Students currently enrolled in the CAM (Character and Academics for the Marketplace) Academy will remain in the building throughout the 2021-22 school year, said Battle Ground Public Schools spokesperson Rita Sanders. The district will continue to scout new locations for the school. The lease expires Aug. 31.
Cornerstone is currently located at 10818 N.E. 117th Ave., where it hosts students from kindergarten through eighth grades and younger students in their Early Childcare Education program. Limited space forced the school to utilize portable units, which Yager cited as great spaces for education but still less than ideal. Previously, the school had been located for more than 30 years at Crossroads Community Church.
Cornerstone’s administrators hope to begin serving high school-age students in Battle Ground along with K-8 students, so that the Vancouver location can focus on just the pre-kindergarten students enrolled in ECE. That split, Yager said, is intended to avoid parents with students of varying ages needing to travel to both locations to drop off or pick up kids.
“Our hope is that families at Cornerstone can maintain their education without too much disruption,” Yager said.
Yager and others at Cornerstone had long been hoping for a way to add a second location. In March 2020 an anonymous benefactor provided the funding to allow for Cornerstone’s purchase of the CAM building.
“We had thought that if any money came, at all, it might be a possibility,” Yager said. “It was truly a miracle for us. It changed our vision.”
Cornerstone has about 250 students in its K-8 school, plus 100-110 enrolled in its ECE program. While Yager is welcoming incoming ninth-graders in the 2022-23 school year to kick off their high school education, she only anticipates 20-30 students at that grade level.
The dream, Yager said, is to eventually build a new elementary school at the site of the Vancouver location that would eventually feed into the secondary school in Battle Ground.
The renovation of the CAM Academy will primarily deal with technology updates, replacing carpeting and painting to match the current style of Cornerstone’s facilities. Eventually, Yager said, Cornerstone would like to build a gymnasium to facilitate better physical education classes.
“We’re just looking to do a little TLC,” Yager said. “We have every belief that Battle Ground is going to do a great job cleaning up as they leave.”
An informational open house will be held on Jan. 31 at Cornerstone’s current location in Vancouver. Enrollment for the 2022-23 school year will begin the next day, Feb. 1.
