TUSTIN : Christian School Set to Close This Week

When the 160 children at Colonial Bible School leave the institution this week at the end of the academic year, it will be for good.

After 13 years of operation, the Christian school is closing because it cannot find an affordable place to move, said Brian Wilkins, director of operations for Colonial Bible Church.

Until December, the school and the church had leased space from C.E. Utt Middle School in the Tustin Unified School District. But Colonial lost its lease because the district plans to reopen C.E. Utt in response to growing enrollment.

Since December, church offices have been located in an industrial park, church services have been held in the Tustin Civic Center, and the school has made its temporary home at Hope Christian Church on Irvine Boulevard. A preschool has moved to another church, which will take over the operation as soon as it is licensed, Wilkins said.

Since early May, when Colonial officials announced that the school would close, most of the teachers and students have found other schools--both public and private. The school’s principal, Diane Skelly, will act as a consultant to several Christian schools in the area.

“At first it was really hard because a lot of the children have been here since preschool,” said Jenni Dembowski, a fourth-grade teacher.

But, Dembowski said, she made a poster with a Scripture passage about Abraham going to a new place, and as the students learned where they would be next year, she added their names and new schools to the poster.

Darlene Moore said her two children, Matthew and Jenny, are excited about going to a new school and meeting new friends.

But Rodney Rambo, 12, the student body president, said the transition will be difficult.

“I’ve been here for a long time, and it’s going to be hard leaving all my friends,” Rambo said Thursday.