Friends Christian School History and Description

Friends Christian School was begun as a ministry of Yorba Linda Friends Church in 1975. Preschool classes were offered that first year, a kindergarten class was added the next fall, and the pattern of expansion continued through 1984 when the school included preschool through eighth grade.

In 1984, Rose Drive Friends Church joined as co-sponsor of Friends Christian School, and grades five through eight were offered at the Rose Drive church site.  In September of 1985, Little Friends Preschool, which had been founded in 1969 by Rose Drive Friends Church, was integrated into the Friends Christian School system.

Today, Friends Christian School is comprised of four distinct educational organizations.  Preschools, including kindergartens, are on both campuses. Grades one through four are located at the Yorba Linda Friends Church site on Lakeview, and grades five through eight are found on the Rose Drive facility.

God has blessed Friends Christian School in many ways, one being the growth in attendance, expanding from a preschool of twenty students in 1975, to a current enrollment of over 1300 students, preschool through eighth grade, serving some 900 families.

The School Board of Friends Christian School consists of men and women who are members of either Yorba Linda Friends Church or Rose Drive Friends Church, the two sponsoring churches of Friends Christian School. The Superintendent of Friends Christian School, Rick Kempton, is on the pastoral staff at Rose Drive Friends Church. The Assistant Superintendent, Ron Ralston, is also the Principal of the elementary school, and is on the pastoral staff at Yorba Linda Friends Church. Larry Lewis is the Principal of the Middle School.  Each preschool has its own director; Sandy Pierce is the Director of Little Friends Preschool and Kindergarten on the Rose Drive campus and Krista Slezak is the Director of the preschool and kindergarten programs on the Lakeview campus.

The families who have been blessed by the ministry of Friends Christian School praise God for the leadership and vision of the sponsoring churches, and appreciate the outstanding school facilities and the successful curricular and cocurricular programs taught by competent and loving men and women of God. All of these combine to provide a quality Christian education for the children God has placed in the care of Friends Christian School.