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When we think about the distinctives of Liberty Christian School, both internally and externally, our biblical foundation and commitment to operating from a biblical worldview would certainly be at the top of the list. Academics would also be at the top of the list. However, there are other factors and behaviors that help to describe how Liberty Christian is distinguishable from other schools.

In his article titled, School Distinctives and Why it Matters, Charles L. Glenn identified four aspects of schools that can help determine how they are distinctive. According to Glenn, "climate," "culture," "ethos," and "character" working together help describe who we are. For the purposes of this blog, I want to focus on climate and culture.

Climate can be described as what others see or "feel" when they are on our campus. Visitors to our campus often point to a "special feeling" when they walk our hallways. Something about our school feels different! I have heard this so many times over my eight years at Liberty, and I believe that has a lot to do with the people in the building, but more importantly, the presence of the Lord in our midst.

Another key ingredient for school climate is student success – including co-curricular success. With the recent success of our fall athletic programs, including a recent state volleyball championship and football in the midst of a playoff run, as well as our amazing fine arts programs, we are experiencing increased school spirit and community involvement. When the community rallies around our students, the climate of our school and the overall experience for our school community is elevated. Student support is a vital ingredient to school climate!

Culture, according to the author, deals primarily with the unseen workings of a school’s climate. Relationships, behaviors, and expectations, weigh heavily into the overall culture of our school. In fact, most schools, including Liberty have multiple cultures delineated by school, staff, students, and parents.  

While having multiple cultures is not necessarily a bad thing, questions remain – how do we ensure that those cultures are ultimately feeding into a desired overall school culture? Is our culture contributing to or working against successful performance across our campus?

Our interactions with one another, the choices we make related to positive and negative behaviors, as well as our attitude and responses to expectations will go a long way toward determining our culture!

The relationships between the school and its stakeholders is of the utmost importance. However, it is the behaviors exhibited through those relationships that can have the deepest impact on culture. How are the behaviors demonstrated between stakeholders (student to student, staff to student, parent to staff, etc.) helping us accomplish our mission here at Liberty? What behaviors and attitudes are we modeling for our students by the way we address issues on our campus? We must be committed to operating from the same playbook. God’s Word and the Warrior Way are pretty good starting points!

This is a common thread for many Christian schools and something we need to dive deeper into together. School culture is so very important and it is something that I will be speaking into over the next several months. We have some amazing opportunities in front of us, and a whole lot to be thankful for (Thanksgiving is almost here!)!

In partnership with ACSI and the Flourishing Schools initiative, one of our goals for this year is to enhance our culture by developing trust-filled, supportive, and authentic relationships with all stakeholders commensurate with the Warrior Way. Again, I will be covering more on these topics on the blog over the next few months.

In the near future, we will begin the process of developing a long-term strategic plan for Liberty. These plans will be a compass for our future and will require input from all of our stakeholders. I am thankful for our Liberty Christian community and look forward to the journey ahead. 

Please be in prayer as we seek to galvanize our distinctives for the present and future years to come! Stay tuned for more on the part we all play to make Liberty a unique place to be!

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Read Dr. McCullough's entire series!
• Part 1: Climate and Culture: What sets us apart?
• Part 2: Campus-wide Culture: Relationships, Behaviors, and Expectations at LCS

Dr. Blair McCullough serves as the President of Liberty Christian School.