For over a decade, Mary Orlando has been the rock of our Kindergarten program.  It’s hard to picture the Heritage Kindergarten without her, but today was her last school day before retiring. One of the greatest blessings we experience at Heritage is getting to know and appreciate outstanding people like Mary, who are far more than employees – they are our dear brothers, sisters, and good friends.  The end of the school year always brings transitions that stir our emotions.  Retirement is not the only reason people leave.  Some are changing careers, moving across the country ..read more

Senior Chapel.  I’ve watched a lot of these ceremonies at the different schools I’ve worked at through the years.  Yesterday, as our seniors prayed, sang, performed, and shared their thoughts, I thought about why I love Heritage so much. Many senior chapels, while they pay tribute to Jesus, are mostly about the seniors themselves.  We saw a humble selflessness yesterday.  These young men and women, during their last day of school, focused all of their songs, comments, and videos on the faithfulness of God.  No one coerced them to pick this theme or required them to sta ..read more

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… – Hebrews 12:1-2 Heritage has graduated approximately 2,000 students in its 49-year history.  Both last week and this week, we had alumni speaking in our chapels, challenging and encouraging our students.  As we prepare to launch another group of grads into the world, I’m imagining what the crowd of ..read more

Over the last seven days, I’ve watched some of our employees go above and beyond the call of duty in remarkable ways.  Here’s what I witnessed: Last week, I had the privilege of joining MSHS Teacher Caleb Conn on an accreditation visit to Christian Life School in Kenosha. I was impressed by the way Mr. Conn prepared for the visit, and for the excellence he sought to deliver while on the trip.  The last night he stayed up very late completing his section of the report, and then he was up early the next morning taking care of team details.  He was a great team player! While a num ..read more

Heritage teachers and staff are busy preparing for our re-accreditation that will come in April 2023.  Our goal is to use this process to help us reach for higher standards – doing much more than just meeting the bare minimum requirements needed to keep our accreditation in place. While all of this has been taking place at Heritage, I have been preparing to join a team of educators who will conduct a re-accreditation visit to Christian Life School (CLS) in Kenosha.  Our visit began on Monday and finished today (I wrote this on Monday). The people working with me are sharp, including ..read more

A leadership change that took place on our board last month.  But first, some history. About 13 years ago, Heritage was facing one the greatest financial challenges in its 49 years of existence.  Months before, Dave Cotteleer, a dad in the school and executive at Harley Davidson, joined the school board.  Soon he became the president of the board, just as he and his colleagues began to realize the extent of the trouble the school faced.  The task of righting the ship was daunting to say the least! The school board wrestled with budgets and financial decisions for the next f ..read more

We are excited to announce our new principal – someone we know and love.  Ron Nickell, who served as the HCS elementary principal from 2013-19, will be back in that role again next year. Ron dynamically led our elementary program, gaining the trust of teachers and his fellow administrators while raising the bar of excellence for both faculty and students.  He helped shape the Leadership Trek, which seeks to help all students become our vision of a Heritage graduate: relational, honorable, godly, and prepared.  Student test scores and parent satisfaction rose during his leadershi ..read more

When we gather one day in heaven, those who will receive the greatest praise from Jesus will probably not be those we would expect.  It will not likely be the pastors in the spotlight or the evangelists in the news.  We get a clue from Matthew 23:11, “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” We overlook some of the greatest people at Heritage.  We might miss the kitchen worker who prepares fresh food hours in advance of lunch, the janitor who cleans a toilet where a student threw up, or the bus driver who battles work-traffic during a snowstorm.  They are heroes, for ..read more

A few weeks ago, I tipped my hat to my love of nonfiction books by pointing out the many benefits of reading biographies.  As I become engrossed in my latest book, The Count of Monte Cristo, I would love to inspire students and families to read more fiction, especially as found in many books considered classics. Rewards derived from great fiction books include: Truth lived out – if a story models real life, we see characters ultimately rewarded or punished for the decisions they make. This reminds us the same will be true for us. Relational lessons – we can reflect how relationships betw ..read more

“Stop!  Help!”  If I were shouting these words when you were dropping off your students, I’m guessing you might get out of your car and ask if there is a problem.  I’ll spare you the drama, but there is a problem.  Parent input is vitally important to us! Every year we send out a key school-wide survey, which is critical for how we make decisions in advancing the mission of the school.  Our current survey, issued by Independent School Management (ISM), was set to close yesterday, but we were far behind the mark we needed for parent participation.  We have extended ..read more