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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep‎. Liz Read! Talk! 23:08, 11 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Heartland Christian Academy

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Heartland Christian Academy (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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The only thing notable about this school is a raid that the courts later found unjustified. There are two sources, one looks to basically be like Yelp for finding a school, so that's not really any good. The other is rather long piece from an NPR affiliate that describes the very harsh treatment of children at this school, which is barely discussed in the article. (adult men paddling girls, forced silence for days on end, shaming through making them wear weird clothes, stuff like that) I think there may be a broader subject here, in that the school is apparently part of a small empire of businesses in this part of Missouri from home construction to dairy cows and so on, and they basically have their own little town out there, but the school on its own does not seem particularly notable. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:50, 27 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Education, Christianity, and Missouri. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:50, 27 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong Keep: It is my assertion that the massive enforcement action taken against this school is uniquely notable, warranting an article on Wikipedia. 150 children were removed from the school due to allegations of widespread abuse. The OP is arguing that aside from this raid, the school does not appear notable, which is an argument I do not find convincing. The fact that the raid occurred is not disputed, nor the reliability of the NPR affiliate. The OP questions why it is the single source for the article, but the sole source issue is not grounds for deletion, as this is a stub article. More sources and commentary are welcome and always appropriate. The OP states that the details of the alleged abuse are not covered in the article, however, this too is not grounds for deletion. By the OP's own argument, the school was found not liable in court when it challenged the raid, so discussing the allegations in detail in the Wikipedia article would not be appropriate. Without disputing the central fact, that the raid occurred, there is no grounds for deletion. Enforcement actions as large and unique as this raid are clearly a topic of public interest. –Zfish118⋉talk 13:06, 28 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I think you're way off in saying the allegations of abuse, documented by reliable sources, cannot be discussed in the article. The central issue here is that this type of abuse is somehow actually legal under the law in Missouri, not that it didn't actually happen. I can't see the KC Star article you've added because of the paywall, but from the headline that seems to be the entire point of that article. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:12, 1 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I don't necessarily oppose additional commentary on the allegations if it complies with Wikipedia policy. I mainly disagree the omission of such details, beyond a broad description, is grounds for deletion. The Star article does not claim the allegations prompting the raid were true but legal. –Zfish118⋉talk 17:15, 3 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
This is all I could access from that article

"Aaron Rother was 16 when the leader of his boarding school announced they were packing up and moving again, to their third state in a little more than a year. But this time, in the mid-1990s, Agape Boarding School was moving away from the “nonbelievers” in Washington and California and heading east. To a place with “good Christian people,” no government scrutiny and where leaders could feel free to run their school the way they saw fit. “It was the feeling like we were going to the Promised Land,” said Rother, whose father dropped him off at Agape in Othello, Washington, when he was 15. “Kind of like, ‘This is where the Christians can go to not be messed with.’ “When we got to Missouri, they announced to us that they had found THE place. Like this is our new home. … The state followed God’s law, that’s the message they told us.” It’s a message that seemingly has been heard across the country for decades as schools have made their way to the Show-Me State, where a nearly 40-year-old law allows faith-based residential facilities to operate without a license, any scrutiny or interference from the state. From Washington and California to Michigan and Mississippi, the schools come to Missouri, where no one is watching or keeping tabs. The Star found that at least seven schools moved here after being investigated or...."

PaulGamerBoy360 (talk) 23:39, 4 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. If this survives AfD, it should be renamed. There are at least 6 other schools named Heartland Academy. Jacona (talk) 19:31, 1 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep. There is a good deal of coverage of the raid (including this, NYT, etc) and legal actions immediately following, but I also wanted to see if there was continuing coverage. Newspapers.com is currently out of action. NewspaperArchive.com had some coverage of the event, plus some more recent ROUTINE coverage. I've not got a lot of experience citing Proquest, but when I searched there I found lots of references. There was more coverage from 2001-2006, but it continued. The coverage was nationwide. There was especially a flurry of newspaper articles in 2010 (here's one) because of a suit filed by the school against the feds. There was another bump in 2017 when the founder died [1]. There was this in 2021 and this in 2022. These may not be the best links, but I chose them because they are the most recent, showing the school is still being covered more than 20 years after this event. I'm just scratching the surface, but this is a lot of stuff, plenty to meet WP:NSCHOOL for starters. There is plenty of WP:SIGCOV that could be used to expand the article. Adding Charles Sharpe to any search may help weed out a lot of references to similarly named schools, and still provide you with useful references. Jacona (talk) 20:12, 1 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions. Necrothesp (talk) 10:27, 3 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 23:27, 4 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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