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John Knox Christian School
By Nicole Zummach
October 29, 2007
OAKVILLE, ON // Education is a cornerstone of our society. Schools teach us to read, to reason, to calculate, and if we are lucky, they help prepare us to be informed and contributing members of our community. That's the goal at John Knox Christian School, an elementary institution that strives to provide programs, facilities, and resources to better equip children to live and serve in their community. Focusing on educating the whole child, the school has garnered some welcomed attention, and not only from parents eager to enroll their children.
In 2005, John Knox Christian School received the prestigious Donner Award for Excellence in the category of traditional education, and it was selected as a finalist again in 2007. CharityVillage spoke with director of development, Larry Lutgendorff about the school's innovative programming, its impressive parental involvement, and the benefits of operating outside the public school system.
CharityVillage: There are a number of John Knox Christian Schools throughout the United States and Canada. How do you fit into the picture?

Larry Lutgendorff: John Knox here in Oakville is part of a movement in independent Christian education that is just over 50 years old in Ontario. We are part of the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools, and that's an organization that has its origins in Europe, mostly from the Dutch tradition. The way our schools work, they are based on a group of parents who get together and want to start a school. So they approach the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools and the first step would be to establish a society that would support the school. Here in Oakville, the society is called the John Knox Christian School Society. It is the actual owner/operator of the school.
CV: So, where does your funding come from?

LL: We get most of our funding from tuition; parents pay the tuition. And one of the things that sets John Knox apart is that we do not charge tuition on a per student basis. We have a sliding scale and we try to work from a family basis as much as possible in everything that we do. So, we have a scale that starts at about $8,100 for a single child. It goes up to $10,000 for two children, three children is $12,000, and four children or more is $13,000.
We do some fundraising as well. Really, it's about connecting supporters to the community. We are a family-oriented school so we really like to build community. We do five major fundraising events during the course of the year. We have a golf tournament, an annual fund drive, a dinner and auction, a bazaar, and something new is the spring extravaganza, which is a white elephant sale and fun day. We also have a walkathon, and that is one of our designated events where we say, "We need to give back to the community." We always choose a community partner and a portion of the funds raised go back into the community through that event.
CV: You've been recognized by the Donner Awards in the category of traditional education. As a 'traditional' educational institution, how are you fostering innovation?

LL: One of the things that we do is our ESL program. We have a very extensive English as a Second Language program; a lot of international students come here. Overall, we have quite a unique approach to education. We call it the whole child approach. What we try to do is identify, in each student, what his or her skills and abilities are. So we look at their learning style - whether they are rote learners or tactile learners, you name it. We try to fit their learning style. But we also offer a wide range of programs that most schools are unable to provide.
We have the regular academic program, which uses very high standards. Then we also have a computer lab that is second to none, an extensive music program, a fine arts program, a science program, and a very extensive physical education program that includes intramural as well as organized team sports. We work very hard at making sure that students are exposed to a wide variety of disciplines so that they can ask, "What am I good at? Where do I fit? How can I be of service in this world?" That is really what our whole education program is directed at: how well are students that graduate from John Knox prepared to be good citizens in the community, with a mind toward service?
CV: What makes you stand out from other similar educational institutions?

LL: What makes us stand out and why students love coming here is the community aspect. Parents are involved in the school, and that is really what the Donner Foundation is looking for. When we first won the award in 2005, we thought our innovative international student program was what would set us apart. What really set us apart was our volunteer structure. Parents are asked to do 30 hours of volunteer service at the school each year. Last year, we did 10,000 hours of volunteer service, the equivalent of about five full-time positions.
Because we are a not-for-profit organization based on membership, all parents become members of the John Knox Christian School Society. They are all eligible to sit on the board of directors or any of the standing committees of the board. So they can get involved at the high level. Then there is the daily grind - pizza days every Wednesday, a class mom who takes care of all the little details for teachers, volunteers to help with maintenance of the building, the design of our website. You name it; we have volunteers who are able to do it.
Parental involvement is encouraged, and we do that for a very specific reason. It helps us to reduce our costs, of course, but that's not the primary reason. The primary reason we do volunteering at John Knox is to get parents involved in the education of their children. We see studies from all over the world that when parents are involved, student performance improves. When student performance improves, their marks go up and their prospects for the rest of their life also improve.
CV: More and more independent schools are being established all the time. Is this what people are looking for?

LL: I think parents are coming to the realization that they want to have a more active voice in the education of their children. We are living in a much more diverse society [today]. People are coming here from all over the world who are used to being involved in their children's education. They come into the Ontario public system and they are asked not to participate in a lot of cases. That is the tradition; government knows how to do this kind of stuff and there is a very strong movement toward professionalizing education in Ontario. While we agree with that - our teachers are highly qualified, certified teachers - another thing that sets us apart is the lack of labour difficulties we experience. There have been no labour difficulties in our system. The teachers and the board negotiate a contract every year. We are in a partnership relationship where the ultimate goal is doing what's best for the students.
CV: It's clear that you are doing a lot of things right at the school, but what are you working to improve upon?

LL: In the past two years, we've really been working on the governance structure of the school. We used to have a structure where every committee was a little silo that worked independently, and sometimes at cross-purposes. Now, we've taken a much more broad-based approach and the board of directors is really focused on strategic planning for the future and using the strategic plan to drive the agenda of the school.
Governance was already on our radar when we won the Donner Award in 2005, but just going through that process really confirmed for us that we needed to change and modernize the governance structure of our school so that we can be responsive to the needs of parents and students.
CV: What advice would you give to other organizations striving to achieve excellence?

LL: Don't do it on your own. Look for organizations that can help you. The Ontario Alliance of Christian School has been very helpful for us in setting standard practices, the best practices for the overall organization of a school. If you are an independent organization and you are going to be doing it on your own, if you aren't part of an association, don't be afraid to look outside your doors for what the best practices are from other organizations.
Larry Lutgendorff is director of development at John Knox Christian School in Oakville, Ontario. He has been with the school for the past five years.

To learn more about the Donner Awards, visit: www.donnerawards.org.