As our students complete their first academic quarter, Principal Jeff Huntington provides an update on our school ministry. 

This is my 10th year at St. John and my 30th year in Lutheran education. Many changes have taken place over these years. My first eighth-grade class from 2017 is now mostly college graduates who have entered the workforce. St. John Lutheran School began its 174th year on August 12, 2026. I found school pictures from 1952, almost 75 years ago, and many things look different: hairstyles were very different, the men all wore suits and all the women and girls were wearing skirts or dresses, and the building they were meeting in no longer exists. Even after all those years, one thing has not changed: the mission of St. John Lutheran School is to partner with parents in teaching children about the love of God in Jesus Christ and about the world He created.

Heidi Mielke, our Director of Admissions, and I are working on proactive steps to increase community awareness and hopefully increase enrollment for next year. Our primary plan involves targeted outreach to community churches. We want to meet their pastors and make them excited about our school. We want to make ambassadors of the families we already have from other churches, over 20 currently, and ask them to tell their friends and parishioners. We want to let families know that, thanks to the state’s Choice Scholarship program, a quality Christian education can be had for less than $10 a day per child. At the same time, we have implemented a quality system for those who seek to enroll their children here, allowing the teachers to assess the child’s grades and behavior and have direct feedback into the enrollment decision. This has had a positive effect on teacher morale and the overall climate of the school.

One of my emphases over the past two years, with the help of Pastor Duling and Vicar Schroeder, is to better emphasize our Lutheran Christian identity. Chapel is held in the Sanctuary twice a month where Matins is sung. Luther’s Small Catechism is a major part of our religion curriculum in all grades. Pastor and Vicar are highly visible in the school and teach religion class to grades one, three, seven, and eight.

God continues to bless our school. Four of our students have been baptized during the past twelve months, continuing a blessing of at least two students baptized each year for the past five. On ILEARN, the state’s standardized test for grades 3-8, our students raised their passing rate in English/language arts by 2% and in mathematics by 9%. Our Bible Quiz team, made of middle-school student volunteers, has 25 participants under the coaching of Vicar Schroeder learning the Gospel of Mark in great detail. Middle school electives are back, where two Fridays a month students get to participate in learning in an area that interests them. Electives this semester include cooking, sewing, role playing, multimedia production and editing, movie analysis, and crafts. Faith families, mixed groups of students in grades 1-8, are helping older students be leaders while giving young students an

opportunity to know and work with their older peers. Our sports teams have been working hard this season in soccer and volleyball.

St. John Lutheran School would not exist without your support. The church continues to support the school financially, just as it has since the beginning. We crave your prayers: that God would bless us with new students and families, that we would faithfully serve the ones that we already have, and that our teachers and staff would be strengthened and encouraged. We will need new elective volunteers for next semester; if you have a skill you could teach a small group of middle-school students, I would love to talk to you about it. If you are led to give a financial gift, I would be happy to share two specific ways in which you can take advantage of special tax credits to maximize the impact. Thank you for your support of our school ministry.

God says in Malachi 3:6: “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Despite all the changes in the world, we serve an unchanging God, whose love for us in Jesus never fails. The world will continue to change, but the mission of St. John Lutheran School stays the same. We pray that, until Jesus returns, the school will continue to serve out its mission to the families God brings to us.

Serving the Master Teacher,

Jeffrey D. Huntington

Principal