Lutheran South News
Campus Master Plan Update
Dear Alumni and Friends of Lutheran South,
Now that summer is in full swing, I wanted to share some exciting news concerning plans for the future of Lutheran South.
As our school facilities have aged, their appearance and functionality have not kept pace with other local public and private schools and have significant deferred maintenance issues. Accordingly, a major priority of the strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2018 is to modernize and upgrade our facilities to meet the needs of students and support excellence in program delivery for years to come.
Toward that end, the Board has recently adopted a long-range facilities master plan for Lutheran South. This ambitious facilities master plan is the result of many hours of work by the staff and faculty, along with input from students, donors, and other stakeholders. The drawings call for the new construction of a central core including media creation and STEM classroom space and student services, new construction of a 700-seat auditorium for chapel and performing arts, new construction of athletic spaces, renovation of existing classroom spaces and dramatically improving the “curb appeal” of Lutheran South. You can review the campus master plan here.
The Board has now retained a consulting firm, the Steier Group, to conduct a feasibility study over the next several months. This study will help us to determine the potential readiness of the greater Lutheran South community for this master plan and a future capital campaign that would bring this bold vision to fruition. You will be contacted at some point before the end of the year, and we covet your input in order that we might make the best decisions for the future of Lutheran South.
At the same time, we celebrate our exciting building improvements already underway. New windows and restroom renovations will be ready for the upcoming school year in addition to new lighting and other improvements already completed this year. We thank the many donors who contributed more than $1.1 million in direct giving and gifts-in-kind to fund this work. These enhancements have been planned to complement the future construction in the master plan and are bringing much-needed improvement to the campus.
At the end of the day, the most important aspect of Lutheran South is not its facilities, but rather the learning, Gospel sharing, and community building that goes on in the classrooms, in the hallways, and on the athletic fields and courts. Under the leadership of our president, Dr. Alan Runge, and our Lutheran South Principal, Mr. Jonathan Butterfield, there is a new commitment and zeal in our educational mission at Lutheran South as faculty and staff seek to continuously improve all phases of our ministry toward excellence. It’s an exciting time to be at South, and if you have not been on campus recently, I encourage you to stop by and see what all the buzz is about!
Thank you for being part of the Lutheran South community. Kindly keep the school in your prayers as we discern God’s will for its future. And finally, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or input you might have regarding the facility master plan and the upcoming feasibility study.
With Praise to God for His Blessings,
Jonathan D. Schultz
Chair, Board of Trustees
Inspiring students through a Christ-centered lens to live courageously and serve faithfully
