A History of the Westside Lutheran
School Association
and Forest Hills Lutheran School
In 1992, members of the School Board at Pilgrim Lutheran
School in Beaverton began discussing ways to bring more students to their
classrooms, where there were openings for students, especially in the upper
grades. It was determined that because Pilgrim was the only Lutheran school
in Washington County, other Lutheran congregations could be targeted for
additional students.
Members of the Pilgrim Board made a series of presentations to other Missouri
Synod Lutheran congregations including Trinity and Zion, Hillsboro, Mt.
Olive, Forest Grove, St. Peter’s, Cornelius, Bethlehem, Aloha and
Prince of Peace in the Sunset area of Beaverton.
Out of these meetings grew an interest in combining forces to support Christian
education through Lutheran schools. The Pilgrim Board invited representatives
of these other congregations to meet monthly to discuss how this cooperation
could be facilitated. At the same time, Pilgrim’s enrollment grew
with the addition of preschool classes, and an afternoon kindergarten and
the school contemplated the addition of grades 7 and 8 in a new education
wing the school had added in 1991.
In 1993, Dan Seim, principal at Pilgrim and Bonnie Busacker (Moeller),
5th-6th grade teacher, were invited to visit the facilities of Good Shepherd
Home of the West, south of Cornelius by Chaplain Kachmarek. Good
Shepherd was in the process of relocating its developmentally disabled
residents to group homes in the area and was open to leasing its campus
to other organizations. The buildings there had been constructed on a 12-acre
campus in the early 70’s and were built to house 85 residents in
several residence buildings, an office and classroom building and several
other support structures. Lutherans of the area had contributed land and
financial resources to construct the facilities and were actively involved
in a number of efforts to maintain and operate the program.
The study committee focused on the possibility of opening a second Lutheran
school on the Good Shepherd campus as a sister school to Pilgrim. There
was discussion of an Association which could operate both
schools jointly.
The committee began serious discussions with representative of Good Shepherd
to lease facilities with options for eventually working out a purchase
agreement. At the same time, another group was drafting Articles of Incorporation
and Bylaws for the Westside Lutheran School Association. Surveys indicated
that a dozen or more Pilgrim students would enroll at the new school because
it was closer to their homes. It was felt others would enroll from the
community and from Lutheran congregations close to the school.
In the Spring of 1994, the movement had grown and plans were being laid
to open a new school. The Pilgrim Board involved members of the study group
in interviewing prospective teachers. The final organizing documents were
presented to the voting bodies of Lutheran congregations of the area for
adoption. Eight LC-MS congregations passed resolutions to join the Association,
provide initial financial support, and assist in recruiting students for
one of the two Lutheran schools.
In June, 1994, Pastor Warren Schumacher of Trinity, Hillsboro, led an opening
devotion at the initial Delegate Assembly of the Westside Lutheran School
Association in the multipurpose room at Good Shepherd. The room was filled
with furniture which had been donated for the new group homes. A few residents
were still living in some of the buildings on the campus and the office
staff had relocated to make the office building usable by the Migrant Head
Start program. The group resolved to call the new school Forest Hills Lutheran
School, (Tualatin Valley Lutheran School and Blooming Lutheran School were
other suggestions) to open with grades K-8 in five classrooms on the campus,
and to elect a Board of Directors to carry on with organizational decisions
for the new school.
By September, 1994, the Board had appointed teachers - Elaine Spidal, 1st-2nd
grades, Bonnie Busacker, 3rd-4th, Tammy Frerichs, 5th-6th, and Rich Bolton,
7th-8th grades. Sandy Hoffman was the last to be appointed to teach kindergarten
after the first candidate declined. Dan Seim continued to provide administration
to both Pilgrim and Forest Hills, commuting between the schools on a daily
basis. When the doors opened on the first day, forty-eight students reported
for classes.
With small classes and the prospect of a new program with a bright future,
Forest Hills completed its first year. Fundraising efforts helped to furnish
classrooms, purchase 10 new computers, and pay for a portion of the operating
expenses. A joint auction in the spring generated additional cash for both
Pilgrim and Forest Hills. Re-enrollment indicated solid support from families
to return their students for a second year. By the time the doors opened
for the second year, enrollment had nearly doubled to 92 students. The
first and second grades were split and Sarah Hoffman was added to the staff
to teach the second grade. Renovations were made to one of the residence
buildings and upper grade classes were relocated to a second building on
the campus.
Serious negotiations began with representatives of Good Shepherd to purchase
the campus. With support from local Good Shepherd Board members, the California-based
organization agreed to sell the campus to the Westside Lutheran School
Association for a selling price of $750,000. As a provision of a lease-back
agreement, Good Shepherd would continue to occupy office space on the campus
and reduce the selling price by $25,000 for every year that they remained
on the campus. Several major memorials provided the Association with nearly
$100,000 in down payment funds. The agreement was finalized in March, 1997.
The Head Start program continued to lease several areas of the campus but
now the landlord was the WLSA.
After three years of sharing an administrator, Pilgrim decided they need
additional administrative support and ended the agreement between the two
organizations. Earlier, the Pilgrim voting body had determined to continue
its undivided support of its own school rather than sharing control with
the WLSA. The congregation continued as a member of the Association but
was exempted from financial support by provision of the Association Bylaws.
Dan Seim continued as full-time principal at Forest Hills and Executive
Director of the Westside Lutheran School Association.
In the third year of operation, Forest Hills grew to 132 students and split
the 3rd-4th and 5th-6th combination classes. Carolyn Sellke and Scott Nelson
joined the teaching staff. Two years later the 7th and 8th grades were
split and Phyllis Nistad became the 9th Forest Hills teacher. Each grade
was in its own classroom and the school had expanded into the third building
on the campus. Enrollment climbed to 175 students in the 6th year of the
school’s operations. Financial support for reducing the mortgage
continued.
In 1998, Vince and Elaine Dobbin, grandparents of a Forest Hills first
grader presented the school with a $650,000 gift with which to build a
new gym and music building. The Board hired an architect and land use planner
to begin the building process. It was complicated by the transfer of ownership
from Good Shepherd to the Westside Lutheran School Association, and by
the school’s location in an Exclusive Farm Use region. After two
years Washington County gave approval to proceed with building plans and
three years after the initial gift, construction began in earnest.
In 1999, the estate of Mel Hering was presented to Forest Hills Lutheran
school. A portion of the funds were used to pay off the remaining mortgage
with Good Shepherd. The Forest Hills Endowment Fund benefited from the
estate with a half million dollars, earmarked for capital improvements.
Another half million dollars went to the WLSA endowment fund for financial
aid to needy students. New siding, septic system renovations, furnaces,
classroom carpeting, plumbing, and roofing improvements were made possible
through these funds and gifts from school friends over the past several
years.
The gym and music building was officially dedicated as the Dobbin Center
on March 20, 2002. Additional gifts from the Dobbin family and other
donors left a mortgage of about $300,000 when construction was completed. In
2004 the library was relocated to the multipurpose room in the Main Building
and dedicated after major renovations as the Seim Learning Center.
-Daniel N. Seim, Founding Principal
