Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Adding Elementary School

Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Church will open an elementary school this fall, church leaders announced.

Church leaders decided in a vote on Tuesday to establish a school on the church property for grades 1 through 5, according to a newsletter sent out to the congregation.

The discussion about constructing the school, which will be named The Presbyterian Academy at Palm Desert, initially came in April from parents at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, which is set to close at the end of this school year.

“Over a two-week period, they spent many hours meeting and conducting an extensive analysis of the feasibility and proposal for us to establish an elementary school,’’ the newsletter states.

Church leaders decided early on that the school will be part of the Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Church and would not be a transfer of St. Margaret’s School.

However, teachers out of a job at St. Margaret’s have agreed to become employees of the Presbyterian school, according to the newsletter.

PDCPC already has a preschool and kindergarten on its property.

“The parents with whom our task force met are very desirous of having their children in a church-affiliated school,’’ according to the letter.

The church leaders also set out stipulations:

• Enrollment must be approximately 65 students by June 15.
• The parents group shall guarantee to fund financial deficits for the first two years.
• The parents group shall deposit $50,000 into an account determined by PDCPC Trustees by June 15, 2011.
• The PDCPC Session and Trustees shall develop a specific implementation plan.

A meeting is set for Sunday, June 5 at 10:45 a.m. at Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Church, where parents can ask questions.