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'{{Infobox school | name = Briarcrest Christian School | image = Briarcrest Christian School.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | founder = W. Wayne Allen | motto = ''With Men, This Is Impossible; But With God, All Things Are Possible. [[With God, all things are possible|Matthew 19:26]]'' | established = 1973 | schooltype = Private [[coeducational]] | religion = [[Non-denominational Christian]] | grades = PK–12 | enrollment = 1600 | principal = Eric Sullivan | address = 76 S Houston Levee | city = [[Eads, Tennessee]] | zipcode = 38028 | country = | coordinates = {{Coord|35|7|15|N|89|43|54|W|display=inline}} | coordinates_footnotes = | pushpin_map = USA#Tennessee | nickname = [[Saints]] | colors = {{color box|green}} {{color box|gold}} Green and gold | homepage = {{url|www.briarcrest.com}} }} '''Briarcrest Christian School''' is a [[private school|private]], [[coeducational]], [[Christian school]] in [[Eads, Tennessee|Eads]], an unincorporated area of [[Shelby County, Tennessee]]. The school was founded as a [[segregation academy]] during the racial integration of public schools in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. Today, it serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The school also offers "early school" for ages 2-4. ==History== ===Establishment=== [[File:W. Wayne Allen.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|Pastor W. Wayne Allen, founder of Briarcrest Christian School]] In 1970, the leaders and members of East Park Baptist Church began to plan a collection of [[segregation academies]] — schools that would allow white parents to avoid having their children in desegregated public schools — in anticipation of the court-ordered [[School integration in the United States|racial integration]] of [[Memphis City Schools]]. That order arrived in 1972, and on March 15, 1973, the church incorporated the Briarcrest Baptist School System.<ref name=":12"/><ref name="kravitiz">{{Cite journal |last1=Kravitz|first1=Mark R |author1-link = Mark R. Kravitz |last2=Mutter| first2=Carol A <!-- Not the same person as [[Carol A. Mutter]]--> | year=1974| title=Desegregation of Private Schools: Section 1981 as an Alternative to State Action| url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/glj62&div=61&id=&page= | journal =Georgetown Law Journal| volume=62| page=1365, note 15|issn=0016-8092|access-date=2018-05-01| quote=The term 'segregation academy' in the South has come to mean an institution which is one of 'a system of private schools operated on a racially segregated basis as an alternative available to white students seeking to avoid desegregated public schools.' ''[[Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission|Coffey v. State Educ. Fin. Comm'n]]'', 296 F. Supp. 1389, 1392 (S.D. Miss. 1969).{{pb}} "The quality of instruction, teachers, and physical plant varies widely among such schools. Some private white schools are well-equipped and boast an excellent staff. For example, the Briarcrest Baptist School System, Inc., in Memphis, Tennessee, offers all the standard academic subjects in addition to religious training. All of Briarcrest's staff are certified by the state, and 20 hold master's degrees. Wall Street Journal, ''supra'' note 14, at 1, col. 4. However, many southern private schools are woefully inadequate.}}</ref><ref name="crespino">{{Cite book| last=Crespino| first=Joseph| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdCApZN4xjwC&pg=PA248|title=In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution |date=2007| publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691122090|page=248|language=en|author-link=Joseph Crespino}}</ref> Briarcrest's initial faculty consisted of teachers who left public schools after desegregation. Principal Joseph A. Clayton said he and others wanted to be "back among their own" with "less fear, less culture shock" and more "cultural homogeneity".<ref name="nevinbills">{{cite book| title=The schools that fear built: segregationist academies in the South| last1=Nevin| first1=David| last2=Bills| first2=Robert | date=1976| publisher=Acropolis Books| isbn=978-0874911794| location=Washington |oclc=751608233}}</ref>{{rp|54}} As part of the effort, the administration screened prospective teachers to ensure that all staff members believed in [[creationism]] and that no teacher would teach the [[theory of evolution]].<ref name="nevinbills" />{{rp|63}} In September 1973, the school system launched with 2,400 pupils attending kindergarten through eighth-grade classes at 11 [[Southern Baptist]] churches throughout the Memphis area.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Jenkins|first=Evan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/19/archives/school-conflict-in-the-south-is-intensifying-financially-sound.html|title=School Conflict in the South Is Intensifying| date=August 19, 1973|work=New York Times|access-date=2018-11-08| page=48| language=en}}</ref> Tuition and fees were $650 per student (about ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|650|1973|r=0}}}} today{{Inflation-fn|US}}), with $100 discounts for siblings.<ref name=":0" /> Few, if any, were black, despite a declared policy of nondiscrimination — a requirement for the school's tax-exempt status — and reported efforts by Briarcrest officials to attract African-American students. A 1976 book published by [[Christian Literature Crusade]] said those efforts included asking 10 African-American pastors in Memphis for recruiting help and advertising in the ''[[Tri-State Defender]]'', a local minority newspaper.<ref name="grub">{{Cite book| title=Nothing is Impossible|last=Grub|first=Norman P.| publisher=Christian Literature Crusade| year=1976| isbn=978-0-87508-207-3|location=Fort Washington, PA}}</ref>{{rp|42–43}}<ref name="kravitiz"/> W. Wayne Allen, the pastor of East Park Baptist Church and head of the school system, said the black community pressured its families not to attend Briarcrest schools. "A black pastor friend of mine told me, 'Brother Allen, if I had one of your satellite schools in my church I'd be ostracized as an Uncle Tom{{'"}}, Mr. Allen told the ''New York Times'' in August 1973. "I told him, 'It's too bad you folks are so segregationist.{{'"}}<ref name=":0" /> === 1970s === In the fall of 1974, Briarcrest narrowly won an auction for a plot of land in East Memphis, beating out a Jewish group that sought to build a [[synagogue]]. School officials, who wanted the land for their high school campus, described the victory as a divine intervention in favor of Christianity over Judaism.<ref name="nevinbills" />{{rp|35}}<ref name=grub/>{{rp|30–31}} Grades 9–12 were added in 1975. That year, all of the high school's 1,432 students and 69 faculty and staff members were white,<ref>{{cite magazine|last = White | first = Jack |date = December 15, 1975 |url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879536,00.html| title= Segregated Academies |magazine =Time |volume =106 | issue = 24| page = 54| issn= 0040-781X| quote= Time Correspondent Jack White has been investigating the 'segregation academies'&nbsp;... Briarcrest Baptist High School, which opened two years ago after the courts ordered busing in the Memphis schools, has just about everything: a lavish $6.5 million building with earphones dangling from the ceiling in language labs, an electric kiln for would-be potters and an enthusiastic and well-educated corps of teachers (40% have master's degrees).&nbsp;... What Briarcrest lacks, however, is blacks. All of its 1,432 students and 69 faculty and staff members are white.{{pb}}"Many of the new private schools, like Briarcrest, insist that they have 'open' admissions and are segregated only because no blacks have applied. But they conceded that white hostility to desegregation accounts for much of their growth.}}</ref> despite the ostensibly open admissions policy.<ref name="nevinbills" />{{rp|33–36}} In its early years, the Briarcrest system continued to hold elementary-grade classes in various churches, paying minimal rent so it could concentrate capital spending on its high school campus.<ref name="nevinbills" />{{rp|36}} Since the Briarcrest system was affiliated with a large church, it continued to attract students after other Memphis-area segregation academies shut down.<ref>{{cite journal| last = Kiel |first = Daniel| title = Exploded Dream: Desegregation in the Memphis City Schools| journal = Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice| volume = 26 |number = 2| date = Summer 2008 |page = 298 | url = https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lieq26&i=265.}}</ref> In 1979, six years after Briarcrest began operation, about 2,000 students attended classes in the churches, and another 1,800 students attended the high school.<ref name=":12"/> Allen, by now the chairman of the school board, proclaimed it "the largest private school in the world."<ref name=":12"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=Mark |title=Getting right with God: Southern Baptists and desegregation, 1945-1995 |date=2001 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0817310608 |page=192}}</ref> Tuition in the lower grades was still $650; for high schoolers it was $1,100.<ref name=":12"/> A recent capital fundraising drive had netted about $400,000 to build a football stadium, and the school had recently created a development office to routinize solicitations for more funds.<ref name=":12"/> None of its 3,800 students were black; indeed, only two black students had ever enrolled in Briarcrest's regular classes, and just 46 more in its summer programs, Allen said.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=United States |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002946977 |title=Tax-exempt status of private schools: hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session ... |date=1979 |publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off. : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office |location=Washington}} </ref><ref>{{Cite book| title=Christian perspectives on church schools: a reader| date=1993 |publisher=Gracewing| editor1-last=Francis |editor1-first=Leslie J| editor2-last=Lankshear |editor2-first= David W.|isbn=978-0852442357| location=Leominster |chapter=Fundamentalist Christian schools: Should they be regulated?| page=286| first=Alen |last=Peshkin| author-link = Alan Peshkin| oclc=29518787}}</ref> Memphis [[NAACP]] chair [[Maxine Smith]] described the school as a "bastion of white segregation in a city with a 40% black population".<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine = [[Jet magazine|Jet]]| date =January 4, 1979| title=Baptist School Groups Denies Racial Bias|page = 7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA7|publisher= [[Johnson Publishing Company]] | number =4}}</ref> Allen said the school's attempts at outreach were foiled by the black community, whose children were "pressured into staying away, feeling they'd be [[Uncle Tom]]s if they came."<ref name="crespino" /> In February 1979, Allen was summoned to Washington, D.C., to testify at a hearing of the oversight subcommittee of the [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Committee on Ways and Means]]. Rep. [[Harold Ford Sr.]], D-Tennessee, questioned Allen about why no black students attended Briarcrest. Allen said that "every possible effort has been made to encourage and enroll black students&nbsp;... Some of the black leadership in our city says, 'Stay away; it is a racial school.' And it is not." Ford, the first black person to represent Tennessee in Congress, responded that he had never heard black leaders say that.<ref name=":12"/> ===1980s=== In 1984, a group of black parents sued Allen in his official capacity, alleging that the school practiced discriminatory policies that require the revocation of its [[Tax exemption|federal tax-exempt status]]. The case, ''[[Allen v. Wright]]'', was ultimately decided by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], which held that the parents did not have [[Standing (law)|standing]] to challenge the [[IRS]] ruling on the school's tax status.<ref name="allen">''Allen v. Wright'', [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5272142302925951593&hl=en&as_sdt=4,60&sciodt=4,60 468 US 737]</ref> Afterward, Allen said he was glad the tax code could not be "used as a weapon" by those who disagreed with the school's "policies or politics".<ref>{{cite news|date =July 5, 1984| newspaper = The Tennessean | page= 9 |title= Parent calls decision 'Wrong' in tax exemption challenge| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/112327682/ | agency= UPI| via= [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> By 1988, the school's enrollment had dwindled to 1,473 students and the school was in a precarious financial situation. School leaders feared the school would not have funds to reopen after the 1988–89 Christmas break, but a combination of teacher layoffs, staff pay cuts, and emergency fundraising allowed the school to continue classes.<ref>{{cite news|first=Stuart|last= Durando|page =1 |newspaper = Germantown News|date = February 9, 1989|title= Briarcrest looks toward future|url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/408695734/| via= [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In 1989, the school split from the founding church and re-chartered as an [[independent school]] under the name Briarcrest Christian School. === 2000s === [[File:BriarcrestEastMemFront.jpg|thumb|The East Memphis campus was sold in 2012]] The school and its history of racial segregation were portrayed in the 2009 film ''[[The Blind Side (film)|The Blind Side]]'', though it was called "Wingate Christian School".<ref>{{Cite book| title=Black Masculinity and the Cinema of Policing| last=Sexton| first=Jared| chapter=Origins and Beginnings: On the Blind Side| date=2017| publisher= Palgrave Macmillan, Cham| isbn=9783319661698| pages=89–120 |language=en| doi=10.1007/978-3-319-66170-4_4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ceFRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT85| title=Football, Culture and Power| last1=Leonard| first1=David J.| last2=George| first2=Kimberly B.| series= Routledge research in sport, culture and society| last3=Davis| first3=Wade |date=2016| publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781317410881| page=85| language=en}}</ref> Briarcrest officials said they did not permit the use of the school's real name because they felt that the script took excessive [[artistic license]].<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://archive.commercialappeal.com/entertainment/briarcrest-opted-out-of-feature-role-in-the-blind-side-ep-393169786-324250181.html/| title=Briarcrest opted out of feature role in 'The Blind Side'| last=Wade |first=Don| date=November 24, 2009| newspaper=[[Memphis Commercial Appeal]]| access-date=2018-05-02| language=en}}</ref> By 2010, the school had grown to 1,600 students and spent $43 million to build its campus.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/feb/03/enrollment-up-briarcrest-sees-more-growth-02/| title=Briarcrest sees more growth in future| last=Wade| first=Don|date=February 3, 2010| newspaper=The Commercial Appeal|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121017235357/http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/feb/03/enrollment-up-briarcrest-sees-more-growth-02/| archive-date=October 17, 2012}}</ref> In 2012, the school sold its Memphis campus to a church that had been a tenant there, though it continued to "lease space in the building for 200 students ranging from 2-year-olds to fifth graders", the ''Memphis Business Journal'' reported.<ref>{{Cite web| url= https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2012/11/07/highpoint-church-purchases-briarcrest.html| title=Highpoint Church purchases Briarcrest's East Memphis campus| website=www.bizjournals.com| access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref> In 2021, the school attracted controversy by inviting parents to a seminar on how to "respond biblically" to "the craziness" of children [[coming out]] or embracing an alternative [[gender identity]].<ref>{{Cite web |newspaper=Action 5 News |title=Training sessions on sexuality, gender identity happening today at Briarcrest Christian School |date=9 November 2021 |url=https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/11/09/training-sessions-sexuality-gender-identity-happening-today-briarcrest-christian-school/ |access-date=2022-07-10 |language=en}}</ref> Shelby County commissioner [[Tami Sawyer]] said the school's [[anti-LGBT rhetoric]] ("hateful drivel") should be viewed in light of the school's history of racial segregation.<ref>{{cite tweet| number=1457740407085936656 |user=tamisawyer| title=There has to be a reckoning with these institutions on the oppression they uphold and the gates they keep. @BriarcrestHs once educated their students that segregation was God’s will and is now spreading this hateful drivel against LGBTQ children. Just be better}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |newspaper=Action News 5 |title=County commissioner blasts school's training sessions for parents on 'gospel response' to sexuality and gender identity |date=8 November 2021 |url=https://www.wlbt.com/2021/11/08/county-commissioner-blasts-schools-training-sessions-parents-gospel-response-sexuality-gender-identity/ |access-date=2022-07-10 |language=en}}</ref> Several alumni said that the school's homophobic teachings led them to consider suicide during their attendance.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Laura |last1=Testino |first2 = Gina |last2=Butkovich |title=Gay Briarcrest alum said private school's LGBTQ stance nearly cost him his life |url=https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/education/2021/11/11/briarcrest-lgbtq-policies-alumni-community-leaders-plead-change/6342539001/ |access-date=2022-07-10 |website=The Commercial Appeal |language=en-US}}</ref> ==Program and facilities== Briarcrest is a [[non-denominational Christian]] school. All students attend weekly chapel services, study the Bible, and are encouraged to have what [[Evangelicalism|evangelical Christians]] describe as "a [[personal relationship with Jesus Christ]]". The school professes to teach Christian values and biblical morals; citing biblical verses, it forbids students to make statements in support of abortion, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, same-sex attraction, and alternate gender identity.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-06-12|title=Briarcrest Christian School {{!}} Biblical Principles Policy|url=https://www.briarcrest.com/page/admissions/student-and-family-policies/biblical-principles-policy|access-date=2022-02-08|archive-date=2018-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141500/https://www.briarcrest.com/page/admissions/student-and-family-policies/biblical-principles-policy|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> Briarcrest offers honors, [[advanced placement]], and [[dual enrollment]] classes. Fine arts programs begin in preschool and continue through grade 12 in visual arts, choral music, instrumental music, general music, and theater arts. ===Accreditation and affiliations=== The school has dual [[educational accreditation|accreditation]] from the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the [[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools]]. Briarcrest is also a member of the [[Association of Christian Schools International]], Tennessee Association of Independent Schools, Memphis Association of Independent Schools, and the [[College Board]]. ===Sports=== Briarcrest offers athletic programs including football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, cross country, golf, bowling, swimming, trap shooting, softball, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, track, tennis, and cheerleading. The school participates in [[Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association]] (TSSAA) Division II West AA for large schools, competing with both private and public schools in the region. Since 1998, Briarcrest has won nine state championships. Two of the football titles and four in girls' basketball were won by teams coached by [[Hugh Freeze]], who left in 2004 and went on to become head football coach at the [[University of Mississippi]]. In 2017, Freeze resigned abruptly from [[Ole Miss]] after he was found to have made more than a dozen calls to [[Escort agency|escort services]] on a university cellphone.<ref name=usatoday>{{cite news| last1=Peter| first1=Josh |title=Who is Hugh Freeze? Conflicting views of former Ole Miss coach emerge| url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/07/29/who-hugh-freeze-conflicting-views-former-ole-miss-coach-emerge/522705001/| archive-date= March 23, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180323230311/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/07/29/who-hugh-freeze-conflicting-views-former-ole-miss-coach-emerge/522705001/| work=USA Today|date=July 29, 2017| language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-22 |title=Review shows 12 Freeze calls to escort numbers |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20421042/review-shows-former-ole-miss-coach-hugh-freeze-made-least-12-calls-escort-services |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref> Soon thereafter, some female former Briarcrest students alleged that Freeze had engaged in inappropriate conduct with them at the school.<ref name=usatoday/><ref>{{cite news| last1=Heim| first1=Mark| title=Hugh Freeze stories emerge from former female students at Briarcrest Christian |url=https://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/07/hugh_freeze_stories_emerge_fro.html| work=AL.com| date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> A Briarcrest spokeswoman said, "We are totally unaware of any allegations against Coach Freeze regarding any kind of inappropriate personal conduct while he was here at Briarcrest.”<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/2017/07/24/briarcrest-christian-school-hugh-freezes-legacy-everywhere/506677001/| title=At Briarcrest Christian School, Hugh Freeze's legacy is everywhere| work=The Commercial Appeal| access-date=2018-05-29|language=en|date =July 24, 2017 |last = Giannotto|first=Mark }}</ref> ==Notable people== *[[Hugh Freeze]]: football coach<ref name="Freeze Times">{{cite news |last1=Cacciola| first1=Scott| title=Hugh Freeze, Coach at Ole Miss, Follows an Unlikely Blueprint| url=http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/sports/ncaafootball/hugh-freeze-coach-at-ole-miss-follows-an-unlikely-blueprint.html?referrer=&_r=0| access-date=15 December 2017|date=21 October 2014| newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> *[[Greg Hardy]]: NFL football player and professional mixed martial artist<ref>{{cite web|author=Greg Hardy |url=http://www.nfl.com/players/greghardy/profile?id=HAR101120 |title=Greg Hardy, DE for the Carolina Panthers at |work=Nfl.com |access-date=2012-12-26}}</ref> *[[Jim Mabry]]: NCAA All-American football player<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/mabry-just-maybe-is-arkansas-best-sleeper/article_68a9446e-5315-5f4f-a08a-cf807cc4adb2.html |title=Mabry, Just Maybe, Is Arkansas' Best 'Sleeper'| last=Krehbiel| first=Randy| work=Tulsa World |access-date=2018-11-09| language=en|date = December 27, 1989}}</ref> *[[Leslie McDonald]]: basketball player<ref>[http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/mcdonald_leslie00.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313081846/http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/mcdonald_leslie00.html|date=March 13, 2011}}</ref> *[[Austin Nichols (basketball)|Austin Nichols]]: basketball player<ref>{{cite web| last1=Borzello| first1=Jeff| title=Austin Nichols surprisingly chooses Memphis over Tennessee| url=http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/recruiting/eye-on-college-basketball-recruiting/20836405/austin-nichols-surprisingly-chooses-memphis-over-tennessee| work=CBS Sports| access-date=October 24, 2015| date=November 5, 2012}}</ref> *[[Michael Oher]]: NFL football player<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nfl.com/players/michaeloher/profile?id=OHE567504 |title=Michael Oher, T for the Baltimore Ravens at |work=Nfl.com |date=1986-05-28 |access-date=2012-12-26}}</ref> *[[Leigh Anne Tuohy]]: interior designer <ref>{{Cite book|title=Cinematic faith: a Christian perspective on movies and meaning| last=Romanowski |first = William|date = 21 May 2019| isbn=978-0-8010-9865-9 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan| page = 182 | oclc=1056484419}}</ref> *[[Kennedy Chandler]]: NBA basketball player == References == {{reflist}} == External links == {{Portal|United States|Schools|Christianity|}} *[http://www.briarcrest.com Briarcrest Christian School] *[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/magazine/24football.html "The Ballad of Big Mike"], 2005 ''[[New York Times Magazine]]'' article on Michael Oher {{authority control}} [[Category:1973 establishments in Tennessee]] [[Category:Christian schools in Tennessee]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1973]] [[Category:Preparatory schools in Tennessee]] [[Category:Private K-12 schools in Tennessee]] [[Category:Segregation academies in Tennessee]] [[Category:Schools in Memphis, Tennessee]] [[Category:Schools in Shelby County, Tennessee]]'