What have we done since?

---

We immediately looked for options for Ryder and Rory to attend school.  For Rory, we moved swiftly to get him into public school.  He started at Lopez Middle School on 25 Oct 2022.  He was nine weeks behind in math, so, we had to communicate frequently with the math teacher to make sure he could succeed.

Ryder applied to Bracken Christian School. Everything looked good including the transfer of dual credit classes so he wouldn’t lose an entire semester of high school.  Even though the interview went really well, the school denied Ryder citing he was really good in art, would be bored, and academic prowess. Follow up attempts to gather details about additional opportunities were unsuccessful.

Ryder is limited to homeschooling now.  If he went back to public school, he’d be subjected to end of course testing for all courses he took his freshman and sophomore years.  Given that Rory was behind by nine weeks, we didn’t see public school as an option.  Now, Ryder is enrolled in dual credit classes at San Antonio College and loves it.  He says the classes are more organized, the teachers lay out the expectations and follow the syllabus.  His plan now allows him to graduate with about 19 hours of credits that will apply towards his degree in Landscape Architecture at Texas Tech University.  He will also have 3 endorsements he wouldn’t have gotten at the private school.

Based on the advice of a friend, we sought out an educational lawyer to assist in trying to resolve this situation.

As mentioned on the Withdrawal page of this site, the next step after the principal was to bring the matter to the chairman of the board.  We sent an appeal which highlighted the circumstances leading up to the involuntary withdrawal and the damages as a result.  We asked the board to examine the situation, we welcomed a meeting to discuss, and to work towards a fair resolution.

The board’s response indicated we’d had three meetings with the administration over a 13 month time period and “Mrs. Kerr’s behavior was addressed in each one of these meetings.” They did not address the dual credit concerns at all and denied our request to meet or resolve the matter.  We are unaware of these meetings in which we scheduled to address Rebecca’s behavior.  We were also not provided any documentation showing this.

We were shocked the board didn’t want to at least hear our side of the story and used words like “harassing,” “inappropriate conduct,” and “behavior from the parents of our students that we do not condone…” So we sent another appeal.  The board agreed to meet in an effort to resolve this matter.

We met, presented our family and the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal.  In the end, we were told to “humble ourselves” to receive feedback on behavior.  Still, the board did not acknowledge or recant any issues surrounding the dual credit.  One of the board members said that we’d held an administrator in their office and wouldn’t leave until the problem was resolved.  We demanded more information about this incident but the board member said they weren’t there, but there were witnesses.  This floored us! We were also told the harassing and hostile behavior had gone on for two and half years.  We hadn’t even been at the school that long! 

In the end, the board only agreed to offer reference letters for the boys.

We sent a counteroffer with some amplifying information about dual credit, the teacher, and the accreditation issues.  We sought for the school to examine the Early College Program and to take necessary steps to correct so students currently enrolled will receive the proper credits.  We also included an acceptable monetary settlement to avoid litigation, buy peace, and settle all claims.

The response was much of the same as before.  They never responded to anything related to dual credit concerns.  They said that Mrs. Kerr unfortunately rejected attempts by CHS teachers and staff to address her behavior.  They said she was “harassing and intimidating.” “Harsh and inappropriate behavior” for months was also cited in their response.

Now we are so confused! This behavior has been going on for months, 13 months, and two and a half years, supposedly? They supposedly tried to correct this behavior, but it just doesn’t make sense why the Kerrs would schedule meetings to address ”poor behavior.” Where was this documentation? Why aren’t these cited in the withdrawal letter itself? Why were we allowed to volunteer for the Booster club, help plan the sports banquet, volunteer to hand out pizza every week, provide food and snacks for the football team every game, collect donations for the troops, gift popcorn and coffee to the teachers, etc.? Why does the withdrawal letter reference things that may have happened over time yet the message to the junior class and their families indicate ”it only recently became necessary to do so?”

We reached out to the Dual Credit Office at CCU to inform them of our findings with regard to following the syllabus and having the appropriate teacher of record on file.  CCU said they were sending someone down to take a look at their dual credit classes.  We are awaiting a response. 

UPDATE: CCU says they are satisfied that the school fully complies with the HLC Assumed Practices related to dual credit faculty qualifications and their dual credit policies.  We are following up to find out more information since the presented information clearly showed the points assessed did not match the syllabus and CCU told us in October the teacher wasn’t in their system.

We feel families considering The Christian School at Castle Hills should know about our experience and make an informed decision.  We had no idea that a private, Christian school could involuntarily withdraw our family.  We were concerned Ryder’s dual credit courses would not count and we didn’t want to spend additional money for him to earn college credits that wouldn’t apply to his degree.

Note: the site has disclaimers clearly stating these are our experiences and does not make any accusations against the school, staff or administrators.  We do not call anyone names or make derogatory comments about anyone.

We are not sure what the school plans to do now that they know about this site.  However, we do want to note a paragraph from the school’s 2022-2023 Handbook, Biblical Response To Conflict,  ppg 26 of 125, “The world’s methods of solving school problems are inappropriate.  The idea of suing the school or persons in the school is a secular idea that has no place in the Lord’s work. ‘Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?’ (1 Corinthians 6:1, KJV).”