For the last 50 years, Bethany Christian School has fostered a close-knit community for families. Offering pre school through middle school, the private Christian school in Thousand Oaks coexisted alongside Bethany Bible Church, an evangelical, non-denominational church that meets on the campus. Since the opening of both the church and school, the two establishments generally maintained a supportive relationship and overlapped in many of their values and goals for Bethany. In January 2025, the church announced, without previously alerting the school, that they intended to expand the church’s resources and domain, effectively ending the school’s operation and transitioning the campus to be entirely for the church. The church plans to expand, specifically with more weekday programming and the development of a new, larger worship center.
The decision, made by church elders, was a shock to staff, faculty and parents. Julie Shannon has been involved in the school community since 2017. Along with being a parent to two graduated students and one current, Shannon began at the school as a pre school assistant and eventually worked upwards through several different positions before starting as head of school in 2024. Like all other employees at the school, many of them longtime community members, the announcement was a shocking one and launched a period of frenzied transition.
“The closure continues to be an emotional process for all those involved because people love the school so much,” Shannon said.
Since 1974, the school had served as a direct ministry of the church and several teachers had been at the school since not long after its opening. The timeline initially proposed by the church only gave 6 months for families and staff to find new schools or places of employment.
“So many parents protested the short timeline that the church extended our time on the campus to include the 2025-2026 school year,” Shannon said.
June 2, 2026 will mark the end of the school year for Bethany and the last day of the school’s operation. From there, hundreds of families and over 40 employees will move to new schools and places of employment.
Many longtime families have had to process the idea that all of their children would not be able to finish out their elementary and middle school educations at Bethany. Amber Johnson, Bethany parent since 2013, school volunteer and substitute teacher, immediately fell in love with the school after a pre school tour for her oldest son.
“My husband and I chose to enroll our children at BCS because we knew that if we were not going to be with our children all day, the teachers and admin at Bethany Christian School would speak into our children exactly what we would hope for,” Johnson said.
“The most difficult part of the transition has been my children having to split up from their best friends and losing the opportunity to be further molded and shaped by this place,” Johnson said.
Current parent and former Bethany pre school attendee Taylor Francis never considered any other schools for her children’s early education. Although she initially planned on her children only staying for pre school, she felt embraced by the Bethany community and kept her children at the school, with her oldest attending through 8th grade.
“Each year that passed, we realized how truly special Bethany was and along with the community we prayed for an extension of the middle school. Once 7th and 8th grade were added, it was a no-brainer to stay for those two bonus years,” Francis said.
In spite of a discouraging tone about the final year of the school, Francis, along with many other parents, has seen the community only grow closer amidst the transition period.
“Majority of the staff have willingly stayed for the final year knowing their jobs have an expiration date and have continued on like nothing ever happened. Their goal is to honor and celebrate Bethany, not mourn the loss. Their positive attitudes and desires to make this last year the best one yet are inspiring,” Francis said.
As the Bethany community disperses throughout the Conejo Valley, many families prepare for their first time at a different school and life without the support of so many formative staff and faculty members and classmates. Many students will begin their 2026-27 school years at Grace School, Oaks Christian, Ascension Lutheran, Carden Conejo School, as well as local public schools. In spite of a whirlwind of a transitional period, many feel that the decision brought the community closer together than ever before and revealed that the support and care the school fosters is not just contained by the building itself. The school recently held a family and alumni celebration with over 400 families and educators to celebrate the school’s 52-year legacy.
“Although I wish Bethany were staying in existence in the Conejo Valley and am saddened by the closure, I am choosing to find the good in this situation. I truly feel that our students and families and staff can go to new locations and share their lights of positivity and the love of Christ,” Shannon said.