A new Christian school in Logan County will open its doors in August, offering what one of its directors calls “a quality Christian education in a safe environment.”

“Our curriculum and our day will be based around the Christian faith,” said Robyn Crider, the school’s director of education. “We will integrate that throughout everything that we do during the day.”

Crider said Logan Christian Academy is hoping to get between 75 and 80 students for its first school year beginning Aug. 6. She declined to say how many students are currently enrolled. The school is accepting student applications, which are available on the school’s website at www.loganchristianacademy.org.

The school is using a 5,000-square-foot space previously used by Daymar College next to Walmart in Russellville. Class sizes will be small, with 16 students per classroom, and the size of the classrooms themselves average 400 square feet, Crider said.

It will be open to students from 2 years old and offer up to the eighth grade. The school is using a curriculum developed by Abeka, a publisher connected to Pensacola Christian College.

Tuition for 2-year-old students up to kindergarten is $350 monthly. It is $440 for first to fourth grades and $490 for fifth grade and up. Crider said the school is offering discounts and scholarships for qualifying families.

The school is currently unaccredited, but Crider said the school is working through the process. She said it’s employing certified teachers from the first grade up.

Its advisory board is made up of local business and community leaders, including Jennifer Smotherman, Jana Hanks, Josh Harper, Stacy Gant and two other members who haven’t been recruited yet, Crider said. Holly Bowman is the school’s director of administration.

The school is also taking security measures, including employing two staff members with concealed-carry permits.

“We have security doors and security measures that will be in place,” she said. “We also will have two people, two of our staff – one of our faculty and one of our staff – that will be concealed carry. We take the safety of our children very literally here.”

For Crider, the school is about opportunity for students.

“Each child that gets this kind of background and has this kind of opportunity, it’s going to change their lives, not just their lives but their family’s,” she said. “It’s just a natural extension that it’s going to change our community and our state and our world. A lot of people who are making a difference around the world today started in this kind of environment.”