It was 1974, and Bob and Barbara Fraley’s lives had changed dramatically in recent years. Now, their future was marked by more uncertainty. Was God closing the door to what they believed was the very reason they moved to Arizona? Or, was He faithfully preparing them for a new adventure? Several years earlier, in 1969, Bob and Barbara listened to God’s call to add six children to their lives after heartbreak struck a family in their church. At the time, the Fraleys had two children of their own, but following a tragic car accident, they stepped in to adopt six siblings who were now orphaned.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean
on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and
he will make straight your paths.

In raising their large family, Bob and Barbara felt a conviction that their children should be educated consistent with their biblical values. This conviction led to them uprooting their family and moving more than two thousand miles across the country to Arizona. Bob had become concerned about the growth of humanism and the antagonistic posture many schools were taking when it came to matters of
faith. As he wrote in one of his books, “School days should be filled with pleasant memories and character-building experiences based on the Word of God.”


Although motivated by strong convictions, the Fraleys did not anticipate how direct a role they would play in providing this kind of faith-based environment.

Exodus 13:21 – And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud
to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light,
that they might travel by day and by night.


While some of the Fraley children were enrolled in a larger, established Christian high school in the valley, the youngest children started at Golden West Christian School in Phoenix. However, soon thereafter, the school was faced with imminent closure as its parent company declared bankruptcy. It was the middle of the school year and parents had just two weeks to make alternative arrangements for their children.


At this time, Bob stepped forward to broker an arrangement that would allow the parents to continue to operate the school through the spring semester without an increase in tuition. At the very least, this would provide parents additional time to determine their next steps.


Following successful negotiations, the parents formed a school board to direct operations, electing Bob to serve as president. Although he didn’t know it at the time, another parent was waging a shadow campaign for president with the ultimate goal of secularizing the school. Bob’s position as president allowed him to shut down any such efforts to move the school away from its religious foundations.

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he
is old he will not depart from it.


As the spring semester came to a close and Golden West’s property was put up for sale, a large school association that would, through two mergers, become the Association of Christian Schools International, called Bob with a straightforward request: would he consider opening a new Christian school in northeast Phoenix?


While the request was simple, the timetable was not. The aim was to open the new school for the fall semester of 1974, leaving the Fraleys only two and a half months to prepare. Questions mounted: How would they get the funding? Where would they meet? Who would lead the school or serve as
teachers?


After several days of prayer, the Fraleys and two other parents were compelled to start a new Christian School.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”


Through a series of events that only God could orchestrate, the Fraleys met Elroy Ratzlaff, a missionary to the Gila River Indian Reservation who previously had two decades experience as a Christian school administrator. Incidentally, he sensed he was being called back to Christian education. Within days of hiring Elroy, Bob received a mysterious call from someone in Washington DC. The man told Bob he had land with a building and playground equipment in northeast Phoenix at 49th Street and Camelback
Road. What’s more, the building had previously housed a small school and still contained desks, chairs, chalkboards, and textbooks. To this day, Bob shares that he has no idea how this individual came to contact him. Bob and Barbara spent the rest of the summer cleaning and refurbishing the facility in preparation for the school’s opening. With 34 enrolled students, Paradise Valley Christian School was open for business in the fall of 1974.

I Samuel 12:24 – Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all
your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.


A rapid increase in enrollment saw the school outgrow its facilities in just a few years. The school briefly relocated to Paradise Valley Baptist Church on 32nd Street and Thunderbird, but by its fifth year of operation, with 200 students enrolled, PVCS needed to find a larger facility and entered an agreement with what is now Cactus Christian Fellowship to lease their facilities.


In subsequent years, PVC purchased surrounding land outright, and in 1997, the school completed its first major building project with the opening of Founders Hall.


In 2006, the school embarked on a major campus expansion project to include a new administrative building, the gymnasium, six additional classrooms, maintenance facilities, and support classrooms.
Dating back to at least the early 1990’s, there had long been discussion of opening a high school. While many promoting from the eighth grade landed at other Christian high schools in the valley, in 2009, under the visionary leadership of Sheryl Temple, PVCP launched a high school in the midst of a
global recession. Coinciding with the new high school and a distinctive humanities program, the board voted to change the name of the institution to Paradise Valley Christian Preparatory.


With enrollment growth totaling more than 10% per year for the last several years, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, PVCP is poised to embark on an exciting next phase of campus expansion.

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