Dear Harvest Christian Academy and Westminster Christian School families,

Welcome to the start of a new school year!  We are so excited for all that God has in store for our students, staff, and families. Since we were installed as the new school board about one month ago, we want to take a moment to give some important updates as we work on bringing together these two schools.

The Purpose of a School Board

This school board is a group of dedicated volunteers, comprised of three Westminster board members and three Harvest board members, who are entrusted with the governance and long-term vision of our school. We are accountable to you, the school community, and our primary role is to ensure that the school's mission is upheld in all that we do.

Our responsibilities are focused on strategic leadership and oversight, distinct from the day-to-day operations of the school, which are managed by Carlye Hay, our Head of School, and her administration across both campuses.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• Policy and Planning: We establish the policies and parameters that guide the school's direction and ensure its continued health and growth.
• Financial Stewardship: We provide oversight of the school's budget and financial health, ensuring responsible use of resources.
• Mission and Vision: We ensure that all decisions align with the school's core mission and Christian values.
• Head of School Support: We are responsible for providing accountability and support to Carlye as the Head of School as she leads the administrative team.

We believe that this framework allows the administration to focus on the educational and spiritual needs of our students, while the board focuses on the long-term well-being and sustainability of the entire institution.

Integration Timeline Update

As originally announced, we are excited for the official launch of our combined school in August 2026!  As the Transition Teams began their work last spring and this summer, it became clear that there was significant benefit to moving forward certain aspects of the integration.

• For both schools to have strong leadership and begin alignment towards a full integration in fall of 2026, Carlye Hay was named as the combined Head of School in June.
• In July, we announced that the IHSA had approved the partnership between HCA and WCS to combine our athletics teams. 
• Upon assessing opportunities to maximize academic benefit for our students and leverage unique strengths of both HCA and WCS, high school math and science classes have been combined, along with band, with a bus schedule in place to transport students between each campus building.  This approach also reflects wise stewardship of tuition dollars, as it allows us to creatively utilize our existing faculty rather than hiring additional staff.
• To facilitate many legal, financial and administrative aspects of combining the two schools, it became clear that legally combining the schools now was the best approach.  With that said, we are happy to announce that effective August 1, 2025, Harvest Christian Academy and Westminster Christian School are officially one school!  For the 2025-2026 school year, we will continue to operate on two campuses under the existing curriculums with full integration set for August 2026.  If you are interested in learning more about the specifics of bringing the schools together (such as legal entities, bylaws, etc), please refer to the Partnership FAQs.
• We know the new school name and mascot is on everyone’s mind.  It is still preliminary to provide a timeline on this decision, but important foundational work is underway to ensure that the new branding of the school aligns to the mission and vision of the school.

As the pieces of the transition continue to come together, our timelines and decisions may continue to evolve organically, and we will stay committed to keeping the school body informed on major updates. 

Board Updates

The board has been meeting twice per month as we come up to speed and help support the important work of bringing these two schools together.  Here are a few key updates we would like to share:

• In advance of the August 1st, 2025 effective date, we worked to ensure all necessary legal documents, insurance policies, space agreements, budgets, and human resources requirements are in place.
• We have elected the board officer positions for the 2025-2026 school year.  The board positions for this year are:
• President: Dee Arnold
• Vice-President: Tony Langfeld
• Secretary: Charlotte Canning
• Treasurer: Sam Booras
• Board Member: Ned Cooke
• Board Member: Bill Doran
• Ex-Officio Board Member: Carlye Hay 
• Board meetings have included the 6 voting board members (noted above), plus Carlye, as Head of School. 
• We expect in the future to invite various school administrators to board meetings as we establish our governance framework.
• We have begun discussing what oversight and governance framework will look like in line with the roles and responsibilities mentioned above.
• Because the future of this school is intricately woven together with Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC), Harvest Bible Chapel (HBC) and now Acts 2, we have begun establishing relationships with the boards of these groups for key decisions that will affect our future.

We are so grateful for your continued prayers and support as we embark on this new chapter. We look forward to serving you and our Lord as we strive to provide the best possible education for our students. 

In His Service,

The School Board

board@westminsterchristian.org

board@harvestchristianacademy.org