Dallas Lutheran School Working Toward Rebuild

New campus to accommodate 100 more students

Dallas Lutheran School leaders are working through its Arise & Build Capital Campaign to raise money to rebuild the campus destroyed by the October 2019 tornado.

The new campus will allow the student body to grow from 155 students to 250 or so. Specs will include office spaces, 15 classrooms, three science labs, a library, a gathering space, two computer labs, and fine arts rooms.

“In all, it’s going to be significantly more than what we had before the tornado but positions us to be able to do all the things that we want to do academically [and] social-emotionally with the kids preparing them for the next step in their life,” head of school Stephen Eggold said. 

It will take about 14 months to build once the project breaks ground. So far, $5.7 million has been raised, and after raising another $5 million, the school will be able to get bank support to put shovels in the ground. Eggold estimates the project will start this summer.

Students have been learning in portables on campus since spring 2020 — excluding a COVID-19-induced hiatus of remote learning. The only remains of the former Dallas Lutheran home are the cafeteria and gymnasiums, which students still use during the school day and for events.

Fundraising efforts have included home dinners for donors and families and applications for funding from grants organizations and foundations.

Eggold, who has been at Dallas Lutheran School since July 2022, says families should pick the school for its core beliefs of family, education, and caring for children — particularly through small class sizes and extracurricular opportunities.

“I think we do a good job of meeting kids where they’re at,” Eggold said. “We are not necessarily a learning-different school, but kids come to us from a variety of different places.”

Campus leaders are focusing on rebuilding momentum to take the project to the finish line.

“One of the things I’ve noticed is we are a very well-kept secret of a very good school,” Eggold said. “Yes, we’ve had our problems with the tornado, [but] once we overcome that, I think we will see a much more flourishing school, and I think we’ll see enrollment grow at a rapid rate.”

Future expansion phases would allow the campus to accommodate up to 350 students.