After 60 years, the church owned and operated school – founded by legendary PCUS/PCA pastor-evangelist Bill Hill – will hand over school operations to a private organization.

The West End Christian School is about to undergo a major transformation after dealing with a decrease of enrollment numbers and fiscal challenges. After 60 years, the West End Presbyterian Church will hand over school operations to a private organization.

“We had to make some hard and gut wrenching decisions to at least save the school,” said the Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Collins, senior pastor at West End Presbyterian Church and chancellor of the school. “This is definitely a bittersweet outcome for our church, especially considering we’ve had this ministry for such a long time,” Collins said.

Earlier this year, the school’s future had become uncertain when enrollment continued to increase. In order to continue operations, the school had to meet the 120 student benchmark.

But of yesterday, only 99 students are enrolled for the next school year, which begins in September.

Beginning this summer, the church will transfer all authority to the newly founded West End Christian School Ministry Task Force, a private organization founded especially for this purpose by a group of Hopewell residents, church members, parents and community supporters working on a nonprofit basis.

Even though the school will be under new ownership, Collins hopes there will be only minor changes.

For more information on West End Christian School, including tuition rates, visit http://www.wecs-hopewell.com.