Christian School Plants Roots Outside of Town

The Madison Christian School dedicated its new (and rather muddy) site southwest of Madison this week. I'm all for more educational options. The new steel building should be ready to take in new students by August 1.

Now I'm all for more educational options. When citizens are so motivated to educate their kids that they'll pass on the free education their tax dollars already fund and spend extra time and money to create a school of their own, that's a good thing.

The only problem I have with the new Christian school is its site: a mile out of town, all by itself in the middle of a bare field. Schools should be at the heart of a community, figuratively and literally. Kids should always see their school in the context of their community. Practically speaking, to get to school, kids (and teachers!) should be able to walk or ride their bikes to down city streets, past neighbors' houses and shops. Plunk a school out in the country, and nearly everyone will have drive to school (or take the bus, if the Christian School can afford one). Metaphorically, traveling to a school out by itself conveys a message of isolation, an impression that school is disconnected from the rest of our lives.

Of course, the Madison Christian School tried for a while to operate in the heart of the community. They had a great location at "Heaven's Castle," a funky old house across the street from West Center Baptist Church just two blocks from Main Street, but the fire marshall kicked them out. (Tangential note: The fire marshall also requires me to not put any posters on my classroom door and restrict my overall use of posters in my classroom to 10% of my wall space. I just hope he never looks in my cupboards and sees all those flammable books.) They rented space this year in old Washington Elementary, another lovely central location. Quite logically, the Madison Christian School wants a permanent facility, but with limited funds, they can't afford prime real estate in town. Plus, to save money, they have chosen to build a steel building that the fire marshall might love but which city zoning ordinances frown upon. So, again quite logically, they've chosen a bare site outside city limits where they will have more freedom to build the most practical school they can with the resources they have.

The same pressures that pushed the Christian School out of town have affected the public schools here as well. Fifty years ago, every school was part of a neighborhood. Then in the 1960s, we built our high school on the northeast fringe of town. In the 1990s, we abandoned our downtown junior high to attach a middle school to the high school. This year we finally abandoned our last neighborhood elementary schools to warehouse our young-'uns in a big building on the northwest edge of town. Even West Center Baptist plans to abandon its central location for a sprawling compound on Highway 81 north of town.

Fortunately, neighborhoods have expanded around the public school sites in Madison, so our schools do not stand completely isolated. Perhaps the Christian School will draw a similar expansion of housing (and trees -- gotta have trees!) so it doesn't stand alone on the prairie but rather anchors a lively, welcoming neighborhod.