JACKSON TWP. − Some residents are questioning plans by Woodlawn Church to rent space at Jackson High School for worship services.

Starting March 17, a portion of the school building at 7600 Fulton Drive NW will be rented on Sundays as the church undergoes expansion of its building at 2800 Woodlawn Ave. NW.

The church recently mailed hundreds of postcards announcing its plans, prompting mixed reactions from some questioning if a church should be allowed to be “part of public school that receives tax dollars.”

Religious organizations renting rooms from public school systems is not a new phenomenon. A number of churches in Stark County with multiple campuses have opted to rent school space rather than build permanent structures.

“I don’t think bringing them into buildings that house publicly funded schools is an OK thing to do,” one poster wrote on Facebook.

Another taxpayer threatened to withhold support for school tax issues because he didn’t want to subsidize any “sect, temple or cult” with tax dollars.

Why is Woodlawn Church renting space from Jackson Local?

The Rev. Matthew “Matt” Coutcher, Woodlawn Church’s lead pastor since 2013, noted that his family lives in Jackson and his children attend Jackson Local schools. His wife, the Rev. Chrissy Coutcher, is a co-pastor.

“As a church, we always strive to make a positive impact on our community,” he said. “Throughout the year, we are involved in many service projects helping various organizations and people in our community. Our heart is to love God and share that love in our community and abroad. Over the last 10 years, our church has grown to the point where we’ve run out of room in our current facility.”

Coutcher said Woodlawn has been conducting three services on Sunday mornings to accommodate its growth, which has climbed from 300 members to more than 900 in recent years.

“We’ve been actively working over the last couple years to come up with a solution to our facility limitation,” he said.

“We worked with a local architect to build on to our facility, but it’s not economical at this time. We also worked with a local Realtor to find another building in our area that we could move into but were unable to find one. That led us to our final solution to temporarily rent space.”

Coutcher said reaching out to the school district was a logical step because the church is located in Jackson Township.

“It’s a great option for churches because most schools are empty on Sundays,” he said.

Other churches have used school buildings as temporary locations while raising money to build their own facilities. MissionView Church in North Canton, for example, rented Hoover High School’s auditorium on Sundays for many years before purchasing a building in 2022.

The First Baptist Church of Jackson also rented school space and used Jackson High School for its first Jackson-based Sunday morning service in 2000 before later building its own facility on Strausser Street NW in 2006.

“The high school offers ample space to move our entire congregation to while we do some renovations on our current facility,” Coutcher said. “Our plan is to do some minor renovations on our facility to improve foot traffic patterns and seating. When the renovations are complete, we will open our facility back up for one service and will continue to host a service at the high school. Our plan is to continue offering services in both places throughout 2024 as we seek out a permanent facility solution.”   

Jackson High to rent out space to church

Todd Porter, Jackson Local’s communications director, said district officials have received emails and phone calls regarding the Woodlawn worship services.

Under board policy, school premises can be made available for community purposes, “provided that such use does not infringe on the original and necessary purpose of the property or interfere with the educational program of the schools and is harmonious with the purposes of this District.

“School property can be used by groups directly related to the school, government agencies as well as community organizations or groups of individuals primarily comprised of district residents/members of the community, including for charitable, civic, social, religious, recreational and educational provided such meetings and/or entertainment is nonexclusive and open to the general public.”

Because Woodlawn is leasing the high school for worship services on Sundays, the services are outside the school day, he said.

“It’s not a church-and-state issue. It’s outside of the school day,” he said.

Porter said the rental fee amount will be finalized after a final walk-through determines exactly what spaces are available and the organizational needs. In addition, any custodial fees that would be necessary will be added.

Reach Amy at 330-580-1135 or amy.knapp@cantonrep.com.

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Church’s plans to rent Jackson High School cause residents concern