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Willow Creek Learning Center to close
By Denise Dick
BOARDMAN
After 30 years of providing private education for Mahoning Valley children, Willow Creek Learning Center will close at the end of this school year.
Families received a letter over the weekend informing them of the decision.
“The Board of trustees has decided to close due to 1) declining enrollment as a result of a decrease in the elementary school-age population and 2) the majority of board members not continuing their positions due to retirement or other factors,” the April 3 letter from the school to families said.
The school is closed this week for spring break so administrators couldn’t be reached.
The private, Christian school on West Western Reserve Road opened in 1985 and houses children from preschool to eighth grade.
Dr. Trang Day’s daughter Annabelle is a Willow Creek eighth-grader and her older daughter, Tamsin, also attended the school.
“They’ve received an excellent education and I was disappointed to hear about the closing,” Dr. Day said. “I’m glad that Annabelle is able to finish there.”
Annabelle, who is the 2014 and 2015 champion of The Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee, chose the school when she was a child.
Her older sister attended Canfield schools for her first two years, but Annabelle wanted to go elsewhere.
When the family visited Willow Creek, Annabelle decided that was where she wanted to go to school, her mother said.
Annabelle enrolled as a kindergartner and then left when the family planned to relocate to England.
She was home schooled and attended school in England before the family returned to the area and both girls enrolled at Willow Creek.
The school’s letter says that both the administration and the board are confident the students will find suitable new school homes.
“Business will proceed as usual through the end of the year,” the letter said.
“The school office will be open through June.”
It asks that families inform the school by the end of June of where their children will be attending next year so records may be transferred.