Redeemer Bible Church. Photo by Renee Umsted.
Editor’s note (April 17): A statistic about the percentage of Highlander School teachers and students joining Highlands Christian School has been deleted.
Highlands Christian School is asking the City of Dallas for a specific use permit to operate at Redeemer Bible Church.
Leaders of the newly created school hope to begin offering classes in August, so they need the permit soon.
About 35 people, including neighbors, school staff and student families, attended a community meeting at the church Monday night to hear about Highlands’ plans.
The founding Woodring family of Highlander School chose to close the school after 57 years of educating pre-K through sixth graders. Families with students at Highlander were facing difficult choices about where to attend school in the next academic year.
Volunteer leadership of the school led by Jeff Giddens formed a new entity, Highlands Christian School, and approached the Woodring family about purchasing the real estate and other assets of the school. No agreement could be reached, so Giddens and the Highlands Christian School board quickly pivoted.
Members of St. Bart’s Anglican Church, whose congregation meets at Redeemer, made Giddens aware of Redeemer’s education wing. Dallas Academy had moved high-school classes to Redeemer for a few months  after a plumbing issue required significant construction, but the school recently vacated the church. It seemed like the stars, or some other celestial body, had lined up for Highlands Christian School.
The site at 721 Easton Road is zoned R-7.5 for single-family residential. Other uses, such as a school, are permitted in R-7.5 with a specific use permit.
Dallas Academy had begun the process for an SUP but didn’t finish because they moved back to their campus at Lake Highlands Drive and Buckner. Highlands stepped into Dallas Academy’s shoes in the application process.
About 35 people attended the April 3 meeting at Redeemer Bible Church to discuss Highlands Christian School’s request for a specific use permit. Photo by Sam Gillespie.
Michael Jung, the plan commissioner for District 9, opened the meeting. Giddens introduced the neighbors to Highlander’s history and explained plans for Highlands Christian School. First-year enrollment won’t exceed 100 students, and the maximum capacity would be 150 students.
Highlands Christian School zoning consultant Jennifer Hirohito reviewed the SUP request and current plans. Most of the discussion in the following Q&A centered around managing the traffic queues for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times. The Redeemer site is advantaged with a large parking lot with 188 spaces and a straightforward method of lining up cars for drop-off and pick-up. The traffic plan shows cars entering from Easton Road and exiting onto Lake Highlands Drive.
The SUP would have a two-year initial term with automatic renewals at the staff level if certain thresholds are met. Jung questioned the concept of an automatic first renewal but didn’t hear anything from Highlands Christian School or the neighbors to give him pause about supporting the request.
As East Dallas rezones go, this was as cozy as they get. Neighbors wanted to understand the traffic implications, and all answers seemed acceptable to those in attendance.
Highlands Christian School hopes for a May 4 Plan Commission hearing and a late June City Council meeting for final approval.
