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Montrose Christian School

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Coordinates: 39°3′12″N 77°6′6.5″W / 39.05333°N 77.101806°W / 39.05333; -77.101806
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Montrose Christian School
Location
Map
5100 Randolph Road
North Bethesda (Rockville address), Maryland 20852

United States
Coordinates39°3′12″N 77°6′6.5″W / 39.05333°N 77.101806°W / 39.05333; -77.101806
Information
TypePrivate, Christian school
MottoShaping Leaders... Impacting the World!
Religious affiliation(s)Christian
Established1977
Closed2013
ChancellorKen Fentress
GradesK–12
Campus typeSuburban
WebsiteMontrose Christian School website

Montrose Christian School was a private Christian school in North Bethesda, Maryland, with a Rockville postal address.[1][2] It was formerly operated by the Montrose Baptist Church, Maryland's second largest Southern Baptist church.[3] It educated around 370 students before its closure in 2013.[4] Its first Senior High School class graduated in 1986.[5]

Early history

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The history of Montrose Christian School is intimately connected with its parent organization, Montrose Baptist Church. While Montrose Baptist Church had established a nursery school in 1968 and a daycare in 1971, it recognized an opportunity to further its evangelical mission through the development of a full-time day school. On April 30, 1977, Montrose Christian School was officially incorporated in Rockville, Maryland. Starting with an inaugural kindergarten class of five children, it quickly expanded the next year to include Grades 1-4. During each subsequent year, another grade or two was added until eventually in May 1986, it graduated its first class of High School students.[6]

Athletics

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The school had been recognized for its athletic accomplishments, particularly for those of its basketball team, which had been successful at recruiting players across the United States and around the world to play in Rockville.[3] Kevin Durant's transfer to the school led USA Today to name Montrose its preseason pick for the top spot on its Super 25 rankings of the top high school basketball teams in 2005-06.[7]

The school had appeared regularly on USA Today's Super 25 national rankings, finishing the season ranked 25th in 2000-01,[8] 9th in 2002-03,[9] 19th in 2003-04,[10] 19th in 2005-06[11] and 22nd in 2006-07.[12]

Controversies

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The school was embroiled in a lawsuit, in February 1997, involving three employees, represented by the ACLU, who said they were fired for not belonging to the school's parent church.[13] While a judge initially ruled in the favor of the dismissed employees, the decision was later overturned on appeal in 2001[14] based on the argument that "'for a religious corporation, association, or society to hire and employ employees of a particular religion,' is severable and valid." [15]

Reverend Ray Hope, a.k.a. Dr. Otis Ray Hope,[16] senior pastor at the Montrose Baptist Church, resigned in October 2002 after questioning by the church's governing council about his involvement with the Maryland International Students Association,[17] an organization that recruited foreign students attending Montrose Christian School.[18] Officials for the school's parent church alleged that the recruiting organization had failed to reimburse the school for the cost of the students' education; that Rev. Ray Hope owed the church's school more than $580,000.[19]

In February 2012 a female teacher at Montrose Christian School was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a student for a period of over one year.[20][21]

Due to fiscal mismanagement, the school had suffered from financial difficulties in its later years and had 16 liens placed against its properties.[22]

Notable alumni

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References

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  1. ^ "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: North Bethesda CDP, MD" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  2. ^ "Directions". Montrose Christian School. 2000-12-15. Archived from the original on 2000-12-15. Retrieved 2020-10-24. 5100 Randolph Rockville, MD 20852
  3. ^ a b c Zengerle, Jason. "The Portable High-School Hoops Factory", The New York Times, February 6, 2000. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  4. ^ "Montrose Christian School", Great Schools, accessed 2 December 2007
  5. ^ "History of Montrose Baptist Church" Archived 2011-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 2 November 2010
  6. ^ "History of Montrose Christian School" Archived 2010-10-23 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 2 November 2010
  7. ^ Aiken, Ben. "Adding 6-10 star boosts Montrose Christian", USA Today, November 14, 2005. Accessed December 1, 2007. "Durant's transfer pushed Montrose Christian to the top of USA TODAY's preseason Super 25 rankings."
  8. ^ "Super 25 boys basketball rankings", USA Today, December 16, 2001. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  9. ^ Final 2002-03 Super 25 boys' basketball rankings", USA Today, March 21, 2003. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  10. ^ "Super 25 boys' basketball rankings", USA Today, March 30, 2004. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  11. ^ Lawlor, Christopher. "Final Super 25 boys' basketball rankings", USA Today, March 27, 2006. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  12. ^ Lawlor, Christopher. "Super 25: Virginia's Oak Hill Academy finishes on top", USA Today. Accessed December 1, 2007.
  13. ^ Beadle, Andrew D. "Former employees sue Montrose Christian School" Archived 2016-01-19 at the Wayback Machine, Montgomery Gazette, February 5, 1997. Accessed December 1, 2007. "Three former employees of Montrose Christian School in Rockville are suing the school, claiming they were unfairly fired last year because they did not belong to the proper church."
  14. ^ "Montrose Christian School Corporation, et al. v. Walsh, 770 A.2d 111 (Md. 2001)" (PDF). Maryland Court of Appeals. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  15. ^ Recent decisions--primary and secondary education, Bnet, October 1, 2002
  16. ^ "Account has been suspended". www.montroseministries.org. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  17. ^ "Church alleges tuition unpaid", Herald Mail, December 19, 2002
  18. ^ "Pastor Resigns Amid Inquiry at Baptist Church In Rockville" Archived 2004-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post, October 1, 2002
  19. ^ "Rockville Church Says Ex-Pastor Owes Money; Collection of School Fees Questioned", Washington Post, December 18, 2002
  20. ^ "Female Montrose Christian Teacher Arrested for Sex With Student". WRC-TV. 9 Feb 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  21. ^ "Ashley Jean Campbell, 27, Former Montrose Christian School Teacher in Rockville, Charged With Sexually Abusing Student". WUSA (TV). 9 Feb 2012. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  22. ^ "When powerhouse Montrose Christian turns away from basketball, what's left?". The Washington Post. 2015-05-17. Archived from the original on 2020-10-16.
  23. ^ "Jason Conley player profile". mutigers.com. CBS Interactive. 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  24. ^ Picker, David. "In the N.B.A.'s Age Game, Colleges Are Big Winners", The New York Times, April 22, 2006. Accessed December 1, 2007. "Durant, a forward at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md., has heard the endless chatter about where he would have been selected in the N.B.A. draft in June."
  25. ^ Carino, Jerry. "Plainfield’s Tyrone Johnson leaving Villanova. Cautionary tale?", New Jersey Hoops Haven, November 7, 2012. Accessed August 5, 2019. "Former Plainfield High School standout Tyrone Johnson is leaving Villanova, the school announced today.... Ty left Plainfield a year early for basketball factory Montrose Christian, supposedly to better position himself to make an immediate impact at Nova."
  26. ^ Tysiac, Ken. "Q&A with Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez", Sporting News, November 29, 2007. Accessed December 1, 2007."Q: What was Kevin Durant like when you played with him at Montrose Christian?" Archived December 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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