Montrose Christian School

Montrose Christian School is a K-12 private school in Rockville, Maryland, operated by the Montrose Baptist Church, Maryland's second largest Southern Baptist church.^[1] It educates around 370 students.^[2] Its first Senior High School class graduated in 1986.^[3]

Early History

The history of Montrose Christian School is intimately connected with its parent organization, Montrose Baptist Church. While Montrose Baptist Church had established a nursery school in 1968 and a daycare in 1971, it recognized an opportunity to further its evangelical mission through the development of a full-time day school. On April 30, 1977, Montrose Christian School was officially incorporated in Rockville, Maryland. Starting with an inaugural kindergarten class of five children, it quickly expanded the next year to include Grades 1-4. During each subsequent year, another grade or two was added until eventually in May 1986, it graduated its first class of High School students.^[4]

Controversies

The school was embroiled in a lawsuit, in February 1997, involving three employees, represented by the ACLU, who said they were fired for not belonging to the school's parent church.^[5] While a judge initially ruled in the favor of the dismissed employees, the decision was later overturned on appeal in 2001^[6] based on the argument that "'for a religious corporation, association, or society to hire and employ employees of a particular religion,' is severable and valid." ^[7]

Reverend Ray Hope, a.k.a. Dr. Otis Ray Hope,^[8] senior pastor at the Montrose Baptist Church, resigned in October 2002 after questioning by the church's governing council about his involvement with the Maryland International Students Association,^[9] an organization that recruited foreign students attending Montrose Christian School.^[10] Officials for the school's parent church alleged that the recruiting organization has failed to reimburse the school for the cost of the students' education; that Rev. Ray Hope owed the church's school more than $580,000.^[11]

In February 2012 a female teacher at Montrose Christian School was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a student for a period of over one year.^[12][13]

Athletics

The school has been recognized for its athletic accomplishments, particularly for those of its basketball team, which has been successful at recruiting players across the United States and around the world to play in Rockville.^[1] Kevin Durant's transfer to the school led USA Today to name Montrose its preseason pick for the top spot on its Super 25 rankings of the top high school basketball teams in 2005-06.^[14]

The school has appeared regularly on USA Today's Super 25 national rankings, finishing the season ranked 25th in 2000-01,^[15] 9th in 2002-03,^[16] 19th in 2003-04,^[17] 19th in 2005-06^[18] and 22nd in 2006-07.^[19]

Notable alumni

• Miguel "Ali" Berdiel (1983–), is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player.^[1]
• Jason Conley (1981–), the first freshman ever to lead NCAA Division I in scoring.^[20]
• Kevin Durant (1988–), basketball player for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.^[21]
• Linas Kleiza (1985–), basketball player for the NBA's Toronto Raptors.^[22]
• K.J. Matsui, guard on the Columbia University basketball team, who was the first Japanese born NCAA Division I player.
• Greivis Vasquez (1987–), guard on the University of Maryland basketball team, who played for the Venezuelan national team in the FIBA America Championships,^[23] and now plays for the NBA's Toronto Raptors.
• Terrence Ross (1991-), guard on the Toronto Raptors. He attended Montrose Christian for his junior year.

References

External links

• Official site