This continues a series of communications from the Parent Advocacy Board to our CCA families and friends. As parents, we have been brushed aside and ignored by the Calvary Baptist Church leadership throughout this process. Our concerns must be heard.

When a church first undertakes to set up a school, parents from outside that congregation will be making serious investments to that school. They enroll their precious children at an institution they need to be able to trust. A balance must be found by that church between lax oversight versus excessive control. For this reason, all serious school accreditation agencies require a stable, carefully qualified, conscientious, and objective school board vested with authority over the operations of the school. Until recently, CCA had such a school board in place. When functioning optimally, this group served as both a transmission and firewall between the administration of the school and the interests of the leadership from the church. This is all outlined in the current Policies and Procedures Manual of CCA from 2019, linked below. If the CCA school board was still functioning properly under the guidelines defined there, with the CBC leadership respecting its defined boundaries and the school board fulfilling its responsibilities, none of the present concerns would need to be highlighted. But this arrangement was seriously altered by changes made to the CBC constitution in 2022.

To begin simply, here are several changes made in the CBC constitution in the 2022 revision, specifically related to the CCA School Board:

1. The school board was demoted to a standing committee of the church. (Pg. 33, Section 10.01 C)

2. The school board makeup was altered to remove a requirement that members from outside the church be included on the board. (Pg. 34, Section 10.01 C 1)

3. The school board was made directly subordinate to the church Deacon Board in all matters of school policy and practice. (Pg. 34, Section 10.01 C 2)

4. The school board chair was changed to be selected at the sole discretion of the Senior Pastor. (Pg. 34, Section 10.01 F)

Even now, the Policies and Procedures Manual of CCA is still named as the basis for governance and operation of the school (Pg. 36, Article 13 B) in the CBC constitution. The two documents are seriously out of sync on multiple points.

CBC leadership has been unwilling to reflect honestly on the effect of those changes made to the constitution in 2022. To make matters worse, they have utilized these changes to justify overreach into school matters in ways that have never been experienced in the past. The uncertainty we now feel as parents is the direct result of that overreach.

CBC leadership has maintained the position that no major changes were made to the constitution adopted on July 17, 2022. On November 22, 2024, a meeting was held between Pastor Mike Lashbaugh, Mr. Rob Dettinburn, Mr. Harry Fike, and Mr. Zach Hattenfield. During the course of this meeting, Mr. Fike and Mr. Hattenfield raised concerns about the changes made to the CBC constitution in 2022. Pastor Mike’s response was that the only changes made to the church constitution were recommended by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). He specifically claimed that he “had no input” in the 2022 CBC constitutional changes, and that only the Deacon Board at the time was involved. Pastor Mike has since told some parents individually — and alluded in his letter to all parents — that no substantial constitutional changes had been made. In several cases he claimed no changes were made at all. His claims are manifestly false.

We lay this out in order to deny untrue public statements and assertions made by CBC leadership. Major changes have indeed been made to the constitution. Structurally, these policy changes alter the governance of CCA regardless of whether CBC leadership calls them benign.

Our position is that the Policies and Procedures Manual of CCA (2019) is an adequate document, setting up a sound governance structure which maintains the day-to-day operation of the school. The constitutional changes made in 2022 put this established structure at risk. Our evidence of this is that over the past eight months, we have seen CBC leadership assert their authority over the CCA school board, teachers, and administration in a manner never before experienced. For the CBC leadership to claim that no changes had been made, but to act and justify actions on real changes is misleading, inconsistent, and untruthful. Due to these circumstances, we have lost trust in the CBC leadership to move forward with the necessary wisdom and integrity to hold final authority in all school matters of policy and practice at CCA.

For your reference, at the bottom of this message, we have provided links to the current church constitution, the previous iteration of the constitution and by-laws of CBC last revised on January 18, 2015, as well as the Policies and Procedures Manual of CCA which is referred to in both constitutional documents.

After reviewing both constitutional documents, you can plainly see the difference in scope and tone between them. The 2015 church constitution and by-laws are 17 pages in length; the current church constitution adopted in 2022 is 40 pages long. While we certainly affirm the autonomy of the local church, it is disingenuous to invite the partnership of churches and outside investors without allowing any reciprocal accountability. We believe we should have a right to assess this constitution where CCA is mentioned, because we are stakeholders in the school.

Our hearts are broken. We pray for a restoration of peace at this Christian school. All that was needed from the beginning was responsive, open dialogue. We still long for that. Unless there is a good faith invitation to return to the table, we will continue bringing these issues into the light. We will follow up early next week to address the misconception that “Things Have Always Been This Way.”