Des Moines Christian's growing student population prompts plans for new high school

Des Moines Christian School plans to build a high school campus in Grimes to give more space to a growing number of students.

Cade Lambert, Des Moines Christian's head of school, told the Des Moines Register in an email that the 2023-24 school year ended with 1,312 students from early education through 12th grade and 250 part-time and full-time staff. That enrollment — with more than 100 additional students expected in the coming school year — has strained what the school's current campus on Douglas Parkway in Urbandale can handle.

"I can tell you right now we are really tight on space in our gyms for practices and games, as we’re trying to accommodate both middle school and high school programming, as well as physical education classes," Lambert said.

A new campus for high school students also would mean more available classroom space, potentially including indoor/outdoor classrooms, Lambert added.

He said school officials have been thinking for three years about what to do next.

The school closed May 6 on the purchase of almost 103 acres of farmland at 13577 Northwest 42nd Ave. in Grimes, west of the Urbandale Community School District's Webster Elementary School and about a five-minute drive north of Des Moines Christian's current campus.

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The largest of four plots of land involved in the sale — each about 25 or 26 acres in size — includes a farmhouse, mobile home, grain bins, other agricultural outbuildings and a 40-foot-tall TV tower, according to Polk County property records.

The purchase of the land from the Day family cost more than $6.8 million but a donor who Lambert said wished to remain anonymous paid for it.

"All of our capital improvement projects at our Urbandale campus have been possible because of philanthropy/giving. We plan to follow that model. So, timing (of building and finishing the high school campus) also depends on fundraising," Lambert said.

He said the school is working on a master site plan and is figuring out how two locations would best complement each other and their students' needs. There's not a construction budget yet.

He did not expect that the project would be eligible for incentives from the city of Grimes, though he did credit Des Moines Christian as having a positive effect on area property values and being a "center in promoting economic development."

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Lambert also said while he expects the state's Education Savings Account program that allows families to save for private school tuition will make Christian education more accessible, Des Moines Christian started seeing more demand four years ago, before Gov. Kim Reynolds approved ESAs in 2023.

Des Moines Christian's current Urbandale campus at 13007 Douglas Parkway opened in 2005 with 700 students, according to the school's website. The school has moved locations multiple times in its 76-year history.

Des Moines Christian started in 1948 in Des Moines with 14 students and one teacher, and then moved in 1955 and again in 1980 to accommodate growth.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Christian plans new high school building in Grimes