Plymouth Brethren Christian school expands with new facility

A new private school building that exclusively serves Plymouth Brethren Christian Church members is open in Kalispell.

The private school, located at 133 Glenwood Drive, in Kalispell is part of the OneSchool Global network formerly known as Sterling Education, composed of 130 campuses around the world. The school serves third- through 12th-graders and is accredited through AdvancED. Enrollment currently stands at eight students.

From groundbreaking to completion, the roughly 6,000-square-foot school took a little over a year to build, in addition to a couple of years of planning, said Jon “JF” Hewitt, who is principal and music teacher at the OneSchoolGlobal Kalispell campus. The project was funded by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

The school was previously located on Two Mile Drive in a building that used to be a house, Hewitt said. While it met the needs at the time, the building setup wasn’t conducive to independent or differentiated learning that is better achieved in the flexible, open, learning spaces of the new facility, he said.

“Students did really well with it, but being able to move into this new environment has allowed them to go so much further in a very short time because they have so many different areas to move into,” Hewitt said during a Nov. 25 interview at the new building.

Walking into the school, a lobby is flanked by two wings. The school also contains a gym and kitchen/lunch room area. Each wing features a large, open classroom. Within the classrooms are smaller rooms enclosed by glass walls. The smaller rooms each have a large screen used for connecting with virtual classrooms taught by teachers around the country through video conferencing technology.

OneSchool Global uses a combination of direct instruction through on-site and online teachers. The school puts emphasis on a self-directed learning during the school day, which increases in the upper grade levels, according to Jonathon Borys, education director for the OneSchool North America region and Heather Coulter, teacher academy director for the OneSchool Global North America region Borys, who is based out of Cleveland, and Coulter, out of Canada, were visiting Kalispell to give a vision presentation to families.

Borys said part of OneSchoolGlobal’s vision is not just graduating students who are career ready, but “life ready.”

“I think the environment is a big component to that as well many of the businesses that our students are working for use this type of flexible learning environment where they can kind of collaborate with a peer and then move back into a quiet, high-focused zone,” Borys said.

To be admitted to the school, students and families need to be of the Plymouth Brethren Christian faith.

According to www.oneschoolglobal.com, “At OneSchool, we are committed to a culture where students are encouraged to develop their full potential and acquire the discipline of learning how to learn while upholding Christian teachings and beliefs.

The truth and authority of the Holy Bible and strong family values underpin the commitment of the School to provide quality in every facet of education – curriculum, teachers, facilities, management, and discipline – in a safe and caring environment.”

For more information visit wws.oneschoolglobal.com or www.plymouthbrethrenchristianchurch.org.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.