Cedar Park takes over North Sound Christian Schools

Students at North Sound Christian Schools will not see significant change after a merger with Cedar Park Church, officials say.

North Sound, which runs a secondary school in Mountlake Terrace and an elementary school in Lynnwood, is merging with Cedar Park, a Christian organization based in Bothell that runs seven churches, three schools, a thrift store, a funeral home and more.

The North Sound Christian campuses will stay in their current locations. A Christian school in Mill Creek serving early elementary grades will be reopened as a result of the merger.

“We want to keep the heritage and history of North Sound Christian and blend in the assets of Cedar Park Christian schools, which is a much bigger district,” said Clint Behrends, superintendent of Cedar Park Christian Schools.

Cedar Park Schools has about 1,800 students and North Sound Christian has about 500.

“I think what will change is the muscle to get resources — that could be personnel or facility,” Behrends said.

North Sound approached Cedar Park about the merger, he said.

“There were some debts that needed to be paid right away and what we did was to take over their financial responsibilities and therefore assume management of the schools,” he said.

He declined to elaborate on the debts or put a number on them.

North Sound Christian officials did not respond to requests for information from the Enterprise.

In August, North Sound Christian mothballed a Christian school it owned in Mill Creek called Life Christian that served early elementary students, Behrends said.

Cedar Park wants to open that school right away.

“We’ve got people there now that are cleaning it out and getting it ready,” he said.

Leadership at the Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood campuses will change as a result of the merger. Behrends will become superintendent and will assign a principal to the high school, he said.

Cedar Park wanted to merge with North Sound Christian because Cedar Park has a vision, Behrends said.

“It meets our vision of trying to build strong Christian schools throughout the region,” he said.