So the ineptitude of the powers that be at Prestonwood Baptist Church/Christian Academy have managed to turn the "fastest growing private school in the nation (the North/Prosper campus)" 2 years ago to a school is rapidly losing enrollment (and faculty) to the point that they have decided to discontinue education beyond 6th grade starting with the 2027 school year.

My son will be entering 8th grade next year and will see it through. However, beyond that we are looking for suggestions about nearby private, Christian schools, preferable from people with children who have attended. Prestonwood is offering to bus kids to the Plano campus for the middle and upper school, but I don't think that is something we are interested in doing.

We will be putting together a list of "must haves," "wants" and "don't cares" this weekend. I know we will want some sports along with schools that are able to provide some educational assistance to help with my son's ARD needs (nothing too big, but definitely need some supports and services). I know at least one other Ag in the area that posts here that may have some of the same issues, but a little further down the road.

Thanks,
Jeff

What happened at Prestonwood?

I can't give you a parents' perspective or really an educational one either. What I can give you is a perspective from someone who has been a sports official -- mostly football but some basketball in years' past -- about how the school, in general, hires and manages coaches, treats players (as best I can tell), and plays in a sporting or unsporting manner. And, oh, the fans, too.

I had mostly good experiences with Legacy Christian in Frisco. They had a long time football coach, Scott Smith, there for a while but he left 3-4 years ago. The new one started winning more but I never worked one of his games. In general, doing a game there or working them on the road (did both, 2-3 times total), was pleasant. Had more issues with their opponents. Coach Smith was a bit rough around the edges, but once he got to know you -- and I'm sure this applied to his players and the parents -- he was great to work with.

Not in Frisco/McKinney, but I've always had a pleasant experience with John Paul. I've gotten to know Coach Teague (former Cowboy Safety) pretty well. For a while, during Teague's first stint there, he was picking my crew for a lot of games -- 3 in one year once. I also know the assistant headmaster -- great guy, as well as the former headmaster. I think they run a good ship there. The hoops coach is a guy I worked a lot years ago at another smaller private school. Excessively pleasant away from the court (i.e. as an admin at football games), and generally decent at basketball games albeit a little noisy from time to time. The parents I know (going back to grade/high school) that sent their kids to JP had positive things to say about the school.

The only other Frisco/McKinney school I think I dealt with was McKinney Christian. I don't have the positive things to say about their football program that I do the other schools. I mean, it isn't that I think their coaches are ax murderers, but one year they played a team on the road -- a team clearly better than they were -- and they had a bunch of dads down on the field masquerading as coaches. They were there, solely in my opinion, to try and stir up confusion for the officiating crew and hopefully either intimidate us or have an excuse when they lost. Once I realized they weren't coaches -- there were about 10 dads and I knew they didn't have 15 or 16 coaches and only 14 or so players -- I put them back in the stands where they belonged. The head coach *****ed, said he'd turn me in to TAPPS (he didn't, as far as I knew and TAPPS wouldn't have cared if he did - I certainly didn't), but I considered what he tried to do unethical. I understand doing what you can to win, but do that on the field, not on the sideline. And trying to intimidate me -- which is impossible -- has no sportsmanship quality whatsoever and is just stupid. (There were one or two other, minor, events in games over the years. Last few years, I either wasn't available when they picked crews or they didn't want me/my crew. No worries on my part either way). With that said, McK Chstian may be a great school and my experience was unusual.

If you're not interested in any of this, I fully understand. Just my perspective.

There's a different Scott Smith at Prestonwood now. He was an absolute disaster at Plano West several years ago.

JP2 is headed in the right direction. They're newer on the block, but they've built a solid reputation and put many kids into good colleges.

What abt TCA?

This impacts both of my kids. We are looking at both MCA and LCA.

Thanks for the info. It's funny how the coaches often represent the values of the school. You can learn a lot about the school from how they are on the sidelines. First glance is LCA and MCA. Maybe some 3 day options as well with some smaller schools.

I feel for you. We were at the main campus for 16 years w/ 4 boys and had to jump ship last year with our last 2. Now, one is online through Liberty University and the other is at Prince of Peace. We were very plugged into what was going on and "ineptitude" is an understatement. Unbelievable how bad things have gotten at PCA since Larry Taylor left.

Gigem_94 said:

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I feel for you. We were at the main campus for 16 years w/ 4 boys and had to jump ship last year with our last 2. Now, one is online through Liberty University and the other is at Prince of Peace. We were very plugged into what was going on and "ineptitude" is an understatement. Unbelievable how bad things have gotten at PCA since Larry Taylor left.

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The Overlord himself, Jack Graham, would have still influenced or made this decision. He is a large part of Taylor leaving.

Very true.

Curious about how much you can expand on this. We have an elementary aged child at a school in Mesquite but will be considering other options over the next school year (3rd grade year). PCA is one we would consider in theory, so insight would be great.

We would never consider Plano campus.

rebel06 said:

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Our kids attend Coram Deo Academy and we love it. It's a hybrid model - two days in school and two days of homeschool. Might not be what you are looking for.

I attended The Covenant School but that might too far of a drive for you. Great school though.

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Shout out to CDA. It's an amazing place.

My step son graduated from the Plano campus in '25 after being a lifer. My wife and his dad would both agree that elementary school and middle school made it worth it, but that high school things were just different. More politics and just didn't have the same vibe. I think my step son would still say he enjoyed it and had some really great opportunities, but definitely a different feel when Taylor left. The teachers there are really wonderful, though.

I also graduated from TCA and have a now 7th grader at POP (Christian not Catholic). We looked at tons of schools for him. TCA, PCA, Greenhill, ESD, Good Shepherd, Parrish, etc. POP just felt like the best fit for my kid. My youngest is still is PISD and we are looking at options for him and could see him fitting at POP or PCA frankly.

HouseDivided06 said:

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My step son graduated from the Plano campus in '25 after being a lifer. My wife and his dad would both agree that elementary school and middle school made it worth it, but that high school things were just different. More politics and just didn't have the same vibe. I think my step son would still say he enjoyed it and had some really great opportunities, but definitely a different feel when Taylor left. The teachers there are really wonderful, though.

I also graduated from TCA and have a now 7th grader at POP (Christian not Catholic). We looked at tons of schools for him. TCA, PCA, Greenhill, ESD, Good Shepherd, Parrish, etc. POP just felt like the best fit for my kid. My youngest is still is PISD and we are looking at options for him and could see him fitting at POP or PCA frankly.

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Not to get off topic, but if you don't mind me asking, what have your experiences with PISD been like, and which feeder pattern are you in? Are you transitioning to private for personal reasons or due to school/district concerns?

No problem, don't mind at all. I would say overall, PISD has been fine. Not bad. Not great. Definitely ups and downs. Now my oldest is challenging which probably partially affects my views but my youngest is super easy going and has done great there. We are Mitchell elementary, Frankford middle. Overall, he did fine, but I will say his fifth grade teachers were not great. One was just rude and ugly literally none of the kids liked her. She's no longer there. Also had one who just didn't communicate and expected a ton out of 5th graders, which I get, but at some point, let parents know what's going on. The day before Thanksgiving break, she told us that he had like 50 missing assignments. They were all on Google Classroom. We didn't know how to check it. He didn't know how to check it. No alert about any of this until that day. And he wasn't the only kid who had that issue. She was going from high school teacher to elementary and I don't think she knew how to navigate.

My oldest had great teachers in 2-4th, and my youngest has really done well but he's a major people pleaser and obeys the teacher all the time which sets him apart. Which brings me to discipline in the classroom. Mitchell became an ESL hub a couple years ago and classrooms exploded in size and behavior issues were rampant. My kids talked all the time about some of the stuff kids did in class and it was a lot. I've also heard not great things about Frankford middle school which is what spurred us to look at private for my oldest after 5th grade. I've heard Plano really does a great job preparing you for college but ultimately we wanted to have families who were of similar mindset and values and smaller classes with great teachers. Of all the places we visited, I would say the teachers at POP, PCA, and TCA were all just outstanding. Any other questions feel free to pm me.

HouseDivided06 said:

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No problem, don't mind at all. I would say overall, PISD has been fine. Not bad. Not great. Definitely ups and downs. Now my oldest is challenging which probably partially affects my views but my youngest is super easy going and has done great there. We are Mitchell elementary, Frankford middle. Overall, he did fine, but I will say his fifth grade teachers were not great. One was just rude and ugly literally none of the kids liked her. She's no longer there. Also had one who just didn't communicate and expected a ton out of 5th graders, which I get, but at some point, let parents know what's going on. The day before Thanksgiving break, she told us that he had like 50 missing assignments. They were all on Google Classroom. We didn't know how to check it. He didn't know how to check it. No alert about any of this until that day. And he wasn't the only kid who had that issue. She was going from high school teacher to elementary and I don't think she knew how to navigate.

My oldest had great teachers in 2-4th, and my youngest has really done well but he's a major people pleaser and obeys the teacher all the time which sets him apart. Which brings me to discipline in the classroom. Mitchell became an ESL hub a couple years ago and classrooms exploded in size and behavior issues were rampant. My kids talked all the time about some of the stuff kids did in class and it was a lot. I've also heard not great things about Frankford middle school which is what spurred us to look at private for my oldest after 5th grade. I've heard Plano really does a great job preparing you for college but ultimately we wanted to have families who were of similar mindset and values and smaller classes with great teachers. Of all the places we visited, I would say the teachers at POP, PCA, and TCA were all just outstanding. Any other questions feel free to pm me.

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This is very helpful info! My wife and I are in the Saigling Elementary neighborhood in central Plano, but she is familiar with Mitchell as she lived on the other side of Midway prior to us getting married. Its helpful hearing about others experiences as we look towards future planning.