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About OCS-NEO
Orthodox Christian Schools of Northeast Ohio, Inc.,
operates under the Omophorion of the Most Reverend JOB,
Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest (OCA), with his blessing
to serve the entire Orthodox Christian community.
OCS-NEO has also received the blessing and endorsement
of the Most Reverend MAXIMOS, Metropolitan of Pittsburgh (GOA).
Mission Statement
The mission of OCS-NEO, as an extension and fulfillment of the primary parental responsibility for the education of their children, is to provide an education that
History
Orthodox Christian Schools of Northeast Ohio, Inc., opened the doors of its first elementary-school campus, St. Nicholas Orthodox School, in August 2000. For the 2003-2004 academic year, OCS-NEO will administer two campuses: Akron, and Warren, and market its Faith-based classical curriculum materials for use by other Orthodox Christian parochial schools and homeschools.
St. Nicholas Orthodox School
St. Nicholas Orthodox School started as a ministry of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church. The parish is located in Mogadore/Suffield, Ohio, and is under the authority of the Most Reverend JOB, Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest/Orthodox Church in America (OCA).
The greater Akron community is home to over a dozen Orthodox Christian parishes of various jurisdictions, and these parishes often work together on service, mission, and adult education projects. In short, the community is vibrant and firmly based. The need for a parochial elementary school was identified in pan-Orthodox committees and by several parish councils: there were nearly 300 school-age students in the Akron parishes alone in 1995, according to an interest survey taken by the Akron Orthodox Clergy Association. Historically, however, the Orthodox Church has not offered Faith-based elementary and high school options common in the Jewish community and Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Evangelical denominations to its families. The cooperative greater Akron area seemed to be a promising environment for both the development of a model and establishment of an Orthodox Christian parochial school.
Exploration into the feasibility of opening a parochial elementary school at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Mogadore, was started in early 1994, during the development of a parish mission statement and the revision of the parish’s Long Range Plan, led by Fr. Daniel Swires. The final forms of those documents were published in January 1997, and called for increased efforts in both community outreach and youth education, including the establishment of a Faith-based elementary school offering a high-quality academic program within five years.
When representatives of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church Long Range Planning Committees school sub-committee first approached the Archbishop JOB for his blessing to actively pursue the development of a parish-based parochial school, His Eminence was completely supportive (August 1999). During a pastoral visit in April 2000, he outlined his specific goals for the project at the diocesan level:
St. Nicholas Orthodox School should
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Provide a high-quality academic education to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox students in the Akron-Canton area, using the Classical model, modified to an Orthodox Christian worldview, which is Faith- and Salvation-history based.
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Galvanize the cooperative efforts of the OCA parishes in the Cleveland Deanery, and the numerous non-OCA Orthodox parishes in the Akron-Canton area.
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Provide a model and serve as a resource for other groups, throughout Orthodox America and in the OCA Diocese of the Midwest in particular, to establish their own Orthodox Christian parochial schools.
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Drawing on parish resources with significant experience in publications, produce curricula and professional-grade classroom materials on a continuing basis to support Orthodox Christian classical education.
The overall mission of St. Nicholas Orthodox School was outlined for the parish assembly in January 2000, and now serves as the mission for Orthodox Christian Schools of Northeast Ohio, Inc., and its campuses.
A school committee, consisting of Fr. Stephen Kopestonsky, Fr. Daniel Swires, and six interested parents (two of whom were university-trained teachers), began meeting bimonthly in August 1999 with the approval of the diocesan bishop. After representatives from this group attended two Charter School Start-Up workshops sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education in Columbus, the committee decided the project was quite feasible, considering the facilities available at the parish complex already and the pool of potential students and skilled volunteers available in the Akron-Canton area. The committee approached the parish assembly at the end of January 2000 for permission to officially begin the project, which was granted, and set a Year 1 goal of five students and one paid teacher. That committee agreed to become the core of the first School Board.
Development of a Faith- and Salvation history-based, integrated curriculum stressing language and analytical-tool development according to the Classical model; recruitment of instructors and students; and fundraising efforts began immediately. Two teachers were hired in late spring: a university-trained kindergarten teacher with a decade of classroom experience, and an upper-grade instructor with an M. Div. degree and extensive mixed-classroom teaching experience. Both instructors understood the new Orthodox Christian classical education model immediately, and contributed immeasurably to its development and success.
St. Nicholas Orthodox School opened its doors with 10 students: 4 kindergarteners and 6 in grades 1-5. A fifth kindergartener enrolled four weeks into the school year, and settled right in to the schools routine. The student body represented four Akron-Canton area parishes the host, St. Nicholas; Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church; Holy Assumption Orthodox Church (OCA); and St. Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church and one non-parish-affiliated student.
The school immediately started the process of being recognized and chartered by the Ohio Department of Education Office of School Options as a Non-public Charter Elementary School. Following successful completion of five steps (adoption and advertisement of a racial non-discrimination policy; review of all school safety inspection records, administrative and disciplinary policies, and curriculum; numerous on-site visits of the school facilities and classroom observation; solicitation of complaints regarding admission policies; and completion of an annual report of enrollment statistics), the schools charter was awarded 31 January 2001.
The schools first year was incredible: The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), administered in mid-May 2001, showed that our students were excelling academically with the new curriculum, placing in the top 10% of students nationwide. More importantly, students were growing in the Faith: They became an extended family, prayed together daily, learned to chant most of the Third and Ninth Hours by heart, and turn to God in time of crisis, according to Archpriest Stephen Kopestonsky, principal and spiritual advisor.
Word of mouth and a steady stream of school newsletters were all it took: for its second academic year (2001-2002), St. Nicholas Orthodox School served 24 students, who again prayed and grew in Faith together. Community service projects were added to daily prayer, Faith lessons, and the academic routine. ITBS scores confirmed improvement in the developing Orthodox classical curriculum and student academic performance, too: our students scored in the top 8% nationwide.
Enrollment at St. Nicholas Orthodox School for the 2002-2003 academic year topped 40 students, requiring a change in both venue and name for the next year. The school re-located to a larger site at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Akron and re-chartered officially, as required by the state of Ohio, as "St. Nicholas Orthodox School of Akron".
Branch Campuses
Priests, Orthodox Christian educators, and parents from the surrounding communities took notice of St. Nicholas Orthodox School during its first year, and began calling and observing classes. Soon, members of St. Nicholas school board were meeting with local school committees in other areas, and repeating the steps of interest survey, assessment, and facility availability with them. The response was phenomenal.
The St. Nicholas Orthodox School board returned to Archbishop JOB, and outlined the need: other parishes wanted to start schools, just as he’d hoped. His Eminence gave a blessing for Orthodox Christian Schools of Northeast Ohio to be established under his omophorion; St. Nicholas Orthodox School would become the Akron Campus of the school network, and additional campuses would be established to serve interested families.
OCS-NEO was legally incorporated, and secured its own 501(c)3 designation (as a non-profit/tax exempt organization). Negotiations with host parishes and fundraising efforts for new campuses started in earnest. Five additional instructors were recruited and hired in March 2002, and began training with the Orthodox Christian classical curriculum under guidance of the St. Nicholas Orthodox School faculty.
OCS-NEO started working with interested people in the Youngstown/Warren area and established Holy Trinity Orthodox Christian Academy in Warren Ohio.
OCS-NEO Executive Board Officers
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