I’ve never met a leader who thought they crushed communication. No matter how good they are at it, every leader thinks they can do it better. In fact, the only leaders I know who genuinely believe they are effective communicators often aren’t. They often fail to listen to those around them, trying to tell them that their constituents aren’t receiving the message as effectively as the leader believes.
Patrick Lencioni said good communication aims to inform, not entertain the leader; if you are completely sick of communicating something, people are likely beginning to get your message. Despite my preference for effective communication and the considerable effort I put into crafting my messages, I am not deluded into believing that I consistently communicate effectively.
This message is an attempt at clarity. They say clarity is kindness, and I believe that deeply. Being ambiguous or unclear forces people to form their own conclusions. That’s a patently unfair thing for leaders to do when it comes to vision and direction, because clearly communicating vision and direction, and eliminating confusion, is a leader’s job. I’m going to try to be both kind and clear today by answering what I’ll call “infrequently asked questions.” I say “infrequently asked” because they are rarely asked directly of me, our leadership team, or our board. Instead, I hear them through the grapevine, informally asked of friends and colleagues, questions that find their way back to me.
I don’t believe that people are being malicious or harmful by not asking these questions outright. I believe I am accessible and available (if you feel otherwise, please let me know). I make an effort to be around our campuses, and people know how to get in touch with me. Instead, I believe they think I’m too busy, or they want to avoid bothering me, or they don’t want to appear negative, or they’ve never had a deep conversation with me, and they don’t want their first one to sound like they’re questioning or complaining. I understand all these inclinations, and I respect them.
So, in being kind and clear, I’m going to address several of these “IAQs” here.
- I hear about building new facilities and a master plan. Does this mean we’re going to add a ton of new students? If so, will adding all these new kids and families cause Grace to become something different and less effective than the strong Christian education it currently provides for my kids and their friends?
We do have plans for new facilities. We don’t have plans to add “a ton” of new students, and we do have plans to scale our ministry for the students we do add so as not to lose the greatness that makes Grace, Grace. Our master plan calls for the construction of significant new structures on all Grace campuses, with the first phase to be located on our Upper Campus. The candidates for the first phase include a new dining hall and commercial kitchen, new athletic facilities, and moving the elementary school to University Boulevard. All of that may not happen in the first part of Phase I, depending on resources and funding, but we’re conducting studies to determine that now.
Regardless of what we raise funds for and build first, the master plan only assumes 10-15 percent additional growth of our student body capacity from K-12. Even then, we have plans ready to scale our school, growing larger by becoming smaller. We aim to build community within the school by breaking into smaller classes and groups, much like churches do as they grow larger to maintain community. Any growth we experience will be planned, thoughtful, prayerful growth, because we love who we are, too, and don’t want that to change.
If Grace grows beyond that, according to the strategic plan, which is available on our website, it will be through multiple campuses in new locations, ideally outside Smith County. For example, if a church or nonprofit in a city like Palestine or Marshall does not have a Christian school, and would like to have one but doesn’t have the academic or operational expertise to carry out their plans, Grace would be interested in coming alongside such a church and helping them begin a Christian school in their community. The Grace board envisions a community or network of Christian schools providing outstanding Christian education throughout East Texas formed in this manner. But, our school has no plans to build other campuses in Tyler or add more students to our existing school beyond those described above.
- What will be the impact of school choice on growth at Grace? Will the school admit any and all students now, and will it significantly increase tuition to match the school choice funds provided?
The ESA (school choice) bill specifically allows schools to maintain their current admissions policies for students with ESAs, and we will maintain ours. Our admission standards will remain the same; only families who are currently mission-appropriate will be considered mission-appropriate then. As I said above, we don’t have plans to grow the student body significantly, so clearly school choice initiatives won’t result in mass numbers of new students. It may result in a larger waiting pool, but not more students.
While tuition will increase over the years, as it typically has in the past to maintain quality, we will NOT raise tuition beyond the typical increase of the past to compensate for school choice initiatives. Doing so would be unfair to our families, unjust, and just bad business. Families could take their students elsewhere if we did, and we don’t want that to happen. We’ve always charged what it costs to provide a great Christian education at Grace, no more, and that will not change.
- I have heard about plans for a possible school campus on the Grace Lindale church site, where the Lindale Early Education is located. What is the current status of those plans, and how would a master plan there be funded?
Given the existence of a Grace Community Church campus and the fact that the school is already operating in the form of GCS Early Education, the Grace board has discussed on multiple occasions adding kindergarten and first grade, then adding a grade a year until the school reached fifth grade. There are no plans to add grades beyond fifth; essentially, the Lindale campus would be Early Education through fifth grade when completely built out.
The earliest that a kindergarten and first grade would be added is the Fall 2027 school year. In the short term, the school would operate in existing church facilities on the Lindale campus. To the extent and when necessary, the construction of replacement or additional classrooms in Lindale would be funded by donations and gifts from the families of students on the Lindale campus. Certainly, anyone on other campuses, church or school, who wanted to contribute could, but that would be up to them as the Lord moves. There will be no assessment of other campuses to fund expansion in Lindale.
Hopefully, these answers to IAQs help with questions you might have had, including those you didn’t know to ask. As always, I am eager to help anyone interested in where God is leading our school understand where we’re going and why. Please reach out to me any time; I want to hear from you. We have an exciting future ahead of us, by God’s grace, and I’m grateful you are a part of it.
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