A Philomath church’s aspirations of establishing a new education option for families is taking another step forward this year with the addition of classrooms that will serve students up to the fourth grade. Starting out as a preschool more than three years ago, The Refuge has goals of eventually expanding to a full K-12 school.
Gerry Alston, senior pastor, said his dream to establish a school dates back 30 years and remained dormant until the church in May 2020 acquired its current property at 1947 College St., and connected with Jill Williams and Jessi Nash, sisters who have a love and enthusiasm for educating children.
“All of a sudden, we’ve got the people to actually pull it off so we started it,” Alston said.
Williams serves as the school’s administrator and Nash is a lead teacher in the preschool.
Roots Early Learning Center was established in time for the 2021-22 academic year with preschool programs for ages 3-5. A plan was soon put in place to offer kindergarten and first grade.
“When we started kindergarten, we didn’t want to start something that we couldn’t finish,” Alston said. “So if we’ve got a kiddo in kindergarten and a family that likes it here, we wanted to make sure that when they were in first grade for the next year, that they had a place.”
It actually would not be the first time that a school has operated at the site. Prior to The Refuge’s acquisition, the property was home to the Church of the Nazarene, which had an interdenominational education program.
After three full years of preschool only, Roots added kindergarten classes for this current academic year. First, second, third and fourth grades will launch this fall.
Alston said that adding the extra grade levels became a reality simply out of demand. But in addition, the more aggressive approach to expansion became evident when considering staff that would be brought in.
“The idea is that if we’re going to hire a PE teacher and a music teacher at some point, we have to hire them for first grade the same way we have to hire them for first through fourth,” Williams said. “So there’s a certain amount of recognizing that you need the same resources for one grade that you do for five grades. And so it makes more sense, fiscally, to add a bunch of grades all at once and go from there.”
It remains to be seen exactly how the classrooms will be organized.
“It’s going to be based on enrollment,” Williams said. “It’s pretty similar to the public school system in terms of watching what the numbers look like and then starting to piece it together. Right now, there could be some combined classes but we’ll just kind of play it by ear.”
Next year, the school would then add a fifth grade to continue serving families with children moving up with that ultimate goal of expanding to a full K-12 school.
Alston has put school expansion plans to paper of what a future K-12 school could look like, a campus that would include a large gymnasium and a two-story building with multiple classrooms.
Alston, who operates The Refuge with his wife, Kim Alston, as business manager, estimates that the full project pencils out to around $5 million.
“We’re really fortunate to have the land to build here and that it’s zoned so that we can do it,” he said. “That’s the biggest challenge, really, in Benton County and the whole state of Oregon, is getting land that’s zoned to be able to build — and we’ve already got that taken care of here.”
The school has a board that meets regularly to consider several factors, including ways to ensure that tuition remains realistic for families while reaching sustainability for the school’s operation.
“We want to make it as affordable as we can, for sure, for families — we don’t want to see anybody excluded,” Alston said. “At the same time, we want to make sure that every kid that comes through this school is equipped fully, regardless of what path they choose.”
Alston’s perspective on helping students prepare for the transition to adulthood and future endeavors developed through his own educational experiences.
“A big part of what we do is making sure that we can teach regardless of their learning styles — that we don’t just teach to one style,” he said. “My dream for starting a school came because of my experience with school. I struggled in the traditional learning environment very much. For me to sit at a desk and learn math was just not going to happen and so it was a real struggle.”
Alston said he barely graduated high school.
“It wasn’t because I wasn’t intelligent or smart, it was just that I was wired a little different than maybe the majority of the kids,” he said. “We want to make sure that we can provide a quality education regardless. … I’ve got a daughter who’s an adult now who very much learns in the classroom setting and just thrives in that environment — and so we want to make sure they have that and they can do well, too.”
Williams said Roots Primary School is blessed to have a team with a lot of varied talents and skills.
“We have people with high knowledge in the special education departments,” she said. “I’ve been in the public school system. We have some great people that have done private school that are coming in with their thoughts and ideas.”
Williams also mentioned the partnership that has developed with the local school system, which for example, includes interactions with speech, counseling, special education and administrative staff. Those efforts have included strategies to help with the transition of Roots students to the public school for families who choose to take that educational route.
Partnership opportunities with other organizations and bringing in things like parenting classes are also on the table for the future.
Williams said keeping classroom sizes small is a priority — 12 to 14 for the lower grades and 15 to 16 for the upper grades.
Roots Primary School utilizes Abeka, which offers Christian-based classroom curriculum and materials “based on a foundation of Christian faith and theology and covers all the topics,” Williams said. “So in kindergarten, we use that specifically and we’ll continue to use that up through fourth grade.”
The preschool students, which meet in a modular situated next to the main building, will continue to learn through Nash’s own curriculum program that brings together multiple components appropriate for those age groups.
Last month, the school opened up priority enrollment to current families and the response was encouraging.
“Almost everybody that’s currently enrolled has enrolled for next year plus more people,” Williams said. “The young preschool is almost fully enrolled already for next year, which is awesome, and every other class is half full right now and we hadn’t even opened community enrollment.”
The school is now enrolling for the 2025-26 school year. Families with an interest can access information on the Roots Primary School website and fill out an online interest form, which goes directly to Williams when submitted. Those with questions or interested in a tour can reach out through a website form or via email (rootsprimary@therefuge.online) or phone (541-929-7110).
The tuition for K-4 students is $7,000 per year for a school week that begins daily at 8:30 a.m. and dismisses at 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 12:30 p.m. Friday. Preschool tuition ranges from $3,000 to $6,000 per year depending on attendance options. The school also offers extended child care.
All of those details are on the school’s website, along with a parent handbook and other information.
“We try to be super transparent,” Williams said. “I want people to know who we are, what we’re doing and what it looks like for them to partner with us.”
