Valley Christian Schools expanding to Warren


September 26, 2015 at 12:06a.m.

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Valley Christian Schools, the former Youngstown Christian Schools, will expand into Warren next school year, announcing Thursday it will operate a K-6 school at the former Warren Christian School.

Warren Christian operated a K-12 school on the campus of Warren First Assembly of God at 2640 Parkman Road NW until 2009.

Valley Christian opened its second school, the Lewis Center for gifted students, last fall in Trinity United Methodist Church on Front Street in downtown Youngstown. Its main campus is on Southern Boulevard in Youngstown.

Michael Pecchia, president of Valley Christian, told community leaders at a breakfast at the new location Thursday that the community lost most of its Christian schools in the past decade, but Christian schools provide “choices for families,” and Valley Christian will restore those choices.

One of those choices is the opportunity for children to be exposed to more diversity among the students and staff than they typically get in their current schools, he said.

The other non-demoninational Christian school in Warren, Word of Life Christian Academy, closed in 2007. It was housed in Howland Baptist Church its last five years and before that was in Believer’s Christian Fellowship, now known as Believer’s Church.

There is another non-denominational Christian school in Trumbull County, Victory Christian on Pleasant Valley Road in Niles. Most of the other private schools are Catholic schools.

Pecchia said the decision to expand into Warren was one of the reasons Youngstown Christian changed its name to Valley Christian Schools early this year.

Derek Boivan, pastor of Warren First Assembly of God, said he believes the new school will help continue an upward trend for the West Side, where an $8.9 million 60-unit senior-citizen independent living complex will be constructed soon near the Trumbull Plaza on Parkman Road.

Boivan said he believes area Christian schools closed because of problems with the economy, including the national financial crisis of 2008.