Faith Mission closes Western Christian Academy

The problems at a high school in the Cayo District continue to mount and this past Friday things got physical. There wasn’t a fight, but police had to be called out as teachers protested the removal of furniture and books from Western Christian Academy which was recently scheduled to be closed by Yudora Millhollon Guerra, the daughter of the missionary who founded the institution. According to Marlon Robinson, a teacher from the high school, the institution has not been officially closed by the Ministry of Education and Belize Faith Mission had no right to remove the school’s supplies. And in an interesting twist to the plot, Robinson also revealed that W.C.A. high school and the Ontario Christian School are two separate entities, only one of which is legally registered to operate an educational facility. That’s correct, Belize Faith Mission only holds a license to operate Ontario Christian School and Robinson claims that since there was no official amalgamation, Belize Faith Mission has no authority over the high school nor its property.

Marlon Robinson, Teacher, Western Christian Academy
“The principal said that she solicited books and furniture but for who? For Western Christian Academy or for Belize Faith Mission who has a license to operate? She is a principal under two entities. Now we need to know also—what happened today is that she had summoned representatives from Global Outreach International, who she represents as well, and they came and today they were prepared with a semi-truck to remove all furniture from there because they are saying that those items—those furniture were given for the purpose of a school. But the school has not lawfully shut down. They were saying that because Ms. Yudora Millhollon Guerra stated that they were going to shut down the school because of a lack of funds, they were going to remove all their belongings. The high school has been operating under that label Western Christian Academy, with those board members because it is a legal entity, but without a license to operate as a school. So up to yesterday, their logos were on the diplomas that were printed. Up to today their logo is on all transcripts.”

Delahnie Bain
“How is it that they functioned for four years without a license to operate a school?”

Marlon Robinson
“That is what I would like the subscribers to tell each child.”

The Ministry of Education had written several letters to Millhollon Guerra informing her that she is in violation of the education act and rules. And according to Robinson, despite the claim that it lacks funds, Belize Faith Mission is in the process of opening a new school, Cayo Christian
Academy.