By: Kimberly G. Moore, Ed.D.
Executive Director
Community Christian Academy
On April 14, 2025, Community Christian Academy applied for the Federal Executive Institute located in Charlottesville, Virginia through the Federal Real Property Assistance Program. Our mission is to provide access to a quality Christian education to students of diverse socio-economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. As such, we have been working on developing unique and needed programs for those in our local community who desire a private Christian school. Some of our plans include:
- A multi-pathway high school offering a standard program of study, dual-enrollment classes (college classes offered in high school), and vocational and technical education. Ninth grade is launching this August.
- A fully-developed special education program to add to our current math and reading intervention services.
- A teacher-training partnership with colleges to allow student-teachers to complete their practicums with our certified teachers.
- After the implementation of the high school, implement a preschool program.
Looking at FEI, there are unique features that could have removed barriers to the full implementation of our vision.
- There is plenty of space to add additional students and programs. Our school has been at maximum capacity of about 110 students for three years.
- There is a building of hotel rooms that would remove the housing barrier for student-teachers needing housing in Charlottesville for four months.
- There is a large workshop appropriate for some of the vocational programs we have planned.
- Most of the buildings and property would not need to be changed because they are already differentiated for various school purposes.
Finding FEI seemed to be the answer that would allow all these plans to come to fruition, so we submitted what we thought was an excellent application. As we understand the process, there is a point system for evaluating the applications based on stated criteria such as need for the property, lack of other local facility options, hardship, and use for students with special needs. We seemed to be a perfect fit for the space.
We were disheartened when we received a letter from DOE on April 30 that Charlottesville City Public Schools were granted the property because they had demonstrated a greater need and financial ability to care for the property. We understood that they had greater financial capacity, but we knew they did not have a greater need. Therefore, I requested a corrected letter stating the accurate reason(s) for our denial, which I never received.
We were quite surprised last Friday, then, to read the news that the Department of Education had re-evaluated CCS and UVA’s applications and decided to remove the property from CCS and to give it to UVA. This led to some questions. Was CCA’s application re-evaluated, and if not, why not? If the application process worked as we understood the written policies and procedures to indicate, shouldn’t CCA have been given the property as a K-12 school with a demonstrated need over a postsecondary school with no clear need for the property? The decisions, the reversal, and the obvious omission of CCA’s application in government communications regarding a reported re-evaluation caused confusion.
We are mailing overnight written communication to the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to request a re-evaluation and proper explanation for why we did not meet the criteria for the property. If we lost in a fair evaluation due to finances, we understand that. We determined that we had two years of funding for the property, and we would need to create a ten-million-dollar endowment devoted to the property to fund those expenses in perpetuity. However, if the answer was that simple, why wasn’t it stated as such?
It is not our goal to get into the middle of a fight over the property, and we do not have “sour grapes” over our loss. Yes, getting the denial was heartbreaking, but our trust is in our God’s ability to provide what we need at the proper time, whether or not He uses the government to do it. Rather, we simply ask for confirmation from Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, of a fair review according to the published criteria and an accurate, clear explanation of how we failed to meet those requirements.
Supporting documents:
Signed Letter to the Secretary of Education
