Introducing our new podcast, Ovilla Christian Chats

Welcome to Ovilla Christian Chats, where we discuss Biblical approaches to living life in a secular world. Join us as we dive deeper into topics that affect every Christian. Ovilla Christian School is the educational arm of Ovilla Road Baptist Church and our mission is to cultivate an environment in which students may flourish as they become life-long learners, servant leaders, and devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

In this first episode, Erich Lehmann (OCS Director of Spiritual Life), Pastor Matt Bowles (Ovilla Road Baptist Church), and Bob Yttredahl (OCS Head of School) discuss “worldview”: what does this word mean and why is it important? What are the proper roles of the church and a Christian school in the life of a Christ-follower? ALSO! Learn to pronounce "Yttredahl" correctly and hear the heart behind changes coming to chapel at OCS this fall.

The Importance of Sound Doctrine

How would you explain “the gospel”? Can you articulate the good news of our salvation cohesively, not only to share with an unbeliever but also to describe it accurately to yourself? Many of us have a vague idea of the gospel formed through preachers and teachers, Bible reading, and informed heavily by worldly sources. What would you put down on paper? Does your explanation of “the gospel” stir your affections for Jesus?

Doctrine is a term that refers to statements of our basic beliefs. These beliefs have formed over time as the Church has wrestled with the words of scripture and the challenges of the world. The study of doctrine is the work of theologians and all believers. Theology has been left to the seminary for too long. Some think, “I don’t do theology; just give me Jesus. I just want to love Jesus.” Well, who is Jesus? You are doing theology as soon as you begin articulating who Jesus is.

This spring, our faculty is reading You Are a Theologian by J.T. English and Jen Wilkin. This accessible book succinctly outlines 8 primary doctrines of the Christian faith and makes a case that theology is for everyone. “Theology” simply means “words about God.” We all express words about God, but are your words about God accurate? Does your theology align with the revealed God in the Bible, or have you crafted your idea of God based on other influences? Who is it that you say you love? We must know the God of the Bible, so our words about him are correct. Your beliefs affect how you live your life and teach your children about God and the Christian faith.

In an earlier work, Women of the Word, author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin states, “the heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” Ultimately, we concern ourselves with theology so we will better love the one true God who first loved us.

Parent, pick up a copy of You Are a Theologian by J.T. English and Jen Wilkin, and read with us this semester. Read it with your older kids, allowing them to see that truth is beautiful and moves the regenerated heart to worship. Let’s go on this journey together and be moved that a perfect God has given us his own righteousness and will one day live with humanity again on a new earth. For those of us who are in Christ, this is our future and hope. Join me in praising His excellent name!

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School
Ovilla Christian School

One Size Does Not Fit All: My Perspective on School Choice

I have dear sisters and brothers in Christ who choose to send their children to public schools, while others homeschool and still others choose charter schools. As a private school administrator, I believe strongly in the value of the education provided by our Christian school and other private schools around Texas and the nation. I began my career in education in 1994 as a Christian school teacher but then worked for over seven years for a charter school district of four campuses before joining the faculty of OCS in the fall of 2013. I have known brilliant educators from every type of school. My experiences with thousands of students have convinced me that no one type of school can meet the needs of all children or families. Biblically, parents are responsible for the education of their children, so for Christian families, parents must prayerfully consider which school can best assist them in the education of their children.

Texas, with its limited restrictions on parents’ rights, is a great place to raise children. Texas grants charters for alternative schools, yet Texas is not one of the over thirty states to provide some form of financial option to make school choice available for all parents. I am sure you have heard about the ongoing school choice debate happening in our state legislature. Unfortunately, popular media and many individuals and groups with large platforms have falsely presented this debate as another “us vs. them” narrative. This discussion is not about public versus private education. We all need excellence in public education as that system is responsible for the development of the greatest number of students. Tax money should, in my opinion, support all Texas students as their parents seek the best possible education for them.

The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 1 on October 12. This bill would establish education savings accounts (ESAs) that would allow families access to funds for private school tuition and other educational expenses. This money would be administered by the state comptroller’s office and use funds from the general revenue fund to pay for the program. Participating private schools must be accredited and administer a norm-referenced test to any student who received ESA funds. On October 19, the Texas House filed House Bill 1—their own, more limited version of education savings accounts. They included some public school finance and teacher compensation elements, but they need action from Governor Abbott to move forward with those elements as they are not part of the call of this special session. If the Governor does open up the call for them, this bill may be heard in committee. After the committee hearing, the bill would go to the House floor for a vote. If it passes, then HB1 and SB1 will go to a conference committee to resolve differences between the bills before the final form is sent to the Governor to sign.

The current plans have tax dollars going to the students and not directly to the private school of their choice. Private schools have layers of accountability—including annual tuition commitments—that would not change. Admissions and other policies are not expected to change for any accredited private school that chooses to participate in the program. The only loss to public schools is that they are funded by attendance, so if a student withdraws from a public school to go to a charter, private, or home school, they are not funded for that student.

Below are a few links for more information about the ongoing situation of school choice in Texas:

• The Texas Tribune article about SB1

• The Texas Tribune article about HB1

• School Choice page of the Texas Private Schools Association (scroll to the bottom for excellent resources)

• Who Represents Me? resource

• Texas House of Representatives

• The Texas Senate

We do not know if OCS will participate in the program that comes out of the ongoing school choice process. It depends on the final form of the program. We will make certain that participation does not come with unacceptable strings or entangle us down the road in policies in opposition to our values and mission. We will not compromise our autonomy and commitment to Christian education. We will protect our mission, vision, values, and philosophy. If we can participate, this could help strong Christian parents who desire biblical worldview education for their children potentially be able to afford our school. OCS should be an option for like-minded families who want to partner with us.

—Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School

Here, There, and Everywhere in October

Mr. Scott Towns leads an annual Texas History Trip for students in grade 7 and their parents. Photo by Greg Gorman

This week, I am out of my normal routine as I accompany students and chaperones on the annual 7th Grade Texas History Trip, led by history teacher Mr. Scott Towns. (By the way, Mr. Towns is up for Best Teacher in Ellis County—you can vote for him once a day at this link.) It is vital that students have experiences outside of their classroom walls and OCS provides more than 160 outings each year for age-appropriate educational and service opportunities.

Field trips start in October. Kindergarten will head over to our friends at Shadow Creek Pumpkin Farm and grades 4/5 will go north to the Dallas Arboretum. The seniors and grade 6 will take separate trips to visit Mission Arlington for a day of service. The juniors will visit LeTourneau University; currently, 24 of 25 grade 11 students are taking dual-credit courses with LETU. Grade 10 will visit the Dallas Baptist University campus and grade 1 is set to serve at the Ellis County Outreach Center.

These trips don't even include the away games for athletic competitions. You can see the blessing that our new bus has been! Our transportation fundraiser last year got us most of the way to the finish line for this one bus, but we still need more funds to cover the remaining balance. We also continue to need a larger bus to transport bigger groups. Please consider donating towards this incredibly important aspect of our students' education.

We hope to see many parents at next Tuesday's All In Eagles meeting from 6:30–8:00 pm in the Multipurpose Room. The meeting will begin with a short time of parent education and encouragement, followed by informational meetings of the Eagle Parent Fellowship, the Athletic Booster Club, and the Fine Arts Booster Club. The leaders of these parent organizations are excited to stir up excitement on behalf of our school and move forward with plans.

As I witness Mr. Towns speak to parents and students on this trip, I am reminded of Psalm 145:4 which says ”One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” Parents are educators, too, and we must ourselves be students of the Word so that we portray an accurate picture of our Father God to the next generation.

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School
Ovilla Christian School

September is Underway!

Eagle Reps are students who have been elected to serve their fellow classmates and taken on a leadership role. This year, we have 11 Eagle Reps for Upper School. The Jr. Eagle Reps (Middle School) gave their speeches this week and will be announced soon. From left to right: Hannah de Leon (Fr.), Elizabeth Powell (Fr.), Madalie Gardnes (Jr.), Jaxon Rosenberry (Sr.), Addy Allen (Sr.), Caleb Acton (Sr.), Madison Cantrell (Sr.), Jake Misemer (So.), Rori Davis (So.), Rachel Norman (So.), and Amanda Wheeler (So.)

What an excellent start to the school year we've had! All credit goes to our gracious Lord, who has orchestrated the path of each person in our 2023–2024 Ovilla Christian community. We see his work clearly in each classroom, each department, each teacher, and each student. 

Homecoming 2023 is next week, and before we turn our attention to celebrating our students, both past and present, I want to be sure to share several note-worthy items:

• We have 18 new staff, faculty, and coaches, and they have already integrated into our community. It feels like they've been here much longer! Mr. Yttredahl, Mrs. Fragale, and Coach Smith are bringing fresh insight and leadership to Middle and Upper School, Lower School and Early Education, and Athletics. We are grateful for the dedication of each one!

• The front lobby received all new safety glass thanks to the generosity of the Lamb family and United Glass Co. Also, we have adopted Raptor for emergency management and as a visitor monitoring system. Safety remains one of our top priorities, and we'd like to thank everyone for adjusting to this new system. 

• The Eagle Parent Fellowship generously provided funds for furniture and supplies to renovate the teacher workroom and the front office. Parents, thank you for all of the hard work you do through the EPF. Your work makes our community better.

• Our new bus rolled up into our parking lot last week! Our transportation fundraiser got us most of the way to the finish line for one bus, but we still need more funds to cover the remaining balance, and we continue to need a larger bus to transport bigger groups. Please consider donating towards this incredibly important aspect of our students' education.

We hope to see many parents at tonight's first All In Eagles meeting at 6:30 pm in the Worship Center. This time of parent education and encouragement will be followed by individual meetings of the EPF, the Athletic Booster Club, and the Fine Arts Booster Club. Come if you're already involved or if you're simply interested in learning more about these organizations. 

Let's continue to "stir up one another to love and good works" in all facets of our lives so that as spouses, parents, sons/daughters, brothers/sisters, students, and employees, we magnify the one who is always faithful (Hebrews 10:24, 25).

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School

A Look Ahead

The class of 2023 stands behind the Kindergarten students after their Clap Out down the halls of OCS.

What a way to end the school year! The campus has been buzzing with excited students and eager parents in the Lower School hallway with the Sr/Kinder Clap Out, Field Day, Kindergarten graduation, and class parties. The celebratory atmosphere has extended to the portable buildings and upstairs as Middle and Upper School students put their pencils down for the last time; finals are over and grades will be out soon. Teachers are working through their end-of-year checklists, turning in textbook counts, finalizing grades, and preparing their classrooms for the summer months.

The graduating class of 2023 will be moving on after the commencement ceremony on May 27, but for the rest of us, our mission at OCS remains the same in the midst of change.

We have been meeting with teams to enhance campus security. Progress is coming along with new additions and improvements for next year. You can read about some of the specifics in my previous blog post.

As you already know, Mrs. Rozier is retiring and our upcoming Lower School Principal, Mrs. Fragale, has already spent many days on campus. This has been a smooth transition all around!

The Fogleman family has been on furlough for the past two years and they will continue their mission activities in Namibia, Africa this summer (you can follow their journey here). While it’s hard to say goodbye to the incredible Mrs. Fogleman, we welcome Mrs. Mayfield who is moving from PreK4 to Grade 2. She and Mrs. Gildea will make a rockstar team.

Mrs. Osgood will be leaving Grade 3 to assume library and school counseling responsibilities, while also pursuing her license as a professional counselor. We have hired Mrs. Leah Masters to teach Grade 3 alongside Mrs. Ward. Mrs. Holly Klinglesmith is relocating to east Texas with her husband.

Dr. and Mrs. Atterson are moving to pursue other ministry opportunities. We are grateful for the service they have provided us. Many school events would not have gone as well as they did without the work of our beloved music teacher.

The search continues for several key positions; please see our Careers page if you know of qualified candidates who would be a good fit for our community. As lives are led in different directions and people are brought to our path, things will fall into place for next year—this we know, because this ministry belongs to our sovereign God.

When stress levels are high, I have learned to consciously bring the Scriptures to my mind to regain perspective about who God is in the midst of my circumstances. I remind myself specifically that God is unchanging and limitless.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (Psalm 90:2 ESV)

When anxiety threatens to barrel over me, I am learning to embrace my limits as a human created by an eternal Creator. His majesty and his power are incomprehensible, and to Him belongs this ministry of Christian education.

For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:9–10 ESV)

Endings are a bittersweet part of life on this side of eternity. We will miss those who are leaving and we rejoice in the plans that the Lord has.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:12–17 ESV)

This final week of school was packed with celebration of all that our students have accomplished. Now that 2022-2023 is over, we turn our eyes to all that the Lord has for us in 2023-2024. The administration will be working, Monday-Thursday from 9:00-3:00 pm, this summer to prepare for the next year. Be sure to come to the June 29 Summer Uniform Sale and sign your student up for summer camps. We look forward to when we next see you on campus.

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School

Accreditation and Safety Update

We are delighted to share the great news that the accreditation team who visited OCS last week is reporting that we meet the required standards, and they will recommend renewal to the commission of our accreditation with ACSI and Cognia. The report of the team provides both commendations for excellence and suggestions for improvement. Several commendations are related to our outstanding faculty, staff, and students. This comes as no surprise to me because we all know that our people make OCS the special community we all love. Accreditation affirms the value of the education we provide and ensures that college credits earned in high school will be honored at any university. It also assures you that your tuition dollars are going to a school of excellence, working diligently for continuous improvement.

Safety is one piece of our Continuous School Improvement Plan on everyone's minds. The news that came out from Nashville last week poignantly grieves us, yet our security improvements that are underway are not a knee-jerk reaction to this latest tragedy. The OCS administration and select faculty members work together on an ongoing security plan. We place a priority on the expenditure of funds to improve the physical security of the campus. We are in close cooperation with Ovilla and Ellis County emergency officials and have attended seminars that will be used to improve our security posture and the training of our faculty and staff in emergency response. The timeline for implementing some elements of our plan has been moved up in response to recent events.

One of the biggest changes we made last fall was having all traffic flow out of one entrance and exit point at the front lobby. We staggered the schedules for LS, MS, and US to accommodate this plan, causing minor inconveniences for families whose students span these grade levels. Next fall, student drivers will be required to have a parking permit visible on their vehicle and we will have a more robust, thorough system for accounting for visitors on campus during the school day. The security camera network continues to expand as we install more "eyes" in both external and internal locations. We are listening to and acting upon expert advice on providing a secure learning environment for OCS students, and we ask for the trust of our families that we cannot divulge more details.

In a Christian community, it is common to throw out Bible verses to provide comfort in hard times. There is nothing wrong with encouraging each other with Scripture, but let's be sure to use the Spirit-inspired words to remind ourselves of who God says He is—for an accurate view of God will rightly inform us of who we are. Look at Psalm 56:8–11 and marvel that we do not have to be afraid because God sovereignly reigns, and he also intimately cares about our grief and fears.

You have kept count of my tossings; 
put my tears in your bottle. 
Are they not in your book? 
Then my enemies will turn back 
in the day when I call. 
This I know, that God is for me. 
In God, whose word I praise, 
in the Lord, whose word I praise, 
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. 
What can man do to me? 
(Psalm 56:8–11 ESV)

May we be people who stand firm in faith, knowing that the powerful God we serve is aware of every moment of our lives. Pray for the administration and faculty to have clear vision and calm hearts in the days ahead as we strive to care for students with excellence here at OCS.

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School

ACSI Accreditation Renewal

The fourth quarter heralds the first glimpses of the school year's end, which can be exhilarating and bittersweet — looking at you, parents of seniors! Tempting as it may be to focus on the countdown toward summer break, make the most of today and the time you have been given to sow seeds of truth into these young lives. Whether you're in the classroom or the home, share the gospel of Jesus Christ with this captive audience, for their formation as well as yours.

Our accreditation with ACSI is being reviewed this month for renewal. The OCS faculty, administration, and school board have been working for several months to prepare for this important three-day site visit (special thanks to Mrs. Rozier, Mrs. Prendergast, Mrs. Garrett, Mrs. New, Ms. Morales, Mrs. Noice, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Towns). They have gathered and organized the necessary data to present a picture of what happens here at OCS on a daily basis. 

The reviewers coming next week have expertise in private Christian schools and they will assess various dimensions of OCS. We have confidence that the final report will conclude that we meet the required standards of excellence to continue to be accredited with ACSI and Cognia. But more importantly, this process will give us additional insights from an outside perspective, which is invaluable for continuous school improvement.

As a part of this process, some students and parents in our community have been asked to connect with the accreditation team. They desire the opportunity to hear from our community regarding their experience at OCS. All of this work is part of our overall goal to “cultivate an environment in which followers of Christ may flourish as they become biblical thinkers, lifelong learners, and servant leaders.” We are grateful for ACSI and the guidance offered as our staff engages your students to form their minds around a distinctly Christian view of reality.

Accreditation ensures that a school is being formed in a healthy manner. Education is all about formation—and not just for school-aged students. I want to leave you with an encouragement to pursue knowledge of the one true God. Our school is only as strong as the families who commit to partner with us, and those families are made up of individuals who make choices each day about the people they are becoming. Our staff is reading Delighting in the Trinity this semester for just this reason: to be purposely formed by meditating on who God is. From the introduction, we read:

"Nonetheless, getting to know God better does actually make for far more profound and practical change as well. Knowing the love of God is the very thing that makes us loving. Sensing the desirability of God alters our preferences and inclinations, the things that drive our behavior: we begin to want God more than anything else....[this] is not to play an intellectual game. In fact, we will see that the triune nature of this God affects everything from how we listen to music to how we pray: it makes for happier marriages, warmer dealings with others, better church life; it gives Christians assurance, shapes holiness and transforms the very way we look at the world around us. No exaggeration: the knowledge of this God turns lives around." (Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, page 10)

Knowledge of Him affects everything, including how we use our time. May we all become stronger followers of Jesus Christ and more effective at discipling our children to the glory of God, especially as we near the end of this school year.

Penny Hayes M.Ed.
Head of School