Church Will
Also Utilize New Building
Castle Christian School, beginning its fifth year at Grace Bible Camp off of Brattons Run Road near Goshen, is making plans to relocate to a new building near Fairfield that has yet to be constructed.
The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a special exception permit for Castle Christian School and New Beginnings Christian Church to build a joint facility on a 4.23-acre parcel behind the Blue Ridge Moose Lodge on U.S. 11, north of Fairfield.
Castle Christian School, a private school that serves students in grades K-12, is starting the new school year with an enrollment of 49 students – one shy of the maximum 50 it’s allowed under an SEP that was granted in August of 2022. Its new SEP will allow up to 100 students at the planned Fairfield location.
New Beginnings Church, which has been meeting at Fairfield Elementary School, will be holding its services in the 15,000-square-feet building it is planning with Castle Christian School. The church, which is in the process of buying the land from Paul and Priscilla Chittum, has been averaging an attendance of about 125 most Sundays.
The land where the church/ school is to be built is currently vacant. It is accessed from an existing easement through an adjoining property that serves as an access road to the Rockbridge County Public Service Authority’s elevated water tank and a telecommunications tower.
Lori Teague, principal of the school and a longtime local educator, said the plans are to have no more than 10 students in each grade level. The school presently has six full-time teachers with plans to eventually have about 10, she said.
The school has students enrolled from Rockbridge, Bath and Amherst counties as well as the cities of Lexington and Buena Vista. Forty-five of the current 49 students ride the bus to school. A bus has been picking up students at the Lowe’s parking lot, north of Lexington. A central location for picking up students will continue to be utilized when the school is relocated to Fairfield, with perhaps another pickup location in the Goshen area.
Because the planned location for the school is well off of U.S. 11, there is not expected to be any traffic issues when buses drop off and pick up students in front of the school. Public water and sewer are to be accessed by the school. A pump house to access sewer is to be located in the median of U.S. 11.
The school is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International. Teachers receive recertification and professional development through this organization, which also provides an avenue for full accreditation that the school hopes to achieve by 2028. Accreditation requires a few years of performance data and the school has only been in operation for four years.
Among the conditions that are attached to the SEP that was granted is a requirement that construction being on the school/church within 18 months.
During a public hearing on the request for the SEP for the private school Monday, two parents and a grandmother of students who attend the school as well as one student herself spoke in favor granting the SEP. Attending the school, said parent Amy Moore, “has been one of the greatest things our children have ever been able to do.”
