Rumors and accusations cloud Reach Church and Tri-State Christian Academy partnership

Rumors and accusations have cast a cloud over a Delaware church's new relationship with an Elkton, Maryland, school, creating a rift among parents at several local churches.

Tri-State Christian Academy, located just over the state line in Elkton and serving students from Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, announced last month that its board had voted to join Reach Christian Schools, the education arm of Reach Church near Glasgow, which operates four schools.

They also announced that Tri-State's principal, Keith Wilson, had been fired.

While some Tri-State families greeted the news with excitement, others had concerns about the transition and timing, as well as Wilson's abrupt dismissal. Families held a prayer circle around the school's flagpole the Monday after the announcement.

Rumors that students would be expelled for protesting their principal's firing quickly circulated.

"I went into homeroom on Monday, and students came to me and said, 'I hear you're getting expelled,'" said 15-year-old Jack Cole, who until recently was a sophomore at the school. His parents, Ed and Marybeth Cole, withdrew him from Tri-State shortly after.

"We realized at some point that this was not going to work," Marybeth Cole said. She is now home-schooling Jack.

Reach leaders insist students are not being marked for expulsion as a result of the pending merger.

"It's not true," Reach's Head of Schools Timothy Dernlan said emphatically. "There's no list of students that are going to be expelled. There's no thought of any repercussions for any students that expressed any sadness."

Dernlan is serving as interim head of school at Tri-State while the board searches for Wilson's replacement. Reach and Tri-State held a three-hour town hall on April 19 so parents could ask questions.

Leaders on all sides were eager to reframe the issue and repeatedly asked: Does that sound like something a Christian would do? They accused each other of twisting the narrative and obscuring key facts about the so-called "acquisition" of Tri-State.

Some of the confusion may be from the original announcement, Dernlan said.

Posted on Facebook on April 12, the statement said Reach had acquired Tri-State Christian Academy. Reach operates four schools and has a large church campus in Bear.

On April 18 that information was removed and the post was rewritten to say Tri-State's board had voted to "fold into Reach Christian Schools to eventually become the fifth school of Reach Christian Schools."

Dernlan, in an interview, emphasized the word "eventually," saying "it's going in that direction." He said Tri-State is still its own independent entity, which is important because it's currently registered that way in Maryland. Any changes would require approval from the state.

"Originally, that might not have been very clear," Dernlan said, admitting that it was a "misstatement" to call the new partnership an acquisition, which implies the school's legal designation has changed.

The use of the word "acquisition" fueled rumors that Reach didn't know what it was doing and that it almost got the school shut down for operating illegally, though Dernlan said there was never any danger of that happening.

"It is a little bit confusing for people to understand that Tri-State is moving toward becoming part of Reach Christian Schools, but legally it takes time," Dernlan said.

He said what has changed at Tri-State is its leadership team and its board, which before the announcement consisted of seven members.

It now has 11 members, four of whom are also members of Reach Church. Three members are former Tri-State board members.

Several members of the former Tri-State Board were members of Crossroads Bible Church in Elkton, which has generated even more rumors.

Tri-State, originally called Elkton Christian School, was started by Crossroads Bible Church. But in spring 2011, church leaders decided to close it.

Former principal Keith Wilson and other community members worked with the church to make the school independent and rename it Tri-State Christian Academy. Tri-State now rents the school building from Crossroads.

Marybeth Cole and other community members believe Crossroads was concerned the school would move out of the building; Wilson and the board at one point explored the possibility of either expanding the school or building a new one to help cope with increasing enrollment, but quickly decided it wasn't financially feasible.

Marybeth Cole said if Tri-State moved out of Crossroads, the church would be in financial trouble. Crossroads board chair Butch Davis, who used to be on the Tri-State board, strongly disagreed.

"It’s easy for some upset parents to look through rose-tinted glasses and make judgments while looking from the outside without knowing the internals and the facts behind the previous administration’s job performance or lack thereof," Davis said.

"Crossroads Bible Church has had NO input on the operations of TSCA since it became an independent school."

Principal Wilson, though loved by many, had flaws, Davis said, which is part of the reason the board originally approached Reach.

Before joining Reach, Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear struggled with financial problems and a controversy surrounding its football program and recruiting practices.

Though problems at Tri-State haven't been as visible, Davis said Wilson told the board he could not perform all the responsibilities assigned to him. Wilson had also passed along some of his responsibilities to teachers, Davis said, making them de facto assistants and paying them more.

On top of that, he was not good at disciplining staff or students, which had forced the board to step in and take control of employment disputes, suspensions and expulsion, Davis and another board member said.

"As a board, we kicked this around for two years, because we wanted to do as much as we could to help Mr. Wilson stay here," Davis said. "He's a good guy."

Chadds Ford attorney J. Kurtis Kline, who had been serving as chairman of the Tri-State board, said faculty and parents had been complaining about Wilson and his leadership style. The board started hearing whispers from other school districts about students considering leaving Tri-State and teachers seeking new employment.

Instead of immediately firing Wilson, who has been principal since 2009, at the beginning of the school year, the board promoted another staff member to principal and made Wilson superintendent, hoping that he could play to his strengths and remain the face of the school, while someone else dealt with administrative issues, Kline said.

“It completely backfired," Kline said. "It created divisiveness. It created two camps. A Mr. Wilson camp and a principal camp. It created a lot of politicking. A lot of drama is probably the best way to describe it.”

Wilson, who sat down for an interview at the Coles' house last Friday, said he was given no indication that he would be fired. He did say he wasn't the best disciplinarian.

"In seven years as head of school, never once was I given a review, even once been given an improvement plan," he said. "I see us as a success. We have happy students, happy families ... why was such radical change needed?

"If they had let me have the last eight weeks of the school year, I could have better planned for my future, for my family's future," he said, adding that his 17-year-old son attended Tri-State. "One of the biggest reasons I was so upset about my dismissal is I never really got a chance to address my students, my staff and parents."

Kline said Tri-State's board didn't have a formal review process in place but said Wilson knew he was on thin ice.

Wilson said he made positive changes at Tri-State, increasing enrollment from 220 in 2011 to 355 students this year. Two years ago, in 2016, seniors were offered $1.7 million in college scholarships, Wilson said. Before he was terminated, this year's graduating class had been offered about $2.3 million.

"This little school in a raggedy building with the leadership of Keith Wilson was flourishing," Marybeth's husband, Ed Cole, said. "If you had lined 100 students up, I would bet you a steak dinner anywhere on the East Coast you want, 90 of them would have nothing bad to say about him. He ate, drank and lived that school."

Davis and Kline said being a part of Reach will help make Tri-State a more professional, stable school, with access to programs like orchestra and band. Reach has already been working at the school doing landscaping, and provided a bus to take students to a sporting event last week.

“There’s no good time to make a change like this," Kline said, acknowledging how difficult it's been for some families. "There’s no good time to break up with a girlfriend. There’s no good time for someone to pass away. There’s no good time for something like this.”

“But when you come across the right solution, is there any reason to wait?”

Chuck Betters, senior pastor at Reach Church, said he hopes people can look past the rumors and see how good the new partnership will be for both Reach and the school.

“Due to social media, and a very small number of parents, there has been a lot of misinformation circulated regarding the partnership Tri-State Chrisian Academy and Reach Christian Schools," he said. "We have done our best to answer all the questions as honestly as possible. Those who actually visit the school, and speak to the teachers, families, and Dr. Dernlan, will find a community of people who are committed to Christian Education at (Tri-State) and to rising above the noise and rumors."

EDUCATION DELAWARE

Del. district holds 'signing day' for students offered jobs

Cape Henlopen science educator is teacher of year

State police training covers IEDs to shootings

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

Looking for more education news? Visit delawareonline.com/education. Submit story ideas at delonline.us/2i2tugB.