Private School to Move Its Campus

With only about 100 students enrolled in preschool through 12th grade, Centers of Learning might seem like the proverbial one-room schoolhouse. Despite the cozy classroom size, however, the North Hills private school is experiencing growing pains.

Founded in 1974 in a two-story addition to the nondenominational Church of the Living Word, the school is building a new campus across the street from its headquarters at Haskell Avenue and Rayen Street.

“We’re planning on moving in by the second semester in January,” said Principal Deby Grill, who described herself as “terrifically excited” with the project.

First proposed in 1988 when Centers of Learning opened its classes to nonchurch members, construction on the new site began in July and is expected to be finished by October. The first phase will include two buildings with nine classrooms, faculty offices and a restroom and shower complex.

The new campus will cost about $1.2 million, a figure raised mostly through grants, donations and such fund-raising efforts as magazine drives and garage sales.

“I think [parents] feel that it’s very much their school since they put so much effort into it,” Grill said.

The school hopes to add two additional classrooms and a library in the coming years. The project will cost another $1.2 million.

“We’re going to start on the fund-raising,” Grill said, “but we really don’t have a timetable.”

She insisted, however, that the school will remain small in size and philosophy.

“We call it atmosphere,” she said, referring to the school’s pledge to limit class sizes to about a dozen students. “The atmosphere of a kid’s education makes a huge difference.”