The board will be responding to a recommendation concerning the development of a independent Christian high school in Peterborough.

Nobody involved will say publicly whether the recommendation is for or against the development of a high school. That would not be appropriate before the recommendation is presented to the board, Rhema Principal Ray Hendriks points out.

"This meeting is just the first step on deciding whether to proceed," Ray says.

The concept of a Christian high school in Peterborough has been tossed around for many years, Ray says. "It has come as a proposal to the board two or three other times but has never had enough momentum to take off."

Recently the board asked a group of seven people to organize a "prayer campaign" during which people would be asked to pray for guidance on the issue of a local high school.

"We wanted to try to see what kind of response the idea would have in the community," Ray says. The idea of a high school was raised in the local media and on the Rhema website and the response from the community was enthusiastically positive, he says.

"We had a couple of hundred responses and all of them essentially said it’s a great idea," Ray says. "Now the school needs to decide what to do."

The nearest Christian high school is in Bowmanville and people like the possibility of having their children attend a Christian high school in their own community, Ray says.

But there are other considerations, he points out. "There are several high schools already in this community who do a good job in educating young people and we have excellent co-operation with these high schools. We would have to find our own niche, aside from being a Christian school."

Finally, the financial implications of developing a new high school are very large, Ray points out.

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