His voice through His word, through His people, through our own hearts, through the Holy Spirit, we're constantly trying to balance. And by the way, that's true for all of this survey and all of what God has for CCS in the future. So we want to listen carefully because we want to hear what He's saying about that. And that's why we put the caveat in because if He says through His Holy Spirit, "Hey, I want you to go over here, and then there's this opportunity,"

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we're going to have to look very closely at that. But short of that, the intention is to remain in the
Northeast for the foreseeable future.
Great to know.

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On the issue of enrollment and size of the school, will CCS keep growing forever?

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Yeah, that's a great question. The answer is no.

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I know there are a lot of questions on the survey around will we stop being who we are as we grow into the future. But let me answer the number question first. Right now, the way we see it is we have no plans to grow beyond 500 to 600 students. We're roughly a little over 400 now.

There's no plan that I'm aware of to go beyond 500 to 600. And that would be roughly three sections per grade level if God so chooses to do it that way, right, and give us those kids.

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So I think that's the first thing. The second thing, the idea that will we change who we are, I wanted to speak to that for just a second because I think I actually wrote this in apparent news recently.

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Growth is a positive thing if the purpose is not just growth.

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Our goal is not to grow for the sake of getting bigger.

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Our goal is to minister to more families that desire an extraordinary Gospel Center of Education.

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So however, whatever number there are of those people that want to do it in the northeast of Tallahassee, then we want to be able to accommodate that, but only to a point.

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No one that I'm aware of in the leadership of this school wants us to get to 1,000 or 1,200 or anything like that. That's just not who we are.(...) Now having said that,(...) have we changed over time? Well, there's a sense in which we have because the society has changed, the rules of the game have changed, laws have changed,(...) compliance and all these other issues, insurance or whatever it is. So a lot of those things have forced us to do certain things differently.

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But the heart of who we are hasn't changed, as far as I can tell, and I've been
here quite a while. So it hasn't changed.

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And therefore, we don't want the size to get to the point where it forces that change.

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Most people that work in schools would say that somewhere around that 500 figure, if you go too far beyond that 500 to 600, it just inevitably changes no matter what you do.(...) But up till about that point, you can still maintain a pretty good solid culture that you want to maintain.

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And having a truly mid-sized program, which is that 500 to 600, will allow us to do some things from a scale standpoint that we can't do as well where we are. In other words, people want options. That was clear in the survey, right? I get it.(...) It costs money to do options. So you would need more students. That's right. I mean, there's some things. The way we've talked about it is we have to employ economies of scale. And if we do that, then that will translate into more options in academics, in extracurricular programs, as well as more resources to hire,

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train, and retain core members, faculty and staff.

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And everybody wants great people.

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Okay. 150% agree. And we also want great facilities. We want great everything.

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And that's our commitment.

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But it helps to have an economy of scale in order to reach that goal. So for us, how big will CCS get? Well, the short answer to it is as big as God wants it to be. We believe that He's kind of put a cap on it, so to speak, you know,

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because He doesn't want us to become somebody we're not.

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So no more than 500 or 600.

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And it could even be short of that, right? God may say through circumstances, through His Word, through His Spirit, "Hey, you know, 450 is great.(...) Okay. And that's what we'll do." Because at the end of the day, we want to do what He wants.

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And the best is we can understand what it is. So 500, 600 students, economies of scale, and we want to be faithful to what God has called us in keeping the community the way it is.

Hmm.

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I like that.

I also wanted to point out that questions have come up about our average class size. So I
wanted to speak into that a little bit too. And that is our school-wide average is roughly 15
students per class.

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Okay. In the elementary, it's about 16. In our middle school, it's about 14. In our high school, it's about 14. Now in the high school, in certain subjects like math, for instance, you might have a class that's low 20s. There might be a Bible class that combines two sections, and that might be in the low 20s. But those are anomalies. The actual average for high school is about 14.

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And so that yields an approximate average for the whole school of about 15 students per class.

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Thank you for tuning in. Next week, we'll answer more questions from the Campus Expansion Project survey.

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Thank you for listening to the Gospel Centered Education Podcast brought to you by
Community Christian School in Tallahassee, Florida. You can find us online at myccs.org.