An abrupt post-spring-break closure at South Kitsap Christian School earlier this month caused some uncertainty among parents.

But according to Virgil Brown, pastor at Christian Life Center in Port Orchard, parents, students and teachers are now on the same page since the school has shifted its operations to Gateway Christian School in Bremerton.

Brown said all 25 students and three of South Kitsap Christian’s four teachers have transferred to the Bremerton location, which previously was a Crista Christian school site. As of last week, the unsigned teacher was at the interview stage with Gateway. The students are bused without charge from their old school location to Gateway’s Bremerton school site.

Christian Life Center has administered the kindergarten through fifth-grade school when it opened its doors in 1976. The school has been housed at its campus at 1780 Lincoln Ave. SE.

The school sent a letter to parents of the school’s 25 students informing them that they would transfer following spring break to Gateway. The private Christian school has campuses at locations in Bremerton, Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo.

Brown said the transition has been surprisingly smooth. “We got 100-percent participation. The morale of everyone was pretty good” when the changeover took place, Brown said.

The new partnership with Gateway was created, he said, to provide students and parents a longer runway for a full Christian education.

“The new school provides education through the 12th grade. I was concerned about our sixth graders since they didn’t have any options before to continue,” Brown said. “Now they have an option to continue into seventh grade and on to high school.”

Gateway offers more extracurricular activities for the South Kitsap Christian students, including athletics programs, he said.

Some parents were concerned about the higher tuition costs at Gateway, but Brown said large gifts and donations from church members will allow students to continue their education this year at the existing tuition rate charged by South Kitsap Christian.

“Our board has agreed that we are committed to Christian education,” Brown said, and plans to continue its day care/pre-school program. About 100 children currently are enrolled there.

He said discussions about the partnership with Gateway had been ongoing for some time.

“It’s a positive opportunity for us,” he said. “The new school is seven miles from where I’m sitting. Family routines haven’t changed. They still drop off their kids here.”

The South Kitsap Christian K-5 school is listed in the parents handbook as being “a ministry of Christian Life Center in Port Orchard.”