Former Agape students say video proves abuse, demand Missouri school be shut down

Kansas City Star ^ | June 23, 2022 | Judy L. Thomas and Laura Bauer

[Morgana]

A newly surfaced video that shows what many describe as abuse of a boy at Agape Boarding School in the late 1990s has renewed calls to close the school.

In the footage, a man who former students say is Frank Burton — a long-time pastor at the Cedar County school — can be seen forcing a boy wearing a bathrobe to run alongside him around the perimeter of an outdoor volleyball court, which also served as the school’s boot camp area. It’s been common practice at the school to make boys wear robes if they were on suicide watch or had tried to run away.

At one point, the boy falls, and the man pulls him back up. As they continue running, the video shows the man kick the boy from behind at least twice. Then the man says to a staff member, “Take him to the office. Write him up.”

Former students say Burton was the school’s principal at the time. Burton is an officer on the board of directors for Agape Baptist Church, which oversees the school, according to its most recent filing with the Missouri Secretary of State.

“This video just solidifies our stories of abuse that we went through,” said Colton Schrag, of New Mexico, who attended Agape from 2006 to 2010 and testified at a legislative hearing last year on bills to implement more oversight on religious boarding schools. “We have been telling our stories for two years, and now have some proof to back our claims.”

The Star has investigated Agape and other boarding schools in southern Missouri since late summer 2020. Many men who attended Agape in their youth said they were subjected to physical restraints, extreme workouts, long days of manual labor, and food and water withheld as punishment.

[Fai Mao]

So are these things still going on? The 1990s.were.alo g time ago.

[Morgana]

A kid who just got out as recently as April is filing a lawsuit against the school.

[Candor7]

Sounds like a good boot camp to me.The parents consent to this when they enroll their student there.And they sign a declaration that they will abide bythe schools code of coonduct rules and regulations, read beforehand.

And this is abuse? I can think of a lot of teens who would benefit from boot camp.

[bigbob]

Consent into being kicked? How were you able to learn this?

[Candor7]

Unlike many, I have researched this school. Seems prety legit to me:

https://agapeboardingschool.org/

https://agapeboardingschool.org/faqs/

[Candor7]

Chesty Puller’s Marine Boot Camp.

There are schools for behaviourally challenged yuth all across the county. They are not cheap.

And tis is one of them. The parents sign their students into the scholl knowing full well what the regime is and sign an agreement with the school.

The student should be suing his parent.

Yesterdays education is todays abuse. Now the mopvement is geting people all cranked up so that the last schools of discipline will be pilloried and closed.

So much for Hope N Change.

Children in Pakistani Muslim Madrassas get a lot worse. On purpose to convert themn into Jihadis but you do not hear the UN liberals caterwauling about it.

Its open season on Christian Institutions.

[Candor7]

Research the school. Sounds like a good one:

***************************************

Our Approach
Every Effort is Designed to Bring About Positive Change

We work from the inside out. Other schools work from the outside-in, focusing on external causes and psychology. We work on the heart first. We believe that spiritual growth opens the doors to positive emotional growth. We support this belief through mentoring and daily spiritual encouragement. Our emphasis is to turn boys into young men that truly love and respect others.

Who We Work With

Boys entering our program may be defiant and rebellious, lazy or unmotivated (especially in school), withdrawn, or angry. Many of them blame everyone else for things. They think they know it all and have no accountability. We work with boys with ADD, ADHD, and ODD. We have found that teens will turn to negative behavior and peers, looking for acceptance, because they struggle in their current atmosphere. The longer a parent waits to intervene, the more things their teen may be caught up in.

Before enrolling their sons here, most parents have tried counseling, short-term programs, hospital stays, or other forms of inpatient or outpatient treatment with no lasting effect. However, if your son refuses the idea of change in behavior, interventions away from home such as a residential program like Agapé might be the best long-term approach.

Length of Stay, Monitoring, Discipline, and Level System

BOYS

We require a 12-month commitment for students entering the program. It is proven that change takes that long to become a part of the boy’s life and habits. Any less than a year, and most boys will return to old bad behaviors within two years of leaving any such program. There are no short-term fixes with lasting outcomes. Boys who are taken out of the therapeutic program before this term will often revert to their previous ways when they return home.

Our goal is to build up these boys and put them on the right track, not to punish them, but a large group of boys with these issues would quickly descend into anarchy and violence if there were no strong discipline and monitoring. Therefore, we are required to monitor every aspect of the boys’ time here, not only for their sake but for the sake and safety of every other student here. There is nothing sinister about such monitoring – it is for their own safety.

We teach the boys throughout their stay that poor choices affect themselves and others. When we encounter issues with negative behavior, we typically withhold special privileges for a time. Other typical disciplinary tactics also include separation from the student body for a time (a cool-down period) or the addition of chores. Agapé is more privilege-based than consequence-based. Loss of privileges is a big deal here. Discipline is principle-minded and designed to teach a character lesson, not to punish the boy. We do not participate in any form of corporal punishment, nor withholding of basic food, nor chokehold, and physical restraint (other than for a few minutes in situations where the child may be an imminent threat to himself or others). Our staff is trained in proper restraining tactics.

Boys are promoted through a level system during their stay at Agapé Boarding School, earning privileges and gaining responsibilities as they progress.
Our Level System has nine stages after the Orientation stage:

Level 0: Orientation – An introductory level, used if a student refuses instruction, is fighting, etc.
Level 1: New Student – Most students start at this level and are guided by a trusted student in a buddy system.
Level 2: The student has completed initial assignments and continues to be guided by a trusted student.
Level 3: The student has continued to stay on task with academics and behavior. He no longer has a student guide and can participate in some outdoor activities. He begins work responsibilities and chores, which continue through level 8.
Level 4: The student has earned talking privileges with other students. He can participate in all outdoor activities.
Level 5: Student gains access to the game room and participates in projects in the community.
Level 6: Student is allowed to participate in off-campus activities when they occur (occasionally).
Levels 7-8: Leadership mentoring
Level 9: The student has earned ultimate trust and privileges.

In the lower levels, promotion happens every 7-10 days. Discipline reports set a student back 1-10 days, depending on the infraction. In the mid-levels, promotion times are typically 10-14 days, depending on behavior. In the upper levels, there are usually 14-21 days between promotions. Promotion to Level 9, the top-level, requires administrative review and approval. We try to bring each student up to a level 6 and get him caught up or balanced in his coursework. Not every student aspires to leadership roles in levels 7-9. However, successful students display consistent good behavior and evidence of a personal relationship with God, and they daily seek to help others.

https://agapeboardingschool.org/our-approach/

[Morgana]

Oh it’s a great school /sarc now that they are up to what? 19 lawsuits and counting.

[Babba Gi]

Stay away from any school, business, day care center or church with AGAPE in the title.

[Candor7]

Oh it’s a great school /sarc now that they are up to what? 19 lawsuits and counting.>>>>>>>>>>

No one is forcing you to like this school, and it is not using your tax dollars, its private.

Sarah Palin was a great politician, one of the best governors the country has seen, a populist.

She had so many law suits that they she had to shut down her political career.

Culture changes, And America has become very soft.And as long as we virtue signal that softness and respect none but the lefty liberal way,people are actually advocating the destruction of civil society.

Parents chose to send their children to Agape , and this is still a free country.

The left and its sordid culture have been shutting down our institutions for 2 generations. No stone goes unturned, particularly Christian institutions.Now if this was a Muslim school with strict discipline, you would not hear a peep.

If Missouri Social Services thought this school was abusive, it would have been shut down. It is not.It is a legitimate school that has a philosophy and organization that is successful and liberal educators are offended by its methods , and doubly offended by its success.

You and those like you are intolerant. It is fianlly 1984 and people jump on the bleeding heart bandwagon when faced with a private school that has a sucessful record using a system of discipline.

What a sordid laugh. The majority of self righteous prigs on this thread had not even examined the schools web site to see what it was about. Its a private scholl, its not using your tax dollars, and children eneter the system with the contractual consent of their parents. Many students are from outsiode the country.

Buahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Its still a free country, but maybe for not much longer according to you lot.

They come highly recommended:

[Albion Wilde]

And this is abuse? I can think of a lot of teens who would benefit from boot camp.

I suggest you withhold food and water from yourself and go out and run a mile in your bathrobe.

[Candor7]

Been there , doe that.

How about you?

You have the voice of uninformed experience, FRiend.

[Albion Wilde]

[Candor7]

You are wrong, LOL.

Its still a free country whether you like it or not.

Parents have the right to send their children to schools that apply disciplone that you call abusive. Others do not see it as abusive but as a systematic education and resocialization in discipline.

That school helps a lot of problematic adolescent boys to become men.

I reckon you can't have that! But other people can and do. LOL.

Chesty Puller says YOU are wrong!

Buahahahahahahaha!

An excellent school for boys who have correctable behavioural problems:

https://agapeboardingschool.org/

[Albion Wilde]

We’ll have to let a jury decide.

[Candor7]

Yes, an educational version of Roe vs Wade.

Spank your child? That’s White Surpemacist abuse.

LOL.

[MD Expat in PA]

Sure. Because we all know that physical, psychological and sexual abuse will turn a kid around for the better. Plus, they have a slick website saying how great it is.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/agape-school-ex-students-reveal-abuse-at-christian-torture-compound-in-missouri?ref=home

[Candor7]

I guess you do not cotton to the way socially challenged teenaged males need to be resocialized.

Yu have a choice. Send yous to Agape or Do not send yours to Agape.

The scholl provides a lawful service to those parents in need
but you have swallowed the liberal mem of education fopr some reason.

Agape does no harm to you or to anyone and parents sign contratcs with the school to resocialize their errant teenaged boys to men. we can’t have that, we would reather send them into the streets as Dem leftist cannon fodder shooting up babies and innocent bystanders?

Agape provides exactly what is needed to bring back errant youth from the dark side of “liberal education” and CRT.

Agape cpoonstitutes a threat to th eleftist Marxist system of robbing children from families. I love it.

Register your socially deviant child there today!

https://agapeboardingschool.org/

[MD Expat in PA]

Dude. Given all the misspellings, I have to ask - were you drunk when posting this? I know it’s a holiday but seriously...