Bayshore Christian School

Segregation academy in Florida, United States

Team nameFaith WarriorsRivalsSeffner ChristianAccreditationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), Florida Council of Independent SchoolsWebsitebayshorechristianschool.org

Bayshore Christian School is a private Christian school in central Tampa, Florida, United States, providing education for children from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The school was founded as a middle school in 1971 as a segregation academy when the court ordered racial integration of public schools required white middle school children to be bused to formerly black schools.^[1] According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the school reported a diversity rate of approximately 40% during the 2017–2018 school year.^[2]

As of 2012, the school served 226 students, 62 of whom were at the high school level. The student-teacher ratio was 11.6.^[3]

History

In a 1992 interview, principal Herman Valdes acknowledged the school was established in response to desegregation bussing.^[4]

Athletics

Bayshore Christian has won FHSAA state championships in volleyball four times.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Ringle, William (October 12, 1971). "Seg Academies go hand and hand with Integration". Port Huron Times Herald. p. 8. After schools opened here this year, an estimated 3,100 pupils, almost entirely white, failed to show up. It was a similar story in Mobile, Ala.: 2,000 missing. In Indianapolis, Ind., 4,000 pupils stayed away. In Savannah, Ga. an estimated 4,000 eligible pupils are not in public school. In Pasadena, Calif., 1,700. Where are they? Mostly in private schools — dubbed "segregation academies" — which have sprung up wherever schools have been integrated, North and South. Since the Supreme Court's 1954 decision outlawing schools separated by race, the number of private schools has more than doubled. About 300,000 pupils attend "seg academies" across the nation, according to estimates presented to the Senate Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity. In this city, where full-scale desegregation was imposed this year for the first time, five academies have opened on top of nine already here. Among the new ones is Bayshore Christian School. Its principal, Winton A. Porter, rejects the suggestion that it was planned to defeat either busing or desegregation.
^ "National Center for Education Statistics". National Center for Education Statistics.
^ "Bayshore Christian School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
^ Johnson, Maria (April 28, 1992). "Bayshore principal called basketball evangelist". The Tampa Tribune. p. 8. The school was founded by the Rev. Robert Shelley 20 years ago, [principle Herman] Valdes said, when busing became an issue in the county's public school system.
^ Niebuhr, Keith (November 16, 2007). "State volleyball: Bayshore nabs fourth crown". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
^ "Records" (PDF). www.fhsaa.org.