Forge Christian High School hopes to create new culture despite lingering controversy

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Leaders at Grace Church of Arvada have begun detailing their plans for Forge Christian High School. Plans for the school, purchased for $12 million, come a few months after the announcement that Faith Christian Academy would close its doors due to mounting nancial woes.

Grace Church Pastor Rick Long promises a new vision for Forge, despite lingering nancial issues and a history of controversy over racial discrimination allegations at Faith Christian Academy, as well as the fact that most of Faith’s sta members will remain at Forge.

Looking back on the Hall of Fame career of Colorado’s high priestess of singing

Since she was in third grade, Hazel Miller — and more than likely, those around her — knew that she would be a singer. e legendary Colorado vocalist and resident of Arvada was

When Miller was in third grade, a priest at her school named Samuel Viani asked her to join the eighth graders for a Christmas song — a prospect that, to Miller’s knowledge, you go to school.’” at she did. ings were lean in the Miller household, but the

While some things will certainly be di erent at Forge this fall, other hallmarks of Faith — also known as FCA (Faith Christian Academy) — will remain. For one, 95% of Faith’s student body has reenrolled in Forge, according to Long.

Most of the Faith faculty will also return — including former Superintendent Andrew Hasz, whose father Martin founded FCA in Denver in 1971. Hasz will serve as Forge’s head of school, according to Long, who coached football with Hasz at FCA and whose children are

SEE FORGE, P2 graduates from the now-defunct school.

Additionally, all but three teachers from last year’s FCA faculty will teach at Forge next year, and eight outside educators have been brought in so far to round out the sta .

Grace Church Pastor Rick Long said Grace is currently undertaking a series of renovations of the former Faith Christian High School campus on Carr Street to give the school a distinct identity apart from Faith. Long said the renovations are currently over budget, and that the Grace leadership team is seeking donations to cover the di erence.

“I think that what we specialize in at Grace is loving everybody,” Long said. “I mean, that’s our motto — ‘love no matter what;’ whether we agree or disagree …We love everybody.”

Changing the culture

In 2018, Gregg Tucker, a teacher at Faith Christian High School, was red by the school’s leadership after holding a chapel discussion pertaining to “a number of disturbing incidents of racism” at the school. e discussion was spurred by former student Ramya Sinha, one of the only Black students at the school at the time, who came to Tucker to con de in him regarding the racism she’d experienced.

After Tucker was red, he sued

FCA for discrimination. e case is still being litigated, with Faith arguing that by discussing race in the chapel, Tucker — a history teacher — had acted in the capacity of a minister, thereby foregoing federal employment protections that are afforded to teachers.

In his defense, Tucker has claimed that he was a secular teacher and thus did not fall under what is called the “ministerial exemption.” On June 12, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, sending it back to district court for trial, which is slated to begin in the coming months.

Richard Katskee, the vice president and legal director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State — Tucker’s legal counsel — said the case underscores broader cultural issues at FCA.

“ e school had some really ugly problems with racism, there were students who showed up in KKK robes, students who did mock executions of students of color in the school,” Katskee said. “Gregg did what a really good teacher does, he tried to educate the students, teach them about racism and make them see what they had done in that way.” en some parents complained, Katskee said.

“What the school did was say, ‘We can’t risk losing one parent’s tuition over one unhappy parent,’ so they red Gregg,” Katskee continued. “And that meant that they red him for teaching that racism isn’t a good thing. at ts into the category of a discriminatory ring, particularly because Gregg had been subjected to this awful hateful stu as well. He didn’t respond by getting angry, he responded by trying to teach.”

Long said he was involved in discussions between Tucker and FCA and says that FCA’s demographic makeup — which was predominantly white — is simply due to the local population, not, as Sinha put it, a “culture of white supremacy.”

Nevertheless, Long said he’s committed to building a student body that mirrors that of Grace Church, which Long says is “very multicultural.”

To that end, Forge is working with the ACE Foundation — ACE President Jason DiFraia sits on Grace Church’s board of directors — to make 140 scholarships covering between 40% to 60% of tuition, which Long said will be around $11,000.

“I would much rather have a student in our school that wants to be there and need some assistance than a student who’s been forced to go who’s got all the money in the world,” Long said.

In addition, Long said his team is being intentional about bringing in educators who come from diverse backgrounds.

Many of Forge’s new hires are people of color, Long said.

Sinha said that since the leadership at Forge will mostly be the same as that of FCA — Forge will not have a principal, but Hasz will serve as head of school, while a six-person advisory team includes ve former FCA sta ers — these changes fall short of adequately changing the culture.

“ e leadership behind Forge will be the same as Faith which will ensure that the culture of abuse, oppression, violence, and silencing will continue to ourish without accountability,” Sinha said. “Changing the name of Faith Christian to Forge Christian will not change the inherent culture of abuse and will not hide the fact that the school is an oppressive institution that fosters white supremacy and promotes hatred all while excusing it under the guise of some loving (white) Jesus.”

Sta at Forge Christian e advisory team is comprised of Academic Director April Everitt, a former FCA teacher; Director of Instruction and Curriculum Amy Horton, a former instructional coach at FCA; Athletic Director Abram Ziemer, who served in the same capacity at FCA; Dean of Students Micah Connor, a former FCA football coach; and Enrollment Director Dori Naas, who also held the same post at FCA.

In addition to Hasz, many other members of FCA’s leadership team will stay on with Forge.

Fine Arts Director Alexa Etchart — a former Grey’s Anatomy cast member who attends church at Grace, according to Long — is the only member of the advisory team who did not come from FCA.

Speaking about Hasz, Long said that the former FCA superintendent