Jan. 27, 2010, Omaha NE — Concordia Academy will find a long-term home at St. Mark Lutheran Church beginning with the 2011-12 school year under a lease agreement to be negotiated by the congregation and school leaders.
The voters’ assembly of St. Mark and the school association’s board of directors have both endorsed moving ahead with negotiations for a long-term lease for the school. Congregation and school leaders expect to reach an agreement that could be approved by both entities’ governing bodies by the end of February.
Leaders from St. Mark will work with school officials to design additional space at St. Mark to meet the needs of the school, including a new multi-purpose/gym facility. That design is expected to be presented to St. Mark voters for consideration in April.
The agreement would move Concordia Academy from its current space in the Westside Community Center, 108th and Grover Streets, to St. Mark, near 90th and Blondo Streets. The school will be at the Westside center for the 2010-11 school year under its current lease, but will move the following year. Concordia Academy serves 178 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. It is operated by Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha, an association of churches affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. St. Mark is one of 16 congregations in the association. Concordia Schools also includes Concordia Jr.-Sr. High School at 156th and Fort Streets.
Bringing the elementary school to St. Mark would be a homecoming. St. Mark hosted Bread of Life Lutheran School from 1999 until 2007, the year Bread of Life was combined with Abundant Life Lutheran School to save operating costs. The combined school was renamed Concordia Academy and was located at the Westside facility, which had housed Abundant Life before the combination. The Westside space was chosen over St. Mark at the time because it alone had the room to house the combined enrollment. But Concordia and St. Mark continued a strong partnership and left the door open for the potential return of a school to the congregation one day. With the Westside lease due to end after the 2010-11 school year, talks began in earnest last fall to bring the school to St. Mark.
“We are passionate about our partnership with Concordia Schools of Omaha and as such have continually felt God leading us to keep our arms and hearts open,” said Rev. James Irwin, senior pastor of St. Mark. “We are excited about this opportunity to expand our mission and ministry through this partnership.”
Moving back to an expanded St. Mark will give Concordia Academy a home with a partner whose mission and ministry aligns with that of the schools, said Rev. Jim Rasmussen, chief executive officer of the Concordia schools. “In our search process, we kept praying for God’s answer,” he said. “St. Mark’s leaders showed us a love for the school and a desire to provide for the school’s needs. They held their arms wide open and said, ‘We want you.’ In the meantime, despite the best efforts of all parties involved, we weren’t finding the right fit elsewhere. So we began to see the open arms at St. Mark as God’s answer.”
About 18 months ago, Westside Community Schools officials informed Concordia that its lease at the Grover Street location would not be renewed after the 2010-11 school year, Concordia leaders began looking for a new home. They had serious discussions with leaders of other churches in the Concordia association, as well as those from non-association churches. They considered available commercial space for rent or purchase, as well as the option of building a school building. But for various reasons, Rasmussen said, including cost and availability of space, none of those options presented as attractive a solution as St. Mark.
With St. Mark, the school will have a relatively central location that is accessible for the school’s current families. According to Google Maps, the approximate drive time to St. Mark from King of Kings Lutheran Church, the association’s largest congregation, is 10 minutes. St. Mark is about 14 minutes from Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and 16 minutes from Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church, the other congregations with the most students enrolled at Concordia Academy. St. Mark is about a 15-minute drive from Concordia Jr.-Sr. High School.
“We are looking forward to again sharing our space as the future home of Concordia Academy, which is dear to our hearts and which we greatly value as it endeavors to offer a caring, Christ-centered learning environment,” Rev. Irwin said.
