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Immanuel Lutheran School | ||
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Parent Student Handbook | ||
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Contents |
Immanuel |
Registration |
General Information |
Student Conduct |
High School |
Extra-curricular
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Immanuel Lutheran School | ||
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Parent Student Handbook | ||
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We use the name Immanuel Lutheran School when speaking about our school, but the name actually includes both Immanuel Lutheran School is actually two schools—an elementary school and a high school. While the name Immanuel Lutheran School works well for administrative purposes, it may leave the impression cause some people in the community to believe that we no longer have a high school. Although both schools are now under one roof and most often are referred to by one name, the Immanuel congregation still operates two, fully-staffed schools.
Immanuel Lutheran School began when the church organized on September 13, 1866. Although the congregation wanted to open a school immediately, a shortage of available preachers delayed the start of classes until September 14, 1867. Almost twenty years later, the congregation built a school building on Third Avenue near the railroad crossing.
In 1903, the congregation dedicated a new four-room school. This building (now called the Wesley Building) is located on the corner of North Broad Street and Washington. In 1969, the congregation dedicated a new elementary school building, which was built as an attachment to Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, on the corner of Second and Spring.
When the Immanuel congregation withdrew from the Wisconsin Synod, some doubted that a congregation independent of a synod could exist. On May 25, 1959, God permitted the congregation to do another seemingly impossible thing—start a high school, college and a seminary, all scheduled to open the following September. Three teachers and 41 students, including boarding students from several states, started the school year in the North Chapel at the intersection of Third and Harper.
On January 6, 1961, the Immanuel congregation voted to join the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC). Three days later the congregation passed a resolution stating that the congregation stood ready to transfer the function of supervision of their school to the newly formed CLC synod.
In 1963, the CLC purchased land in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and the school, which had originated in Immanuel congregation, was taken out of Mankato. Recognizing that it would be financially impossible for many of Immanuel’s young people to attend if they had to board in Eau Claire, the Immanuel congregation voted early that summer to continue operating a high school. It would use the same building at Third and Harper that Immanuel Lutheran College had been using.
In 1979, the high school was moved to its present location on the church grounds of Immanuel at Second and Spring. An addition, consisting of three high school classrooms and a gymnasium, was constructed in 1991.
Over the years, Immanuel Lutheran High School, as well as Immanuel Lutheran Grade School, has served the church and the community by providing a Christian education to many students who are ready to be faithful stewards of God. It is by His grace that we continue to be Immanuel—God With Us.
The purpose of Immanuel Lutheran School is to assist parents in providing a Christian education to their children. God tells us in Mark 10:14, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” God directs parents in Proverbs 22:6 to “train a child in the way he should go,” namely, in the Lord’s way. This God-ordained work involves the application of God’s inspired and inerrant Word. Children need the instruction, guidance, discipline, and security that only God’s Word can give. Immanuel Lutheran School offers this type of education. The purpose of Immanuel Lutheran School is to assist parents in providing this Christian education to their children.
In general, Immanuel has two goals for the students entrusted to its care: that students will grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus, their Savior; and, that students will also become useful members of society. To accomplish these two goals, all aspects of the individual—soul, mind and body—must be trained.
The first goal mentioned above is reached through the study of God’s Word. Accomplishing the second goal—producing useful citizensmembers of society—also relies on the use of God’s Word. Since the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” God’s Word serves as the backdrop for all of our classes and provides us with a purpose for studying all topics. We study biology, mathematics, earth sciences, and physics to gain insight into His creation. In history classes, we learn of God’s all-powerful and abiding hand in the affairs of the world around us. We study language arts to improve our communication skills. The most valuable use of these skills is to share God’s message of peace and promise with others. We consider a Christian education, such as the one offered by Immanuel, to be the most complete and meaningful type of education available.
Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member of the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC). “The CLC is a confessional Lutheran church body which is dedicated to proclaiming the Good News of Christ crucified for sinners. It is made up of about 75 congregations in 24 states, as well as foreign mission fields in Canada, India, and Nigeria.
“Our teachings and practices are as narrow and broad as the Scriptures themselves, since we bow only to the authority of our Lord’s inerrant Word. The salvation won for us through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the driving force behind our efforts as a church body.
“All of the CLC member churches confess that the Bible is the inspired and unerring Word of God. They confess the creeds of the Lutheran Church without qualification, as they are found in the Book of Concord of 1580. Scripture itself is the source and foundation of Christian teaching and faith—The Lutheran confessions are a faithful setting forth of what Scripture teaches.” (CLC web site)
“The Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) considers itself to be the true spiritual descendant of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference, which was formed in 1872 and lasted until the early 1960’s. As that association of formerly conservative Lutheran church bodies in North America was drawing its last breath, the CLC was just becoming a church body.
“The CLC emerged from three of the former member churches of the Synodical Conference: primarily from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), but also from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS). The Synodical Conference had originally been formed on the basis of full agreement in doctrine and practice on the part of the member churches; it broke apart when that basis and the biblical doctrine of church fellowship on which it rested was no longer fully practiced by the member churches.
“Members of the CLC are eager to testify to the truths that had been held by the Synodical Conference in the days when it had been faithful to the doctrines of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, as found in the Book of Concord of 1580; thus the name that was chosen: Church of the Lutheran Confession.” (see the CLC web site at www.clclutheran.org)
Every Christian is called to preach the Gospel. The public ministry, however, is another matter. It is a ministry carried out on behalf of the Lord our God and in the name of fellow Christians in the areas of responsibility prescribed by them. The call is not a contract. In a call, God confers the ministry on a person. A call is in effect until God decides otherwise. The diploma of vocation outlines the work that the person called is obligated to do. It also outlines what the congregation is obligated to do for the person called.
In extending the call to a teacher, the congregation solemnly obligates the teacher to fulfill the following responsibilities:
In extending a call to a teacher, the congregation solemnly promises to support the teacher in the following ways:
While class size at Immanuel has ranged from two to twenty-one students per class, the average class size for grades K-12, since 1983, has been nine students per class.
In the elementary grades, each teacher is responsible for two grade levels. This arrangement means that 1st and 2nd grade pupils are in the same room with one teacher, 3rd and 4th grade pupils are in a room with their teacher, and 5th and 6th grade pupils are in a room with a teacher. With this arrangement, each teacher has close to eighteen students in the room. Within a classroom, the two grade levels are combined for some of their classes, such as science; for other subjects, such as math, each grade level has its own class period. (The kindergarten class is not combined with another grade level. It has it’s own classroom and teacher.