Eddie Long Reopening New Birth Christian Academy
After announcing a closure after the Christmas break, Bishop Eddie Long’s church is reopening its New Birth Christian Academy.
Channel 2 Action News reports that the Lithonia private Christian school will reopen through a cooperative agreement with Aurora Day School. More details will emerge at a press conference this week about how the 18-year-old academy will move forward.
According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Carlton Donald, vice chair of the academy’s board, previously informed parents in a letter dated Dec. 22 that “funding estimates fall far short of our projected needs. It is a very sad occasion, as the NBCA board has made the tough decision to temporarily close the school.”
New Birth Christian Academy is a private K-12 school on a mission to promote educational excellence, foster character development and maximize individual strengths through academic, artistic, social and athletic experiences. The school had 221 students, according to the Georgia Independent School Association.
“We have operated New Birth Christian Academy for several years with substantial deficits in hopes that the national economic climate would change, however, that change never materialized,” said Donald’s letter. “We are doing everything in our power to reopen the school at some point in the near future.”
News of the school closing came at the heels of Long’s wife of 21 years, Vanessa, filing for divorce and Long taking a leave of absence from the Lithonia, Ga., megachurch. Long has since returned to the pulpit, but there has been no more discussion about the divorce.
Earlier in the year, Long settled a sexual coercion suit four former male members of his church filed against him. Long has also been named in a financial fraud suit and settled a lawsuit on a real estate deal in 2011.
