The Rutland Area Christian School was founded on the foundation of six to eight months of prayer by four couples who were seeking God’s direction about starting a Christian school. The answer was clear, the Lord ordained the founding of this school.
The school opened its doors in September of 1993 with five students in the preschool, three in the kindergarten; Mrs. Julie Limmer was the teacher and Mrs. Nancy Zins was the Administrator. The plan was to add one grade per year. Calvary Bible Church arranged a rental agreement with the Board to house the school.
In the Fall of 1994 the school added a first grade and hired Mrs. Natalie Boyle as the teacher. With the addition of a first grade, the student population doubled to 16! The school continued adding one grade per year and the enrollment doubled again. By 1996 increasing interest from the Christian community resulted in the addition of two grades, a combined fifth and sixth grade class.
The rapid growth was not without a problem. The following year we outgrew the available space at Calvary when we added seventh grade. The school operated for a year with a split campus with some grades meeting at Calvary Bible Church and some at Reformed Bible Church. It became clear that a larger and permanent location was needed so that all the classes could
meet under one roof.
At the time, a vacant Rutland City School building was on the market for $200,000. It offered a minimum of 14 classrooms, a gymnasium and a stage. The board had looked at the building on numerous occasions and finally determined to begin a fund-raising campaign to raise money to purchase the building. Money was coming in slowly but the time was getting short. We did not know where we could operate the school the following fall when we planned to add eighth grade.
We had done a great deal of work preparing a packet of information for an application for grant money to purchase the building. The request was denied. At the same time we received word that an anonymous source in the mid-west wanted to see the report we had prepared, as there were people there who had a heart to fund Christian education in poor areas of the country. The same report was forwarded to the mid-west and they graciously supplied sufficient funds to purchase the school building! In addition they sent $50,000 to help get the building ready for occupancy. In the fall of 1998 we opened the doors on our own permanent facility. The same Midwestern source has since sent an additional $50,000 for a library and computer lab, and $50,000 to expand to a high school.
Today, RACS offers classes from preschool to twelfth grade. The school has a staff of five full-time teachers, eight part-time teachers, one teacher aid, two music teachers, one secretary, and one principal.