Prineville, Ore. — As families prepare for the start of another school year, Crook County Christian School is seeing continued growth while also working to accommodate families left searching for new educational and childcare options following the abrupt closure of High Desert Christian Academy.
High Desert Christian Academy announced in late July that it would permanently close effective July 31st, ending operations just weeks before the start of the 2026-27 school year. The announcement came after the school had continued advertising enrollment, tuition assistance, childcare and other programs for the upcoming year.
The closure left families with children ranging from daycare age through high school suddenly considering other options.
For Crook County Christian School, Principal and First Assembly of God Pastor Aaron Mapes said that meant an unusually busy summer.
“Normally July is a little bit of an enrollment lull for us, but we had a very busy July,” Mapes told the Prineville Review during a recent interview and tour of the school.
Mapes said members of the school’s administrative team returned from their summer break earlier than usual to handle phone calls, meet with families, provide tours and conduct placement testing for prospective students.
“We were pretty much here most of July for the purpose of just wanting to be available as parents” reached out, Mapes said.
The school has already grown considerably heading into the new school year. Mapes said Crook County Christian School had about 55 students four years ago before increasing to 88, then around 100 and approximately 105 students last year. Enrollment had already reached 127 students at the time of the Prineville Review’s visit.
Some of that growth has come directly from families affected by High Desert’s closure.
One of the most immediate needs involved childcare. High Desert had offered daycare options in addition to its school programs, leaving some parents searching not simply for another school, but somewhere for their younger children.
Crook County Christian School responded by adding a class for two-year-olds, something the school had not offered during the previous year.
Mapes said several parents with two-year-old children approached the school after previously relying on High Desert’s daycare program.
“If you guys are putting up a twos class, we would — we’re looking for care,” Mapes recalled parents telling the school.
That demand became the impetus for adding the class. The school expects to have four full preschool classes this year and approximately 45 children enrolled at the preschool level and younger.
Mapes said the school remains open to considering additional childcare options in the future depending on what families in the community say they need.
“This helped with an immediate need,” Mapes said. “But we’ve looked at, you know, in the future do we want to continue to have more daycare options available for families that might need that in the community, and of course, a lot of that will be based on demand.”
School continues growth after restarting in 2022
Crook County Christian School itself has a history intertwined with Christian education in Prineville.
As previously reported by the Prineville Review, Crook County Christian School originally operated at First Assembly of God for approximately 21 years before ceasing operations in 2015. High Desert Christian Academy was formed as a separate nonprofit that year and operated from church facilities as a tenant before later relocating.
The actual history has remained an ongoing dispute, although Oregon non-profit records appear to discount the claims made by the now defunct High Desert Christian Academy.
Crook County Christian School subsequently restarted its own school program in 2022 as a ministry of First Assembly of God.
Mapes said the school now has 16 classrooms between its two buildings and more than 20 employees across administration, preschool, elementary, secondary and support positions.
While connected to First Assembly of God, Mapes stressed that the school is intended to serve Christian families throughout Crook County — not simply members of his own congregation.
“This is really and always has been a ministry to the community of Prineville,” Mapes said.
He described Crook County Christian School as interdenominational, with a basic statement of faith centered on beliefs shared among evangelical Christian churches.
Mapes pointed to relationships with pastors from other area churches and said he wants those churches to feel comfortable recommending the school to their own families. He also said only a small percentage of the school’s students come from First Assembly of God itself.
Affordability remains part of school’s mission
As enrollment grows, Mapes said keeping private Christian education financially accessible remains another focus.
The school intentionally keeps tuition below comparable private schools elsewhere in Central Oregon, according to Mapes, while also providing scholarships and discounts for families with multiple children enrolled.
“We try to keep tuition as affordable as possible,” Mapes said. “And when families can’t afford that, we ask them to come talk to us, and we say, ‘What can we do to bridge the gap?’”
Mapes estimated the school distributes between $40,000 and $50,000 in scholarships during an average year, much of it raised through fundraising dinners.
Some are smaller “bridge scholarships” of $500 or $1,000 intended to close the gap between what families can afford and the full cost of tuition.
“We do not want cost to be the only factor that keeps a family out of Crook County Christian School,” Mapes said.
Focus on academics and Christian worldview
Mapes said the school’s mission combines academics with what he described as intentional development of a biblical worldview.
“We’re not teaching kids just what to think, but how to think,” Mapes said.
He said the goal is for students to be able to encounter competing ideas, evaluate them and develop the academic skills needed for college, careers or trades while maintaining the Christian foundation emphasized by the school.
Reading has been a particular focus since the school restarted four years ago.
Mapes said the school aims to have students become strong and confident readers by second grade, arguing that reading comprehension becomes foundational to virtually every other subject students encounter as they progress through school. He said the school has seen students reading above grade level and test scores increase since making reading a central academic emphasis.
For older students, the school is also exploring partnerships and hybrid learning opportunities that could allow students to participate in college-level courses or programs offered through the public education system while remaining enrolled in the Christian school.
Mapes said maintaining relationships with the public school system is important because some students may want access to specialized courses or programs that a smaller private school cannot independently provide.
‘Come and talk to us’
Despite the growth, Mapes said most classes still had openings as the beginning of the school year approached, although a couple were nearing capacity.
He encouraged families still considering their options — particularly those whose plans changed following High Desert’s closure — not to wait too long to contact the school.
“We have a couple classes that are on the line that’s full, but most of our classes do still have room to accept students,” Mapes said.
Mapes also acknowledged the difficult circumstances surrounding High Desert’s sudden closure and the disappointment experienced by families who had supported that school.
“First of all, I want to acknowledge it’s difficult for families when a school closes,” Mapes said. “We really want to be as much a support to families as we possibly can in the community.”
His message to families who may know little about Crook County Christian School — or who may have previously identified more closely with High Desert — was simply to come speak with the school’s staff.
Mapes said the administration maintains what it calls an “open door policy,” allowing parents and community members to stop in and ask questions when administrators are available or schedule a meeting if they are not.
“I think that Christian education is more important than ever,” Mapes said. “So it’s actually my hope that as a community we’ll continue to rally around Christian education as we have when there were two schools that were here.”
Mapes said he has also personally reached out to High Desert Christian Academy’s board and offered to meet with its members.
“I do want Christian education in Crook County to move forward in a united front and united format,” Mapes said, adding that High Desert’s board indicated it intended to arrange a meeting with him.
Rather than viewing High Desert’s closure simply as an opportunity for his own school’s growth, Mapes said he hopes the broader community that previously supported two Christian schools will continue supporting Christian education in Crook County.
For the Crook County Christian School staff who gave up part of their summer to help make that transition possible for families, Mapes said the willingness came naturally.
“Nobody complained,” Mapes said. “They actually were excited to be able to help.”
He praised the school’s administrative and teaching staff for their willingness to respond to families during an unexpected period of transition.
“They really do love families. They really do love students,” Mapes said. “They do this because they’re completely dedicated to it.”
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
