What Role Is Hull Western Christian
Playing To Undermine Christian Homes?
Western Christian High School, Hull, Iowa (WCH) recently distributed a flyer, Stewardship & Sustainability, into the mailboxes of many supporting churches in NW Iowa. One needs to read it carefully to determine how harmful it is. Please read on for unknown information that reveals the board and senior administrator’s true agenda.
This flyer explains why they want a major increase in tuition for most parents. But consider the implications of what they are saying, more so, what they are not saying, and what they are hiding by not speaking plainly. The chart published in their flyer shows that the total cost of education per student is $14,800 and the parent contribution portion is $11,400 per child. I’ve been told that SW Christian High School, Edgerton, MN, tuition is $7,500 per student, half of WCH’s total cost. Now consider the propaganda found throughout WCH’s flyer.
But first, consider this brief review of the hidden character of propaganda. Propaganda tactics have long used abstract words appealing to emotion and principles without plain language, clarity, or discernment.
As French Reformed legal scholar and philosopher Jacques Ellul writes in his book Propaganda: The Formation Of Men’s Attitudes, “Propaganda cannot be satisfied with partial success, for it does not tolerate discussion; by its very nature, it excludes contradiction and discussion.” p 11 Further, Ellul writes, “In every situation, propaganda hands him (sic. the recipient) the proof that he, personally, is in the right, that the action demanded of him is just, even if he has the dark, strong feeling that it is not.” p 158
Ellul is clear that effective propaganda includes many truthful statements, mixed in with its poison. We can all agree with statements in WCH’s flyer like, “…to raise our children in the light of God’s Word.” and “..providing Christ-centered education for generations to come.” Propagandists know it is easier for the reader to ignore disturbing themes while reading such positive themes.
People who have succumbed to propaganda do not want to be contradicted or entertain discussion. They often get angry with those who dare question where propaganda is hiding the truth or failing to speak plainly. But what does the Bible tell us to do?
Numbers 12:8 says, “I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;..” Deut. 27:8 says, “And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.” John 11:14, says, “Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” We are not to hide the truth from our brethren. 1 Sam. 3:17 says, “And he said, “What is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you.”
Propaganda Illustrations
Consider WCH’s concealments in the second paragraph. They write that “Christian schools model responsible financial management…” Model, used as a verb here, means “fashion or shape some malleable material” and/or it means to “imitate.” How is WCH shaping or imitating responsible monetary management? What exactly are they shaping? How well are they imitating such responsibility and who are they imitating? As you see below, they are certainly not imitating Unity Christian High School. Why not plainly write, “Christian schools practice responsible financial management”? Is it because they don’t practice such responsibility? What are they hiding by using “model”?
In the third paragraph, where they wrote about, “…state and federal spending in public schools…” they overlooked local property taxes that fund a sizable portion of local public schools. (I.e. Boyden-Hull CSD collected 40.0% of their annual revenue in FY2023 through property taxes.) This could have been an oversight, or they don’t want to remind WCH stakeholders, being asked for more money for WCH, that many of them are also funding the secular public schools. And a side note – I imagine they don’t want you to know that Dordt President Erick Hoekstra campaigned in Sioux Center to Vote Yes supporting property tax increases a few years ago, to help build a new building for the local government school.
Then, in the context of stewardship, WCH wrote, “We believe Western Christian provides tremendous value for the families it serves.” Why is it a belief?! Why not demonstrate this value? Financial records of local public schools are available on the Iowa Dept. of Education’s (IDE) website. Why not briefly research and demonstrate WCH’s “tremendous value?”
In the fourth paragraph, they cite The Center for the Advancement of Christian Education (CACE), as an authority on Christian school financial management. CACE’s Exec. Dir. is Tim Van Soelen, the son of former WCH Senior Administrator Marion Van Soelen. Marion was one of the last ones to oversee a building project at WCH. Then WCH reports that “CACE strongly recommends (working towards) the following metrics: •Charge the True Cost of Education Per Student…” In finance ‘metric’ as a technical noun, is used in percentages, ratios, etc. – performances, which are precisely measured. But WCH is listing general items. Why not use the plain term “goals”? Is ‘metric’ used to appear precise amidst their vagueness?
Their new goal is to ‘charge the ‘true cost’ of education’…to whom? The parents? If so, why not plainly say that? If not parents, then charge it to whom?
Then WCH states another ‘metric,’ “●All Operational Expenses Covered by Budgeted Items” So what does this mean? I have examined the financial statements of hundreds of commercial banks, public schools, ag operations, and commercial businesses. With my training and experience, this still tells me nothing. Aren’t these expenses already covered by budgeted items? If not, explain why not and who covers them now. And how much of the budget do these items cover?
In the last paragraph on page one, the flyer says WCH’s “Board of Trustees and Leadership will be intentional about shrinking the gap between the true cost of education and what we charge for tuition.” Who would unintentionally shrink this gap? Why is the word ‘intentional’ even needed? The flyer is thankful for its ‘partnerships’ with area churches and other financial supporters of their mission. Don’t partners normally have proportionate authority? Why not call these churches and others what they are – donors?
Trying To Generate $1,000,000 Per Year In New Cash Flow
Again, the flyer reports a $3,400 difference between the cost of education and the tuition that parents pay. WCH also reported to the IDE that their enrollment this past Fall (2024) was 301 students. $3,400 times 301 students equals $1,023,000. This is the amount they propose parents cover in higher tuition, or as they call it “shrinking the gap” between the total cost and the tuition.
Then they show their hand. Once they raise tuition to cover that $3,400 per student, then a “significant portion of donations” can go toward the Board’s “comprehensive capital campaigns” and “future expansion to meet the needs of our growing student population.”
Public school building proposals in the upper Midwest routinely include a grossly disproportionate share of square footage dedicated to athletics. Is this possibly what WCH Trustees have in mind? A major expansion in their athletic facilities?
In my political consulting work, I routinely expose fraudulent misrepresentations of student “growth” to justify new buildings by government (public) schools. Even with a sustained collapse in the birth rates for several decades across the upper Midwest in every school bond fight I’ve consulted in (hired by clients), the school board deceitfully declares their enrollment numbers are growing. I help reveal to voters this is not true, or at best, they exaggerate a brief deviation.
Now WCH has joined this deceit! WCH reported to the IDE last Fall’s (2024) enrollment at 301 students. They reported 298 students enrolled in 2010 and 419 students enrolled in 2000. Their enrollment has “grown” by three students in the last 15 years and has declined by 118 students in the last 25 years.
If they free up $1,023,000 per year by making parents pay more, how much can they spend on new buildings? In the worst case, $1,000,000 per year paid by WCH over 25 years at 4.5% could amortize a $14,800,000 bond, that is, upfront money to spend on buildings.
Cutting Wasteful Salaries At Western Christian High
Let’s say, for illustration, that parents and families would still support a $10 million bond to add WCH building space to “accommodate” their 28% enrollment decline, over the last 25 years. Might there be another way to pay for it than out of the pockets of parents? Here’s an idea. Fire some employees and cut the salaries of others!
If WCH could get their salaries in line with Unity Christian High School (UCHS), they could annually save nearly $900,000. As a Non-Profit, WCH is required to file public tax returns with the IRS (990 PF). The most recent year they’ve been published is 2022. I divided the total salaries by the grades 9-12 enrollment provided by IDE. Total salary expenses at WCH were $11,085 per student. They were $7,955 at UCHS, a $3,130 per student difference. This amount multiplied by 284 students (2022) equals $888,000. See the chart above. This “proposed” $10 million bond would cost $675,000 per year to amortize and they’d have $213,000 ($888,000 – $675,000) left over. Again, this assumes the parents agree to this massive tuition increase along with a possible $10 million WCH building proposal.
How sure am I about these excessive salaries? Look at the chart above to see the growth in WCH’s salaries compared to UCHS, which now has more students enrolled than WCH.
Who’s getting overpaid at WCH? In public schools, the large increases in salary expenses often go to the administrators. How much are Brian Verwolf and Justin Negen making?
Verwolf’s peer, Jay Woudstra, at Sioux Falls Christian High School, made $225,000 in the 2022 tax year.
Also, the IDE says UCHS’s guidance counselor holds a ‘coaching certificate.’ WCH’s Career and College Counselor, Molly Khang, has a Professional Services License with a Master of Arts as a Licensed Professional Counselor. The cost difference between the two should be investigated. If WCH cut their excessive salaries, they could fund the debt payments for a $10 million building upgrade to ‘accommodate’ their long-term declining enrollment.
Here’s The Long-Term Harm Being Done By WCH
WCH’s flyer then states their students “…graduate well prepared for the workforce or further education.” Notice the glaring absence of what they are not preparing female students for? Their only two options, according to WCH, are the workforce, where they can pay more taxes, be away from home, and then labor to pay for the Christian school tuition of future children which she may have if she gets married. Or she can borrow a lot of money to go to college and get an often-worthless degree in the social sciences (I.e. psychology) while helping ensure the academic social engineers at Dordt and Calvin remain well-employed. I call it supporting the Christian Education-Industrial Complex.
After college graduation, female students are often straddled with massive student loan payments, a high-end lifestyle that high school and college taught them, and high-dollar tuition payments incurred by any future children she has. Worse, she could be swirling down the financial drain and be tempted to focus on her career and not even desire marriage. This has already become a stark reality after what I hear from young Christian Reformed men. Two generations of pushing girls into the workforce or into college have done tremendous damage to the covenant community of believers of Jesus Christ. Family formations have nearly collapsed. Many authors have documented that the roots of feminism (who were the ones agitating women to work out of the home) are truly Satanic. Ask me for a reading list, if you are interested. Young men in churches are starting to awaken. See this great conversation about the harm of women working out of the home here.
Two Kids In A Family At WCH Cost Nearly $30,000 Per Year In Tuition!
When the Trustees increase tuition to a total of $14,800 per student, if a family has two children enrolled at WCH they would need to fund $29,600 per year (less any multiple-child discounts WCH may offer) in tuition. Unless they have a local church or grandparents’ support, few families with moms at home will be able to afford this. What are they forced to do? The mother so often must leave home to go into the work world, where she often becomes submissive to a male employer in her job duties. This working arrangement is offensive to honest husbands. Too many husbands have become emasculated in this process!
Damage To Young Women And Their Future Homes
God did not make women able to manage the stress of the work world. That’s her husband’s responsibility. It places tension on her which she most often brings back home to her husband and children. She often brings it into the marriage bed. Working women dealing with depression are the most drug-addicted people in America – think Prozac, Paxil, Luvox. Worse, many married, working, women often cannot conceive a child until they quit work and set up a loving and peaceful home. Medically speaking, it is even worse for young wives who’ve previously been active in high-competition sports. In the Garden of Eden God gave men one curse (to work and provide) and women the other curse (to bear and raise children). Why does WCH encourage girls to assume both curses?
Notice WCH’s website for Molly Khang’s job description. She is their Career and College Counselor – nothing about counseling young women being called to domestic life is mentioned in her title. What advice will Khang give a young woman who does not want either a working career or college? It’s obvious Khang, herself, chose the career route. What if a Senior girl wants to be married, the wife of a Godly husband, and begin bearing their covenant children into the world soon after high school – something that CRCNA young women routinely did 50+ years ago? Does Khang or anyone else at WCH affirm this calling, too? Who at WCH teaches these verses, below, to the young women students there?
- Psalm 127:4-5 “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.”
- 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”
- Ephesians 5:22-24 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”
- 1 Timothy 2:9-15 “in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and [a]moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.”
- 1 Peter 3:1-6 “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
- 1 Corinthians 7:1-5a “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time,…”
- Titus 2:3-5 “the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things – that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
Two generations of Christian Reformed academics, pastors, and women have twisted these texts and others to accommodate militant career women and the resulting destruction of marriage, promoting semi-barrenness (even Rev. Lee and Molly Khang and Rev. Philip Westra and his wife in the Heartland Classis have not had the statistical number of children needed (2.1) to replace themselves), emasculated men in the churches, mothers not home, angry youth, and the lack of interest in even getting married – all contributing to the demographic collapse of the Christian Reformed Church North America. See chart below.
Also see the impact on Sioux County marriages over the last 23 years on this chart below.
As I told Waylon Pollema, director of campus safety and student support at WCH two years ago, his very presence on the grounds of a Christian High School is a sign of God’s judgment on the parents, Trustees, and area pulpits supporting WCH. (Since then, Pollema was made a full-time police officer at WCH.) I also told Pollema, “I graduated from UCHS in 1974 and the idea that our school would need a full-time cop on staff was unthinkable.” How much violence and criminal conduct is occurring among angry youth at WCH? Though I can’t confirm it, I suspect WCH is the only high school in the four NW Iowa corner countries having a full-time public safety officer.
Mothers leaving their homes along with Christian high schools making athletics into their idols (new gyms and all) is accelerating God’s curse on His Kingdom people.
We’ve all sinned to some degree in these affairs. And some women are forced to work out of temporary economic deprivation. But too often we’ve not taught our children properly these matters and we’ve let our vanity, envy, avarice, and idolatries dictate our “faith”. Deut. 8:11-20 should serve as a sober warning.
To those women who cry out, “But I have to work because of the high cost of living!” – I would be pleased to meet her and her husband, as a former community bank owner, and explain the Federal Reserve and what a family can do, to mitigate the Fed’s malevolence. (Prov. 20:10) If that is, her cry is not a mask for the vain, envious, and selfish lifestyle she is trying to justify.
Though not Reformed, young Christian women should start reading The Transformed Wife both on her website and on Facebook.
Is it time for a Reformed home-school cooperative to arise here in NW Iowa? It could help stay-at-home moms provide excellent Christian education in their homes while sharing skill sets with other moms to supplement training in subjects one mom may be weak in while having a ‘strength’ in another subject she can offer to the student coop. And they can invest significant amounts of money saved into a family business!
Meanwhile, I would not give a dime to Western Christian High School.
In Christ,
Paul R. Dorr
P.O Box 115
Ocheyedan, IA 51354
Ph 712-758-3660
Email rtp@iowatelecom.net