MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP – Prayers have been answered for local families wishing to send their kids to a Christian high school closer to home.

After years of market research, Medina Christian Academy will begin to offer ninth grade in fall 2017, 10th grade in fall 2018 and so on through its first graduating class in the 2020-21 school year.

The Medina Road school, which will continue to offer a religious-based curriculum for preschool through eighth grade, will be the only private Christian high school in Medina County.

“Most importantly, being able to offer Christian education for families with children in high school in Medina County, we just want to give people that option,” said MCA Principal Paige Donahoe. “We’re super excited.”

The four-year transition is expected to see an expansion of the school’s campus, which is attached to First Baptist Church, and the hiring of about eight new teachers, according to Donahoe. Two teachers could be hired before the 2017 school year begins.

“Adding on a grade each year ... will allow us to gradually begin to offer high school curriculums,” Donahoe said. “It’s a whole different ballgame. We are making sure we’re continuing to offer quality education.”

The Ohio Department of Education’s board previously approved MCA’s application to extend its charter to allow offering curriculums through 12th grade, Donahoe said.

“We had to send them the documented curriculum of what we would be teaching, objectives for each grade,” Donahoe said. “We already have the bones, but we can obviously add additional courses.”

Donahoe said MCA began surveying families countywide – including both whose children attend public and private schools – about three years ago. She said the interest received has been “overwhelming” enough to move forward with the additions.

“Especially from Christian families and Catholic families,” Donahoe said. “Our board has been researching if there is a market for it and we have been talking about it as a school and if this is the direction we want to go.”

MCA families were notified last week of the upcoming additions.

Depending on numbers, Donahoe did not rule out MCA being able to field some high school sports teams during the first four years, possibly starting with junior varsity cross country, basketball and volleyball programs.

Other high school extracurricular activities – including speech and debate, creative writing, ski club, chess club and student council – are being pursued as well.

“We will also be able to offer College Credit Plus programs starting in 2018,” Donahoe said.

MCA, formed in 1981, is funded by private tuitions, though it does use the public resources of the Medina County Educational Service Center to work with special education programming of the nearby public Medina City School District.

The school also has transportation agreements to bus MCA students who reside in the Medina, Highland, Buckeye and Cloverleaf districts.