Christian School

At the Philadelphia College of Bible - which is in Langhorne, 26 miles north of City Hall - the undergraduates are required to take a year of Greek or Hebrew. Most of the students at the Christian school choose Greek, but every year a score or so of the school's biblicists study Hebrew, the official language of Israel and the Old Testament and a thousand Jewish religious schools across the United States. This semester, there are 18 students in the second phase of Professor Austin Henry Potts' introductory course in classical Hebrew.

These are the days of miracles and wonders. When the president of Wheaton College in Illinois, Duane Litfin, announced last month he was dumping the college's 70-year-old mascot, the Crusader, he did not act under pressure. And he emphatically denies that his decision was "driven by fears of what is or is not P.C. " He said the college, where political correctness is not a big issue, had to get rid of the Crusader as "a simple matter of faithfulness to Christ. " To understand what's going on here, you have to understand that Wheaton is perhaps the nation's leading evangelical Christian college.

Nobody planted a "For Sale" sign in front of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last week. The school held off threatened foreclosure proceedings by making $1.1 million in overdue payments to disgruntled bondholders. But that payment has not stilled the questions surrounding the school's financial health or its ability to repay those who invested millions to further Falwell's evangelical vision. Bondholders are awaiting the completion of an appraisal of the campus, set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, in case they end up taking over and selling it. For, as Liberty marches onward, it carries $40 million in debt - about half of that owed to the mostly small-time investors who bought bonds from Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour in the 1980s.

The New Jersey Department of Education announced Friday the approval of four charter schools, including two in Camden County. That brings the number approved by the state this year to 27, the most ever in one year. Knowledge A to Z Charter School will open in Camden. It will be a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school with 400 pupils. Regis Academy Charter School will serve Cherry Hill, Lawnside, Somerdale, and Voorhees. The first charter school in those communities, it hopes to grow to 450 students in kindergarten through seventh grade.

Whenever A. Glenn McClure glanced at the tiny black elephant statue in his office at Valley Forge Christian College, he'd say a little prayer for Jessica Buchanan. He knew his former student, now an aid worker in Somalia, had been held captive by pirates there since October. Buchanan graduated in 2007 from Valley Forge Christian, where McClure heads the education department. The elephant, he said, was "her way of saying thank you" for his help in setting up a student teaching gig for her in Africa that would help cement her enduring commitment to that continent.

A teacher at a private Christian school has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student a number of times since she was 11, police said today. Steven Fulton, 26, was arrested Tuesday after the victim confided to an another adult at the Timothy Academy and police were notified, officials said. Capt. John Darby of the Special Victim's Unit said Fulton was a teacher at the Christian school on the 300 block of West Lehigh Avenue in the Fairhill section.

A 26-year-old teacher at a Christian school in the city's Fairhill section has been charged with raping a 14-year-old female student in a relationship that developed over several years, police said Wednesday. Steven Fulton, who taught at Timothy Academy at 303 W. Lehigh Ave., was arrested Tuesday after the girl confided to an adult at the school over the weekend and police were notified, said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit. Darby said the girl had told investigators that she met Fulton when she was around 11 and that the relationship escalated over time.

IN RESPONSE to the article by William and Nancy Devlin, "Public Schools Out of Control" (Jan. 10): As a Girls' High student, I would appreciate it if you didn't single out our school for ridicule. Since the school year began, I have not seen any mention of our school's sexual-orientation programs in our newspaper. Don't make baseless accusations about one of the top three public high schools in Philadelphia. Nancy is a teacher in an inner-city Christian school. Are your homophobic beliefs based on your religious teachings or are you just a prejudiced person?

Dean D. Young Sr., 79, of Glen Mills, owner of Dean D. Young Insurance Agency, died of complications from neuropathy Sunday, June 6, at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media. Mr. Young graduated from Haverford High School in Havertown and earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University. During the Korean War, he served in the Army. After his discharge, he joined the insurance agency that his father, William, established in 1941. For several years, Mr. Young was a top producer in commercial accounts for Nationwide Insurance and taught weeklong training courses for Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio.

Daryus Quarles, one of South Jersey's top basketball players in the class of 2010, confirmed yesterday that he is transferring from Paulsboro High School to Life Center Academy. Quarles, a 6-foot-5 wing player who averaged 17.2 points as a sophomore, said he would begin classes at Life Center in August. "It's a good place for me to go basketball-wise," Quarles said. "They play a tough schedule, and it will be an opportunity for me to get better as a player and as a person. " Life Center is a Christian school in Burlington.

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Mitt Romney, needing badly to stir momentum among skeptical evangelical Christians vital to his presidential hopes, told a polite audience Saturday at Liberty University, an influential Christian school, that he shared and deeply respected their values. "People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology," said Romney, whose Mormon religion has been criticized in some evangelical circles.

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq - The quarrel at a Christian school was at first easily ignored by other students: a disagreement between a classmate and a teacher that could barely be heard. But it quickly escalated into gunfire Thursday in a murder-suicide marking the rare violent death of an American in Iraq's most peaceful region. Authorities in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah said Biyar Sarwar, 18, shot his gym teacher, U.S. citizen Jeremiah Small, before turning the gun on himself at a private English-speaking school.

Whenever A. Glenn McClure glanced at the tiny black elephant statue in his office at Valley Forge Christian College, he'd say a little prayer for Jessica Buchanan. He knew his former student, now an aid worker in Somalia, had been held captive by pirates there since October. Buchanan graduated in 2007 from Valley Forge Christian, where McClure heads the education department. The elephant, he said, was "her way of saying thank you" for his help in setting up a student teaching gig for her in Africa that would help cement her enduring commitment to that continent.

The New Jersey Department of Education announced Friday the approval of four charter schools, including two in Camden County. That brings the number approved by the state this year to 27, the most ever in one year. Knowledge A to Z Charter School will open in Camden. It will be a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school with 400 pupils. Regis Academy Charter School will serve Cherry Hill, Lawnside, Somerdale, and Voorhees. The first charter school in those communities, it hopes to grow to 450 students in kindergarten through seventh grade.

Timothy Academy Christian schoolteacher Steven Fulton, affectionately known to students as "Mr. Steve," once rapped under the name Classique Script in a song called "I'm suited up for Christ. " Instead, he'll be wearing an orange jumpsuit when he goes before a judge on rape charges involving a 14-year-old female student. Capt. John Darby of the police Special Victims Unit said that Fulton, 26, repeatedly assaulted the victim starting when she was 11. Last weekend she confided in a school mentor, who alerted police.

A 26-year-old teacher at a Christian school in the city's Fairhill section has been charged with raping a 14-year-old female student in a relationship that developed over several years, police said Wednesday. Steven Fulton, who taught at Timothy Academy at 303 W. Lehigh Ave., was arrested Tuesday after the girl confided to an adult at the school over the weekend and police were notified, said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit. Darby said the girl had told investigators that she met Fulton when she was around 11 and that the relationship escalated over time.

It's 17-year-old Shayla Johnson's first year in a Philadelphia public high school, and it's been a shock compared to her Catholic school days. "You loved to come to school," Johnson said about her former school, Archbishop Predergast in Upper Darby. At Overbrook High School, she said, "everybody dreads going to school," describing the metal detectors and what she said is a daily drumbeat on how to take tests rather than how to think critically. Johnson, of Southwest Philadelphia, is trying to change the public schools by participating in the student-led Campaign for Nonviolent Schools.

A teacher at a private Christian school has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student a number of times since she was 11, police said today. Steven Fulton, 26, was arrested Tuesday after the victim confided to an another adult at the Timothy Academy and police were notified, officials said. Capt. John Darby of the Special Victim's Unit said Fulton was a teacher at the Christian school on the 300 block of West Lehigh Avenue in the Fairhill section.

It has been a busy week for the Life Center Academy basketball team. Senior swingman LaQuinton Ross made an oral commitment to play at Ohio State on Monday night. Several hours earlier, Pittsburgh recruit John Johnson officially transferred from Girard College to Life Center. The senior point guard became the second Division I prospect to transfer to the Christian school in Burlington. Former Roman Catholic shooting guard Andre Horne officially became a Warrior on Friday. Life Center will be the third school in three seasons for the junior, who attended Hodgson Vo-Tech in Newark, Del., last year.