In a letter sent to The King’s Academy Preschool parents, staff said Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School will be moving into the other side of the building, which is leased by ‘Church in the Palms.’ The senior pastor of the preparatory school says these claims are incorrect, in that they are not an alternative school.
In a letter sent to The King’s Academy Preschool parents, staff said Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School will be moving into the other side of the building, which is leased by ‘Church in the Palms.’ The senior pastor of the preparatory school says these claims are incorrect, in that they are not an alternative school.
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In a letter sent to The King’s Academy Preschool parents, staff said Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School will be moving into the other side of the building, which is leased by ‘Church in the Palms.’ The senior pastor of the preparatory school says these claims are incorrect, in that they are not an alternative school.
Some parents at The King’s Academy Preschool said they are furious after recently learning that an all-boys high school will be moving into the same building they are located at in Greenacres.
“We do not need to intermingle these children with high school boys,” Ariana Dominguez, whose child attends The King’s Academy Preschool, told WPBF 25 News. “The school informed us three days ago that this school was going to start on Monday.”
The school that Dominguez is referring to is Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School, which signed a lease with “Church in the Palms,” and will be operating its school on the other side of the same building that the preschool is located at.
The King’s Academy parents received an email from the preschool staff that the prep school is “an alternative Christian high school for boys.”
“We’re not an alternative school. I know what that is. I’ve been in the school system for 30 years. We’re a ministry,” Senior Pastor Willie L. Snead III of Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School told WPBF 25 News.
He said his private school has about 20 students, ranging from sixth to twelfth graders.
“A lot of our young boys, they come from all different walks of life. And Palm Beach Christian Preparatory School, it’s a ministry. It’s not just a school,” he said. “We’ve just really developed a community for young males that may be fatherless. I was fatherless, I lost my father at an early age to gunshot violence. But I’m 56, I have my degree.”
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Some King’s Academy parents said it’s more of a safety concern for their children on campus.
“I understand that we need to rehabilitate youth, and I’m all for that, but I don’t think it’s ethical to share a building with preschool children and 18-year-old men,” Dominguez said. “How do we know 100% that our children, our preschool-age children, are protected?”
WPBF 25 News reached out to The King’s Academy for comment. President Randal Martin responded with some statements below.
“I believe that some of the disappointment directed at TKA is misguided due to an incorrect belief that The King’s Academy could simply tell the church not to lease the space to the other school. We operate the TKA Greenacres preschool under a ministry affiliation agreement with the Church in the Palms. Under this agreement, we do not have any legal rights, that might be present in a typical lease, to exclusivity or a right of first refusal. The church made the decision to lease the space to the other school, and even today, we asked to buy out the other school’s lease and were told “no.” However, today, the church did agree to push the start date for the other school back several weeks and up to a month—to allow TKA preschool parents more time to decide what they would like to do about their students’ future care.”
He emphasized that safety is their utmost priority and reassured parents that there is armed security at each of their preschools, separate entrances for the preparatory school, locked doors, and no mingling of students.
“There’s no word on whether this preparatory school is going to have their own security guard or how many,” Michael Daoud, another parent at The King’s Academy Preschool Parent, told WPBF 25 News.
In the statement, The King’s Academy said they:
“Today, the church did agree to push the start date for the other school back several weeks and up to a month—to allow TKA preschool parents more time to decide what they would like to do about their students’ future care,” Martin wrote in his statement.
“I sincerely regret that we are in this current situation, and The King’s Academy is doing its best to provide the best outcome for our families who are dissatisfied,” he added.
Some parents told WPBF 25 News that trying to relocate their children is difficult.
“We received another email a day ago saying that we can withdraw our child by the 18th … which there is nowhere to put your child in the middle of the school year,” Dominguez said. “I would like the school, the preparatory school, to not come to this location.”
“We don’t have issues in our schools, we don’t have fights,” Pastor Snead III said.
WPBF 25 News reached out to Church in the Palms, and they declined to comment at this time.
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