Christian Liberty Academy

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Christian Liberty Academy (CLA) is a private, independent Christian school serving 900 students, located in Arlington Heights, Cook County, Illinois. The school serves families who live in 69 surrounding cities. CLA has grades preschool through twelfth grade and was founded in 1968 under the auspices of the Church of Christian Liberty. The Church of Christian Liberty provides oversight for the school as one of its ministries, though students and parents are not required to be members or attend the church. The school was chosen by the anti-illegal immigrant The Minuteman Project Inc. for a meeting, and engendered a counter-rally that resulted in five arrests.[1]

[edit] Overview

The school has graduated over 600 seniors since 1972. As of 2005, nine are among the 62 staff members.

The academic school year consists of 35 weeks divided into two semesters. CLA uses a traditional scheduling approach, with the school day beginning at 8:30AM and ending at 3:35PM. Nine 40-minute classes and a 20-minute chapel period structure the day.

CLA is accredited by American Federation of Christian Colleges and Schools rather than by the United States government, believing that the government is too intrusive. This complicates the college application process for graduates.

[edit] History

Christian Liberty Academy was founded in 1968 in the basement of Prospect Heights, Illinois' Church of Christian Liberty. Its first year, 60 children attended. According to the school's official website, the school was founded "as the result of the dissatisfaction of the church with government education and the desire for Christian education". The original headmaster was Paul Lindstrom, the pastor of the Church of Christian Liberty; as the school grew, Lindstrom decided that he preferred to focus on his work as pastor, and handed the headmastership over to Philip Bennett, the school's math and science teacher.

At first, only classes for kindergarten through ninth grade were provided; later, the school also opened to high school-age students. The school quickly became too large for its location; in 1985, the school was moved to the former location of Arlington Heights High School.