McKinney Christian Academy

Bullying is a HUGE issue, especially in Middle School and High School. The Administration enables the bullying and the toxic environment. After having MCA students for over 12 years total, we pulled our kids out in High School. Our kids were verbally bullied, physically bullied and threatened. A teacher, who is now at another Christian school, contributed to a lot of ganging up on one of our children. MCA refused to investigate, even though many parents had gone to the administration about this teacher. Our kids turned away from Christ after being bullied severely at MCA. One child is returning to faith. I intercede for both kids daily. One child was kicked, pushed, etc… The HS principal asked me why I didn’t pull my youngest out since the environment was so unsafe. ?!?! A former teacher witnessed this conversation. At the time, I told her the kids who bullied should leave, not a kid who was kind, inclusive, respectful obedient and loved the Lord. My kids had friends, were involved and were happy until the bullying started at the end of MS/beginning of HS. One child was affected by the relentless bullying (which daily happened in three classes - in front of teachers in addition to between classes) to the point of being diagnosed with C-PTSD. We were a VERY involved family. We LOVED MCA until the bullying occurred & administration refused to address it. I poured so much of my time, money & prayers into MCA over more than 12 years. I shepherded dozens of students (through programs where I volunteered at MCA) in a Christ-like manner, leading them to and showing them the love of Jesus. I mentored MCA MS & HS students for 12-15 hours a week for 7 years. I was a homeroom parent fir 6 years, volunteered all the time and was on MCA boards and committees. I did all this even though I worked full time. I gave up a lot of income every year so that I could be involved in what I believed to be a ministry (and it was part of the ministry God had for me at the time). Yet, when my children needed to be protected from terrible treatment, the administration turned their back. Our situation was not a one-off. When I had previously heard of families experiencing similar things, I convinced myself that was a rare exception, not the rule. I didn’t want to believe a Christian school could allow this behavior! I wish I would have paid attention to the warnings AND demanded accountability for those families. Our hearts are broken by what happened to our family at MCA. I still love so many families that attend the school, but my heart aches every time I see posts of these families moving on at MCA and ignoring the terrible things our family (and many other families) went through due to the incredibly toxic environment. I wish I would have pulled my children out the first time a friend’s family pulled their three kids from MCA (5 years before we left) due to one of their children being bullied, instead of convincing myself there must be more to the story. I should not have allowed my kids to stay at a school where others were so badly mistreated, even though things were good for my kids at the time. Current MCA families, what are you doing to stop the bullying? Are you doing what a lot of families do - lay low and hope your kid isn’t next, or are you taking a stand a demanding that the MCA Board and new Headmaster STOP THE BULLYING! Please pray about what you need to do to change this environment! MCA, stop ignoring the bullying. Stop expecting targeted kids to take the bullying over and over again, and not disciplining the kids who bully. Stop allowing the kids who bully to re-enroll year after year. Look at all of the kids who started MCA at age 5 who leave in HS because of the bullying! Those kids don’t retaliate because they were trained in the way they should go from a young age. Instead, they are victimized. Then, kids who have been at MCA for three years graduate from a college prep school while the kids who were there for 11 or more years graduate from a public high school and also have to put their lives back together after they were literally destroyed at MCA. I know this is a lot, but I cannot emphasize enough the negative impact this had on our family. I was MCA’s biggest fan until they stopped being Christ-like, and appeared to care more about tuition coming in than stopping bullying, and sweeping things under the rug to protect their reputation.

The bullying at this school is terrible! We were a very involved MCA family for 13 years. Once my kids were in high school, the bullying was unbearable. I went to the administation many times. In response, I was once told that "if you are different you get attacked". There were little to NO repurcussions for students who repeatedly bullied. There was verbal, emotional and physical bullying. The MCA Administration swept big issues under the rug. The HS Prinicipal told me she didn't understand why I was still sending my youngest child to MCA when my child was being bullied so badly. I told her she needed to remove the kids who bully, and not expect kids who contribute positively to the school to leave to escape the culture of bullying. She said she could't change the culture quickly, that it would take years to make it better. She had already been the principal for several years. Perhaps her hands were tied by those above her? I can't imagine any other reason she would not handle the situations.

I begged the school to implement a program/app like StopIt Bullying. Each time, I was told no - even though the Association of Christian Schools International "strongly recommends" the program. Public Schools in the State of Texas are required to have an annonymous way to report bullying. MCA has refused to create this avenue. MCA constantly says they need more documentation to implement consequences for those who bully, yet they will not set up a program that allows multiple reporters of an event along with digital documentation.

Along with the bullying/lack of effectively addressing bullying, there are a lot of good people at MCA. There are also many kind students who really do love the Lord. However, the bullying by the other students creates a hostile and abusive envrionment for all of the students.

I loved the time, prior to the bullying, that we were an MCA family. I spent over 15 hours a week (in addition to a full-time job) supporting the school through multiple activities - homeroom parent, volunteer, fundraiser, coach, technology implemmentation, etc.... Even being a super involved parent did not prevent the bullying from occurring. The former Headmaster was very unkind when I reported what had happened to our oldest child. He told me I said, "terrible things about one of the teachers" in an email I sent him informing him of what should have been a fireable offense by a teacher. What he should have said is that he was sorry a teacher did those terrible things. He was upset that I reported it! There was no accountability for the teacher nor the administration. In fact, the school refused to even investigate the specific incident about the teacher. The Headmaster later attempted to retaliate against me. All of these events are documented.

Unless MCA has changed significantly since the 2022-2023 school year, I strongly discourage anyone from attending MCA. There are other Christian schools in the area. Find another Christian school. When the students and administration behave worse than those who do not claim to be Christians, it creates a terrible environment for the entire student population. It also turns people away from Christianity due to the hypocrisy and abuse (because that's what repeated bullying is) by those who claim to be Christians.