Lakeview Christian School announces new location for upcoming school year

By Alexis Podgers, Andrew Scalf, Grant Flora and Emily Bontrager

Lakeview Christian School announced the purchase of a building for their new location following the merge of Lakeview Wesleyan Church and The River.

In 1977, Lakeview Wesleyan formed Lakeview Christian, which has been operating for going on 50 years. Last year Lakeview Christian and Lakeview Wesleyan officially separated, allowing the school to operate independently with some oversight from the church.

Jennifer Noseworthy, the chair of the school board, said that the merger of The River and Lakeview Wesleyan was not the only reason for the school to move.

“We were exceeding the space that we had and were looking at different places that would allow us to continue to grow as a school,” Noseworthy said. “So, in that process, they allowed Lakeview Christian School to exist with their lease agreement, but that we have a timeline that we need to find a new place for the school to exist.”

Noseworthy said that over the summer they looked at Tucker Career and Vocational School and found that it was an exceptional space.

“Tucker Career and Vocational School was owned by Marion Community Schools, and then Indiana Wesleyan bought it in 2017 or 2018, and there were lots of ideas about what the building could be used for by Indiana Wesleyan, but none of them came to pass,” Noseworthy said.

Doug Lewis, the Chief Operations Officer of Lakeview Christian, said he believes the move will allow for more opportunities for the school.

“I think it is going to open up opportunities to be able to partner with multiple churches around the community and throughout Marion, because we have students that come from all different churches and staff members that attend all different churches,” Lewis said.

With the planning and future remodeling of Tucker, Rebecca Schrontz, the head of school for Lakeview Christian, said they are planning to increase classroom numbers and sizes with the new spaces.

“We’re kind of taking the most space we have in this building, and so there’s no opportunity to really grow into more classrooms or double kindergarten classes,” Schrontz said. “We’re really excited about being able to do that.”

Schrontz said the move from the old location to Tucker is expected to be about five weeks over the last week of May and throughout June.

As Lakeview Christian finalizes their purchase of Tucker, they are not the only one’s experiencing some change.

Dr. Steve Wood, a professor in the Division of Music and Theater, said that the Indiana Wesleyan Theater Guild used Tucker to store some of their sets.

“We have called out some things and got rid of things that we would like to have held on to, but our basement just isn’t sufficient space, not the way that Tucker was,” Wood said.

Wood said that they have removed all their items from Tucker and are hoping the things they are keeping will thrive and survive.

With the announcement of Tucker and the impending move, Noseworthy said the Lakeview Christian School Board is grateful for the help of Indiana Wesleyan and Lakeview, and they are excited for the new potential of the school.