By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

WHITE OAK - Declining enrollment has forced a state-chartered K-8 private school to close its doors after 17 years.

The school board for Fellowship Community Christian School, 2965 Blue Rock Road, voted Aug. 19 to close when restructuring plans fell through.

"The restructuring did not take place because there were not enough families to support the staff that was needed," board president Amy Knochel said.

Restructuring was discussed in July as one way of maintaining a balanced budget. Plans included cutting the teaching staff by grouping two or three grade levels in a DVD-driven classroom supervised by one teacher.

Fellowship Christian's enrollment at the beginning of last school year was 126. By the end of the school year, enrollment dropped to 106. In June, 73 students were signed up for this fall. But after talks of restructuring, that number plummeted to 20.

Principal Jay Carmen said Fellowship Christian, where tuition was $4,000, has always finished in the black, but declining enrollment the past few years made it increasingly difficult.

"We were in a deficit last August - about $100,000 - but we ended in the black May 1," he said.

As a state-chartered school, Fellowship Christian received state funding but no financial support from any of the 37 churches represented by its student body. School fund-raisers helped (last year the school grossed about $66,000), but the school was "totally tuition-driven," Carmen said.

---

E-mail: annag376@aol.com