Private Christian School Won’t Move to Kennedy Middle School

A private San Mateo-based Christian school won’t be renting space from , according to Jan Christensen. The school board was set Wednesday to vote on approving the administration’s recommendation to lease the space to the Alpha Beacon Christian school.

On their website, Principal Chris Chu wrote “Late-breaking (and miraculous) news: at this eleventh hour, God is, unexpectedly, answering our prayers for classrooms in San Mateo (knowing that most of you live there).”

At the Aug. 31 school board meeting, the private school approached the district at Kennedy Middle School. This would have resulted in $93,780 in facilities use fees for the district’s general fund, money that the district would have welcomed given the strained economic climate at the state level. The estimated relocation costs to the district would have been $3,000.

The district’s Chief Business Official, Raul Parungao, had worked with the private school on developing a situation that would have been a “win-win,” Chu said.

The school will instead rent classrooms from the Bayside S.T.E.M. Academy, also based in San Mateo.

“We just want to thank the Redwood City school district for working so well with us,” Chu said. “Raul Parungao was our advocate and worked hard to make the situation feasible.”

The private school is still looking for spaces to house their 40 7th - 12th grade students, whom the district believed wouldn’t be a good fit for the middle school given the difference in age.