Faith Christian Academy Head of Security Lied to Police About Concerned Father, Claimed Son Admitted to Being a School Shooter
Faith Christian Academy's High School campus in Arvada, March 12, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
Faith Christian Academy of Arvada, Colorado – whose 9-12 grade high school is soon to be purchased by Grace Church of Arvada and renamed “Forge Christian High School,” has used an anonymous Safe2Tell report as a pretext for effectively expelling from school the son of a vocal critic of Grace Church and their teaching on homosexuality’s compatibility with biblical Christianity.
The anonymous accusation against the son of Protestia publisher/writer David Morrill alleged that his son had a knife at school, that he made comments to students about guns, and made threats against the school.
According to Morrill, he spoke with his son and confirmed that the “knife” in question was a stick of gum in the silver wrapper and that his son made a joke referencing the similarity in the word “gum” to the word “gun.” He said that his son confirmed making no threats, that the conversation took place in his Bible class (not the bathroom as claimed by the anonymous tipster), and that the students in the conversation were laughing and clearly knew nothing said in the conversation was anything other than a joke.
“He was heartbroken thinking any of his classmates would think he wanted to hurt them somehow. It’s his first year at the school, and he was very happy to be in person with fellow students again. He earned all A’s and one B, and has tried very hard to fit in and do his best.”
Morrill described finding out there had been a complaint when the Arvada Police Department was waiting for his family outside their home:
“Arvada PD was waiting for my family outside our house at 11 pm Friday evening. Wanting to help clear up the confusion, we invited them into our home, and my son reported that he had no weapon and made no threats, but he wasn’t entirely clear about what the officers wanted to hear. He confirmed the subject of his joke because he had nothing to hide. He was just trying to help. He couldn’t help but be scared, but I assured him that the police were good guys just trying to make sure the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, the school administration has now confirmed that they have their own agenda.”
During a video meeting with school principal April Everitt, Faith Bible Chapel head of security Bob Neidig, and Dean of Students Micah Connor, the Morrill family was informed that any mention of the word “gun” at the school is considered a threat and that their son would be barred from campus for six months, be offered online classes, and submit to a psychiatric or psychological evaluation before being possibly permitted to return to school. They were also told by Neidig that the police said his son admitted to saying he would return to school Tuesday to “basically shoot up the place” and “do damage” – a class 1 misdemeanor or class 5 felony under Colorado law. The Arvada Police Department has confirmed that no police report has been filed pursuant to this supposed evidence.
Morrill believes that his son is being targeted by school leadership because he has publicly opposed the sale of the school to Grace Church, and evidence contained in the incident report from that night indicates this is the case. According to the police incident report, prior to making contact with the Morrill family, Neidig told the police that “the father of [the] student has intimidated staff.” Morrill believes this can only be related to his disagreement with and discussion of Grace Church’s teachings.
According to Morrill:
“This is clearly related to my doctrinal pushback and the sermon review I published. My interactions with school staff prior to our meeting on Thursday the 22nd have been nothing but pleasant and helpful. It is so sad that it has come to this.
Anybody can report false or mischaracterized information to the Safe2Tell system, and it is the responsibility of Christian school officials to not convict a student based on anonymous accusations – mistaken or not.
Deuteronomy 19:15 is very clear about the biblical standard for procedural and substantive due process, and FCA leadership is employing a worldly and manifestly unfair standard because they don’t like my theological pushback against Grace. This is yet another concerning demonstration of systemically unbiblical actions from self-described Christians.”
Colorado’s Safe2Tell system – created in response to the 1999 Columbine High School shootings yet used mostly for reports of suicide threats and cyberbullying – has been subject to false reporting abuses over the years, including a Columbine student who has had dozens of fake reports submitted against her.
While FCA has a six-step published grievance and discipline process in the Student Handbook, they grant school administrators broad and subjective punitive authority, and unilateral suspension of a student is at odds with the school’s published procedures. Procedures for handling “Honor Code violations” and staff and student grievances outline a process for determining the truth when an accusation is brought by a student or staff member. The school’s process requires statements and interviews from involved parties, including the person making the accusation.
The Safe2Tell system’s anonymity makes interviewing the reporting party impossible, leaving Morrill’s son as the only cooperating witness to the supposed violative behavior. This was pointed out by Morrill in a recent meeting with school administrators, who continually claimed that the anonymous report, the police’s report of the report, and security head Neidig’s phone conversation with the police after they interviewed the Morrills all established “corroborated evidence” that his son had done something wrong, despite being at odds with the incident report.
Morrill sent a cease-and-desist letter to Faith Christian Academy and Faith Bible Chapel asking them to retract Neidig’s statements about Morrill intimidating staff and his son threatening the school. “In the spirit of Christian reconciliation, I want to give the school every opportunity to correct this injustice and do the right thing,” said Morrill. “We had previously offered to have our son check in with school administration when I drop him off at school so they could search him – just to allow him to be able to attend class with other kids and the teachers he looks up to. We don’t understand the school’s position on this at all.”
Morrill’s criticisms of the school purchase have been focused on his doctrinal concerns with Grace Church and its lead pastor Rick Long, who drew criticism from FCA parents for a sermon in early 2020 advocating for Christian churches to be accepting of unrepentant homosexuals being baptized into the church. FCA parents and some Faith Bible Chapel members have expressed dismay at Long’s teachings, which include “monogamous, committed relationships” as an acceptable substitute for biblical marriage, Long getting the “gay approval” to preach the sermon, and jumping into the baptismal to baptize his lesbian friends.
At the behest of fellow concerned parents, Morrill live-streamed a long-form review of the sermon in question, which resulted in Grace Church removing the sermon from YouTube and Facebook. Long alluded to the scandal in a subsequent video about the school purchase, claiming he is committed to “protecting the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman for life,” yet he didn’t directly address any scriptural critique presented by Morrill. Long assured parents that students would “not be subjected – ever – to the ideologies that are contrary to the Word of God which permeate our culture today,” and labeled public online criticism of him and the church as gossip and slander.
This scandal over LGBTQ ideology arrives in the midst of the school dealing with an ongoing 2019 racial discrimination lawsuit, which alleges that FCA fired Gregg Tucker, an 18-year teacher in 2018 for hosting a chapel gathering discussing incidents of racism with students. Most recently, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the church’s appeal of the Colorado District Court’s decision to allow Tucker’s civil rights lawsuit to proceed, meaning the lawsuit will likely go to trial. The lawsuit looms large over a church and school that admitted to being forced to sell the high school and property to avoid financial ruin.
As for Morrill, he says he has reached out to school superintendent Andrew Hasz to ask him to reconsider the decision and sent a cease-and-desist letter following his discovery of Bob Neidig’s comments to the police.
“My son is a good student, trying his best to fit in at a new school. He is heartbroken that the Christian teachers and administrators he trusted have basically told him they don’t want him around.”
Superintendent Hasz indicated that the school might be willing to compromise and allow his son some time on campus, but Morrill says that this is not appropriate.
“Once we learned of the biased predisposition being employed by FCA staff – even though we have been told my doctrinal concerns were unrelated – we are forced to demand that the false statements by Bob be retracted in writing and play no part in the school’s decision making. Knowing that a Christian school would target schoolchildren based on their parents’ doctrinal concerns is horrifying. The breach of trust is inexcusable.”
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