When Rhema Christian Academy closed at the end of June, parents who had their children enrolled there wanted to find a school that offered a similar program.

"There wasn't anything available," said Diana Mazur, a former secretary at the New Wilmington school.

They didn't want to send their children to public schools, but other regional religious schools did not offer the same type of program as Rhema, the Wheatland resident said.

Out of those discussions came the Shenango Valley Faith Academy, which holds its first day of classes Monday.

Classes will be held in St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Hermitage, but school officials did not get conditional permission until Aug. 24. By then, many interested parents had enrolled their children in public school or another parochial school, Mrs. Mazur said.