Highlands Latin School, a classical Christian school in Louisville, KY , had its lease terminated by Crescent Hill Baptist Church earlier this week. The decision came in the wake of a Louisville Courier-Journal series on the classical school, entitled The Cost of Empire.” The series sought to attack Highland’s Christian convictions and highlight the negative experiences of former students at the school. While it is certainly true that some students, in the school’s more than twenty-five-year history, had less than pleasant experiences at Highlands, “The Cost of Empire” accounts to nothing more than a malicious attack upon a successful Christian institution.

The series ran in the midst of Kentucky’s battle over school choice and the Amendment 2 referendum. But the Journal’ s series had ramifications beyond the referendum. Just this week, Highlands Latin School’s lease of 20 years was terminated by Crescent Hill Baptist Church.

The Crescent Hill campus is one of two campuses for the over 700 students who attend Highlands. Crescent Hill Baptist co-pastor Jordan Conley described the church’s response to the series as one of “horror.” He went on to describe Highland’s traditional stance on LGBTQ+ issues as “not Christian practice.”

To be clear, Crescent Hill Baptist is a progressive church in the Crescent Hill neighborhood of Louisville. It describes its membership as consisting of “seekers made up of Baptists, ex-evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Catholics, people of other religious expressions, and people of no religious expression at all.” The church was disaffiliated by the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2014 for its approval of gay marriages. Furthermore, the church leans left politically, as it hosted such guests as Democratic Congressman Morgan McGarvey in August of 2024.

As a result of “The Cost of Empire,” the Courier-Journal reported that Crescent Hill Baptist began to “rethink its business relationship with the school.” After four months, the church voted to terminate its lease with Highlands. This decision will come with steep financial costs to the church. Nevertheless, it is a decision Crescent Hill deems necessary, even if it leads the church into “uncertain times.”

Crescent Hill Baptist Church and the Louisville Courier-Journal can try to cancel Highlands Latin School, and even terminate its lease. But it cannot cancel the countless success stories Highlands has produced. Highlands remains one of the top private schools in the nation, boasting an average ACT score of 30, some 12 points higher than the average score of a Jefferson County Public School student. Furthermore, its students have gone on to study at such elite institutions as Princeton, MIT, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Countless parents choose Highlands year after year due to its “quiet, orderly, and disciplined” classroom environment. Perhaps the Courier-Journal should consider this in contrast to the outbreaks of violence that continually disrupt JCPS classrooms. In September, WDRB reported on 546 reported fights that occurred in the JCPS system in the first 24 days of the semester.That’s an average of nearly 23 fights every single day, accounting for nearly 4,000 fights in a given 170-day school year. Nevertheless, the Journal instead sees fit to focus its attention on years-old accusations of one of the most successful private schools in the country, boasting an ITBS score in the 99th percentile.

No doubt, there have been unfortunate things said and done in the classrooms of Highlands Latin School over its long history. That’s because classrooms are led by imperfect teachers who sometimes make mistakes. But this is true of any established institution. If the Courier-Journal was deeply concerned over child safety and well-being, they would instead have investigated JCPS and the absolute chaos in our schools. Instead, they rivet their efforts to tear down successful Christian institutions, describing Highland’s curriculum as nothing more than Christian ideology.” Such unbalanced reporting aimed at discrediting conservative institutions only undermines the Courier’s credibility and public trust.