Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Christian Academy is closing its doors after 18 years in operation. The private school’s 200 students learned about the school closing in a letter sent home to their parents and signed by Carlton Donald, the board’s vice-chair.
“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,” read the letter. A few years ago the academy boasted of having one teacher for every eight students.
The school’s tuition ranged from $5,253 for New Birth members to $6,198 for non-members, according to the Atlanta Journal.
The school’s closing is just another step toward the dismantling of Eddie Long’s church empire in Atlanta. The church has laid off staff after losing hundreds of members since Long settled a sexual coercion case filed against him by four former New Birth members who were heterosexual and gay.
Additionally, Bernice King, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, stepped down as a church elder in May. And 10 former parishioners filed a $1 million lawsuit against Long and the church alleging they lost their life savings in an investment scam.
Long, who temporally stepped down as the church’s senior pastor this month, reportedly used the school as a hunting ground for young males to satisfy his sexual appetite. In court documents, Long was accused of coercing the young men with Bible passages and plying at least two of the boys with cash, trips, gifts and cars to loosen their sexual inhibitions.
Earlier this month, the embattled preacher’s long-suffering wife, Vanessa, announced she was filing for divorce.
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