Superintendent Defends Christian School's Decision to Fire on Basis of Faith
The superintendent of a Christian school in California that recently fired 11 employees over their religious beliefs says staff there are employed based upon her school's decades-old statement of faith.
"This (the school's statement of faith) is the basis upon which we teach Bible in the classroom, and in weekly chapels, and upon which we employ staff here at Crossroads," noted Beth Frobisher, Superintendent of Schools at Crossroad Christian Schools in Corona, Calif., in an open letter to parents.
"As part of our published mission statement to 'bring children to Christ' we have always been an evangelical school," she added in an apparent response to recent media reports about the school.
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Earlier this week, it was revealed that four teachers and seven other workers at Crossroad Christian Schools were fired over differences in biblical interpretation and incompatible beliefs.
Most of the dismissed workers were reportedly Roman Catholics and at least one had worked at the school for more than a decade.
The employees were reportedly dismissed after school officials took a closer look at their religious beliefs in an effort to make school and church teachings compatible.
According to The Associated Press, the fired employees had been told a year ago a requirement that they attend a "Bible-believing church," meaning that they be born-again.
Frobisher, however, maintains that CCS has always been evangelical and has the same expectations of the school staff that are held for employees of Crossroads Christian Church.
CCS, she says, is a ministry of Crossroads Christian Church, though the school is incorporated separately from the church with a non-profit 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS.
"Crossroads Christian Schools was founded and functions upon the basic fundamental principles of the Word of God, and it espouses the historic Christian view of life as presented in the Bible," the CSS Statement of Faith affirms.
And among the standards that CCS employees are asked to live by include weekly attendance at a Bible-believing church that shares the values of Crossroads Christian Church, a habit of daily personal prayer and Bible study, and an "evangelistic lifestyle...one that includes a burden for sharing the gospel of Christ."
"This has been the statement of faith of our school since its inception more than thirty years ago," Frobisher insisted.
As CCS has a religious institution exemption under federal law and has a right to fire employees whose religious beliefs are not in sync, a lawsuit over the recent firings is not expected.
Notably, however, the dismissals have prompted eleven families to pull their children out of the 583-student school, according to Frobisher.
The school teaches students from the preschool level up through high school.
