Grace City Church Resubmits Application To Use King's Orchard Church for New School
In it, Pastor of Finances Kyle Strong characterizes concern about the school by some to be "legally irrelevant" and "the product of baseless rumors and innuendo"
Grace City Church Pastor of Finances Kyle Strong on Feb. 11 submitted an updated application for a conditional use permit to use King’s Orchard Church on Orchard Avenue in Wenatchee as the site for the organization’s new school they plan to open in the fall.
A public hearing for the original CUP application was postponed indefinitely after the city received more than 90 public comments for the hearing, according to the Wenatchee World. Some folks shared their concern with GCC’s plan to have armed men patrolling the campus, which is located in a residential neighborhood near two public elementary schools and Wenatchee Valley College.
Strong confirmed they plan on having armed guards and addressed that issue in the cover letter of the application.
“With respect to the Church’s planned use of guards to ensure the safety of students, we note that every public school district in our area has a school resource officer,” Strong wrote. “The Church endorses the commitment to student safety underlying state law that authorizes private schools to similarly avail themselves of such safety measures.”
According to RCW 9.41.280 – possessing dangerous weapons on school facilities – anyone who is not a commissioned law enforcement officer may not possess a weapon on campus unless they receive training with that weapon equivalent to the training received by commissioned officers.