Wake Forest University has reached an agreement to buy the high-profile site of the Winston Salem First church and its school on University Parkway.
Katie Neal, assistant vice president for news and communications with Wake Forest University, said Friday that the deal for the property at 3730 University Parkway is expected to close in the late spring or early summer. She declined to disclose the agreed-on price, pending the official closing of the sale.
Neal said Wake Forest University doesn’t have immediate plans for the property.
“We will include it in future master planning efforts,” she said. “The church approached us in late 2018.”
Neal said because the property is adjacent to Wake Forest University, it presented an ideal opportunity.
The purchase agreement follows other recent Wake Forest purchases at 1021 and 1031 Polo Road, which closed in December, according to Forsyth County register of deeds filings. These parcels, which are about two acres, are surrounded by First Assembly of God. Wake Forest also bought Deacon Place LLC, at 2410 Whicker Acres Lane near the Polo Road entrance, at the end of 2018.
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Winston Salem First will be permitted to stay at the University Parkway location for at least three years, it said in a statement on its website, while it searches for a new location it hopes will be closer to downtown.
The church’s school, Winston Salem Christian, faces a very different timeline — as well as an uncertain future. Winston Salem First is ending its support for the school, and it currently appears the school will have to vacate the premises by the end of the academic year.
Neal said decisions regarding the school were made solely by the church and did not result from the agreement.
In a statement on the its website, the church also says the decision pertaining to the school was separate from the sale of the property
“Acting under the direction of our Board of Trustees, we have decided to end our existing funding of Winston Salem Christian School an close the school at its current location,” it said. “Our leaders did not make this difficult decision hastily, and it was made independent of and prior to the agreement to sell.”
Winston Salem First said in its public statement that it couldn’t afford to support a school.
“We made the decision to focus our resources on non-tuition based education for children that cannot afford to pay for private Christian education. Throughout the years, we have invested millions of dollars into the school, and every one of those dollars mattered. Lives were touched and changed, but moving forward we do not believe that this model is sustainable, especially when we are called to be stewards of this congregation’s resources and so few here participate in the school.”
The head of school, Dr. Bryan Wolfe, said he was notified by the church on Wednesday that the property had been sold to Wake Forest University. He told the staff in a faculty meeting on Thursday afternoon. Simultaneously, the church sent out an email to parents about the sale, Wolfe said.
News of the potential closing came as a blow to the small, close-knit community, many of whom have been at the school for years.
“I’m really devastated about Winston Salem First closing the school,” said Willonda Thomas.
Her son, Bryson, is 15 and in ninth grade. He’s been attending the school since he was 2, she said.
“He has friends he’s known all his life. It’s a smaller setting. He needs the one-on-one teaching. It’s how he thrives,” Thomas said. “There’s no other private school that’s a Christian education and affordable. It’s just devastating to have to leave. We sacrificed for him to go there. He needs that kind of setting and there’s no other school in Winston-Salem like it.”
Thomas called the timing unfortunate, as the enrollment period at many other schools is closing in the next few weeks, making it difficult to know where to attend if Winston Salem Christian is unable to stay open.
A call to the church was not returned Friday.
Winston Salem Christian serves a wide age group. There are about 100 students enrolled in its early learning center for younger students this academic year, Wolfe said. There’s also an elementary, middle and high school with about 300 students.
“I hope the school won’t close, but relocate,” he said. “We haven’t been given much time.”
Wolfe said the school’s first plan is to try to remain in its current location for a year while they try to raise funds for a new school. He’s reached out to staff at Wake Forest University to see if this is feasible.
Neal, with Wake Forest, said the university is open to discussing that with Winston Salem Christian.
“The head of school has reached out and we have assured him we would meet with school leadership about potentially making the school building available for a period beyond Wake Forest’s purchase of the property,” she said. “Of course, funding for the school would also be a key component to its continuation.”
Wolfe is also working on an alternate plan: To see if the school can be moved to Woodland Baptist Church’s former location on Patterson Avenue. The church is being used by New Jerusalem Cathedral Church.
Wolfe said there is a school on that property that is currently vacant. Winston Salem Christian is hoping to raise $2 million within a year, but $500,000 is needed to repair the church on the Patterson Avenue property to get it ready by the fall. He said the money would go for repairs for the HVAC unit, plumbing, flooring, roofing and more.
“It would need to be brought up to speed to be used for school,” he said. “It’s been vacant for about six years.”
Wolfe said regardless of where the school moves, he feels strongly most of the students and faculty will follow. He said some of the staff has been at the school 30 years. He said the news the church wanted to sell the property wasn’t a surprise, but the details and lack of notice were.
On Friday, as the news further reverberated among the school community, Wolfe’s feelings were validated. Students were rallying on social media, trying to raise money for the school. A GoFundMe account was created, with about $18,000 raised in a day. Students used “#savewscs” on social media to draw attention to their cause.
Hannah Mae Elliott, 17, is a junior at the school. She said she can’t imagine going anywhere else.
“This school is more than a school to me. It’s a family and a home,” Elliott said. “I have walked in these doors for 16 years. Everyone embodies Christ’s love. We do internships, school trips, and we go into the community on service projects and show Christ’s love.”
She said the school closing is not an option.
“I know I cannot leave this school. I have to be with my friends and my teachers,” Elliott said. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have this school.”
Winston Salem Christian School is celebrating its 40th year on Saturday evening, and Elliott said the event will be used to try to spread the message of the plight of the school.
“We’ll use the 40th birthday to show God’s faith,” she said. “We hope to spread more awareness.”
Freshman Kate Shotwell, 15, is only in her first year at the school, but also said the school supported her.
“Here the teachers care about you and how you are doing emotionally and spiritually, not just academically,” she said. “You can tell that these teachers care about every single one of us and want us to be the best person we can be.”
She said there were also no real “cliques” at the school, just one big group of people.
High school history teacher Lizzy Broughton said she wants to remain with the school.
“We just want a chance to continue,” she said. “I would go anywhere Dr. Wolfe was going. As long as Winston Salem Christian exists, I would do anything I can to be a part of it.”
She attributes this to the students.
“I think it’s very diverse and is a reflection of this city. A lot of our kids have been here forever,” Broughton said. “My kids are on their phones, on social media, fighting for their school. You don’t give up on kids like that. I have to stay with them.”