Cornerstone Christian Academy: the school is preparing its expansion to Battle Ground


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The Cornerstone Christian Academy for Learning and Leadership, a private Vancouver-based school, is expanding to add a second location at Battle Ground.

The new facility, located at 715 NW Onsdorff Blvd., has been home to CAM Academy – an alternative school within the Battle Ground Public Schools – since 1996.

Although the purchase agreement was signed on June 1, the building will not accommodate Cornerstone students in the new location until fall 2022.

“It’s a win-win,” said Cornerstone Superintendent Sandra Yager. “It gives them some planning time and allows us to determine the best way to use the property.

Students currently enrolled in the Character and Academics for the Marketplace (CAM) Academy will remain in the building throughout the 2021-22 school year, said Battle Ground Public Schools spokesperson Rita Sanders. The district will continue to seek new locations for the school. The lease expires August 31.

Cornerstone is currently located at 10818 NE 117th Ave., where it welcomes K-8 and younger students into their early childhood education program. Limited space forced the school to use portable units, which Yager cited as large spaces for education but still far from ideal. Previously, the school was located for over 30 years at the Crossroads Community Church.

Cornerstone administrators hope to begin serving high school students at Battle Ground as well as K-8 students, so the Vancouver site can focus only on preschool students enrolled in ECE. This division, said Yager, is aimed at preventing parents of students of different ages from needing to travel to both locations to drop off or pick up their children.

“Our hope is that the families at Cornerstone can continue their education without too much disruption,” said Yager.

Yager and others at Cornerstone have long been hoping for a way to add a second location. In March 2020, an anonymous benefactor provided funding to enable Cornerstone’s purchase of the CAM building.

“We had thought that if the money came in it might be a possibility,” Yager said. “It was truly a miracle for us. It changed our vision.

Cornerstone has about 250 students in its K-8 school, plus 100-110 enrolled in its ECE program. While Yager welcomes new ninth graders in the 2022-2023 school year to kick off their high school education, she anticipates only 20-30 students at this grade level.

The dream, Yager said, is to eventually build a new elementary school at the Vancouver site that would eventually power the Battle Ground High School.

The renovation of the CAM Academy will focus on technology updates, replacement of carpet and paint to match the current style of Cornerstone facilities. Ultimately, said Yager, Cornerstone would like to build a gymnasium to facilitate better physical education classes.

“We’re just looking to do a little bit of TLC,” Yager said. “We’re confident that Battle Ground will do a great job of cleaning up as they leave.”

An information open house will be held on January 31 at the current Cornerstone location in Vancouver. Registration for the 2022-2023 school year will begin the next day, February 1.

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