Scandal-Ridden Georgia Christian School Loses Accreditation
The pre-k-12 school had already announced this would be its final academic term
When a Christian school in Dawson, Georgia, announced in March it would close down after this academic year because it could not compete with online alternatives, parents questioned if they were getting the whole story.
Now War Hill Christian Academy—a small pre-k-12 private school run by the 4,000-member Church at War Hill—has been stripped of accreditation.
On April 26, the Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC) sent a letter to concerned parents announcing that, effective April 22, it was revoking the accreditation for middle and high school grades and demoting the elementary to provisional status.
While the decision may seem moot for a school on the verge of closure, some parents have received the news as validation of mounting concerns about the leadership.
A Dec. 14 audio recording revealed War Hill’s Lead Pastor Don Allen retaliating against PTA mothers who reported a theft to police by expelling their children.
One of those mothers, Cindy Martin, was among parents who subsequently contacted the GAC.
“My issue that I have asked the Commission to investigate is that the school does not have a functioning board,” Martin wrote in a Jan. 9 email to GAC Executive Director Phil Murphy. “You are giving accreditation to a school which does not have a functioning and governing board, and this [is] perpetuating unethical and unprofessional practices.”
While the GAC did not specify its reason for revoking accreditation, parents’ concerns included low academic standards, suspected grade tampering, the treatment of special-needs students, and questions about how War Hill was using SB10 scholarship money provided by a state program for children with special needs.
One parent, Patty Martin, told MinistryWatch her special-needs child received no support.
“My child was not pulled from the general education classroom for any support, therapy or anything,” she said. “In fact, she was severely verbally and emotionally abused.”
However, another parent who spoke under condition of anonymity praised her disabled son’s experience at War Hill and attributed other parents’ complaints to “vindictiveness.”
“My son has a severe disability and has attended War Hill for three years,” she said. “Any other Christian school would have charged us 10k more…. It was clear to us he was loved by the staff.”
Parents of current students say the school remains uncommunicative about its accreditation status. The school’s website has issued no statement, and its Facebook page was deactivated at time of publication.
Main photo: The Church at War Hill in Dawsonville, Georgia / Photo via Google Maps
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