How will Additional Classrooms Meet Jerusalem’s Current Needs and Plans for Growth?

Imagine being a 7th grade student walking into school first thing in the morning. As you approach your “classroom”, you can’t sit down because there is no chair or table. You need to get your chair from the closet and walk up a flight of stairs to get your table. You clumsily grab it, carefully walk down the stairs, set it up, and then head down to the basement of the building. You spot your milk crate containing all your work items-books, pens, pencils, calculator, and computer. As you drag your milk crate containing all your items up the stairs to your work space, you finally sit down. This is your weekly (sometimes tri-weekly) ritual. Thankfully you only need to do this for the rest of this school year and next year. You were told to ”make do”, and this is a temporary situation. Temporary for the past 10 years. Until a permanent solution can be found.

The Jerusalem Expansion Plan includes adding two new classroom and replacing two existing classrooms-currently Mrs. Ernest’s room and the old PreK 3 room that is no longer being used as a classroom. Those two existing classrooms will be replaced by a much more conducive and appropriate learning environment. They will be bigger to accommodate more students in order to allow Jerusalem to stop capping preschool enrollment at 33 students and allow an additional classroom to house up to 20 more preschool students. Twenty more students and their families would be able to hear about Jesus. We would no longer be turning people away. Praise the Lord!

Besides replacing the two existing classrooms, there will also be two new classrooms added. Adding these two classrooms would solve two problems-one existing and one on the horizon. The existing problem is using the back of the church for the 7th and 8th grade students. Those students would finally get a dedicated classroom (for the first time in 10 years!). The back of the church, basement, and balcony would no longer be used as a classroom and storage areas.

The problem (or blessing!) on the horizon would be for the 5th and 6th grade students. Currently those students are in a room that was previously used as a dedicated church meeting space. It is now being used as a classroom that can hold a maximum of 18 students with little room to walk between desks. That is not a problem for next year. However,

God-willing, in a few years, it will be. The current enrollment in grades 1-2 for this school year is 29 students. If those students continue on (which many plan on doing), they will not be able to fit in that room. Having a new classroom for 5th and 6th grade students will support and enable class sizes to grow. What could be done with the current 5th and 6th grade classroom? The room could be used as a resource room where small groups and individual students could get extra academic support. It could also be a dedicated school library where students can check out books. There are many potential uses for that room if it became available.

If you are still not sure what this would look like, please go to the next page, and check out the new layout proposed for Jerusalem Expansion.

As you can see, additional classrooms would solve many space problems both now and in the future. What a blessing and opportunity to fulfill our mission of reaching out to people with the Gospel! Finally, did you know the Expansion Plan not only provides classrooms, but an elevator? How will that help Jerusalem’s ministry? Check out next week’s article to find out.

The next Building Expansion Committee meeting will take place on Wednesday, July 2nd at 7:00 pm. Please join us!

Also, Jerusalem Members and School Families will be invited to attend a special meeting on Sunday, July 13th, after church. This will be an informational meeting where the Jerusalem Expansion Committee will give a detailed presentation on the Jerusalem Expansion Plan. Mark it on your calendar and plan to attend. See you there!