5-year-old removed from Summit Christian Academy over mom's same-sex marriage
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — In just over a week, a five year old Broken Arrow girl was supposed to start kindergarten at Summit Christian Academy.
But she has been kicked out. Her parents tell us it wasn't anything she did wrong, it's that her mother is now in a same sex marriage, and the school does not approve.
It's one thing for a child to be thrown out of school for repeated bad behavior. Sara Evans and her wife Brittney think it's quite another for the daughter to be punished for the perceived sin of the mother.
"They proceeded to tell me that because they are a Christian school, same sex relationships are not welcome in the school," Evans said.
But their relationship is not in the school. Brittney was concerned by what she had heard, so says she recorded her meeting with the school's leadership, where she says they overstepped their boundaries.
Male 1 says: "(Girl's name) comes home and learns that your relationship contradicts scripture. I don't want that for her."
For the couple, that is now the school dictating what happens in their home. But that was only one of a few statements made that concerned them.
When they asked why the school waited so late to make this call, they blamed a mountain of paperwork, and the couple.
Brittney Hudson: "She's going to be the one to be affected by your guy's decision."
Male 1: "And your decision."
Brittney Hudson: "But we've been, for the last two and a half years..."
Male 1: "But I didn't know. I didn't know."
Brittney Hudson: "That's you guys dropping the ball I guess."
Brittney says the school gave other examples where they would remove a student.
"The shocking part was when the superintendent brought up the comment about Muslims. That was a little shocking to me," Hudson said.
Male 2: "Brittney, another red flag would be if we are looking at one of these applications and we ask people where they go to church and they said they are Muslim, then we've got a problem."
"They helped her find the door, and that's about it," said Andrew McDonald.
McDonald is the girl's father, and says what he sees is a Christian school taking a members-only approach rather than taking the opportunity to show someone a Christian path.
"Nobody wants to have to have a difficult conversation with a five year old, because no matter what I say, if I give her the facts of the situation, she is going to internalize that that she had something to do with it, when she didn't," McDonald said.
Removing the five year old from school though may not be as clean a break as the school expected.
Ordinarily, a private Christian school could expel a student for these reasons, and the parents wouldn't have much legal resource.
Except, their attorneys argue the school collected money from the paycheck protection program, which means that is federal money, susceptible to federal anti discrimination policy by the organization that accepts it. In this case, they do not believe the school followed that policy.
Leslie Briggs is the attorney representing Sara and Brittney.
"These are emergency federal dollars that have come through to private entities that are used to getting away with discrimination like this. Are used to winning in this realm. They only do so because they are private entities that aren't beholden to federal rules. If you take that federal money, that all changes," said Briggs.
We have spoken with another parent who is pulling her child from the school after hearing about this situation, telling us they didn't want their children indoctrinated with hate. They wanted them to have a good Christian upbringing.
In response to our request for an interview, the school's superintendent responded with the following:
Tyler,
Thank you for reaching out to us and providing us with the opportunity to speak to you. However, we have a policy that we do not address requests regarding issues pertaining to specific students at our school.
Dan Giddens. Superintendent. Summit Christian Academy
For full disclosure, the girl's father, Andrew McDonald, is now the husband of one of our current news employees, who had no involvement with the writing of this story other than making us aware of the situation.
Leslie Briggs believes they have a strong case, and one that may set a precedent for how companies and organizations should operate after receiving these PPP funds.
