Kindergarten class starts next week at St. Paul Lutheran

Summer vacation came to an end with a flurry of activity this week at the new kindergarten classroom at St. Paul Lutheran Church. The room, located in the Christian Growth Center at the church, has been under construction since early July in preparation for the 14 children who are registered.

“There has been big movement within the last week and a half,” said Missy Ochsendorf during an interview Monday.

Not all of the children who are registered go to St. Paul, according to Ochsendorf.

“I think that’s one of the great things about this,” she said. “It offers an opportunity to those parents who want their children to be involved in a Christian environment.”

Ochsendorf admitted she had no real idea of the need in the community for those wanting to send their children to a church-affiliated school.

“We were really blessed when Pastor Lieske came here,” she said. “He had the experience and took us to the next level.”

Ochsendorf, who started a preschool day care program at her home nine years ago, has been working with Lisa Jerve, who will teach the class, and the Rev. Christopher Lieske to make sure all is ready for the kindergartners when they show up next week.

Jerve got involved in 2007 with the preschool program when the number of students grew to more than Ochsendorf could handle. Jerve, who graduated from Concordia College in 2006 and grew up with the Lutheran experience, jumped at the opportunity.

“I really liked the atmosphere and the kids,” she said. “I liked what was going on here.”

Jerve had a class of 3- and 4-year-olds in 2007, then 4- and 5-year-olds in 2008. Then last year, she and Ochsendorf both went to teaching full time, five days a week.

A kindergarten preparation class was added last year for those children who were not quite ready for kindergarten, or who simply needed day care five days a week.

Ochsendorf knew there was a need for the program from her work with the Montevideo early childhood program. She originally had her preschool program at her home, but eight years ago the church took over the program and moved it to the Christian Growth Center. For the first six years there were morning classes only, but two years ago the church added a before- and after-school segment.

She holds a license for preschool and an elementary license. Jerve holds an early childhood license for 3-to-6-year-olds and a K-6 license.

A six-member school board made up of members of St. Paul Lutheran oversees the kindergarten program. The congregation changed the church constitution last year to add the board to the others that oversee the church’s activities and operations.

“That’s significant be­cause it showed support from members of the congregation,” said Lieske. “The opportunity was there, the families were there, and it more or less happened.”

The impetus for the parochial kindergarten began last year during parent-teacher conferences when surveys were given to the parents to gauge the level of support for a kindergarten class. The surveys were given to parents of both the students in the preschool and the Sunday school.

“We were positive enough we felt we could move forward,” said Ochsendorf.

The concept was not unfamiliar to Ochsendorf, who had taught in Lutheran schools at Crookston and Prior Lake, or to Lieske, who attended Lutheran schools through eighth grade.

“Economics are always in play,” explained Lieske. “You need a wide support base to do this kind of work, and we’re very blessed to have that.”

According to Lieske, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has “tons” of elementary schools in southern Minnesota. He thinks the LCMS system is the second largest parochial school system in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church.

That allows St. Paul Lutheran to tap into the experience and advice available from other LCMS schools.

As for future plans, the board is presently working on a five-year plan.

“You have to have a five-year plan in place before even considering going beyond kindergarten,” ex­plained Ochsendorf.

Altogether, she estimates there are as many as 65 children ages 3 to 6 in the preschool and kindergarten program.

“We may offer another survey at parent-teacher conferences this year,” said Ochsendorf.