Missouri judge signed order to close Agape Boarding School. Here’s why it’s still open

▪ A southwest Missouri judge on Wednesday granted a request from Missouri’s top legal officer and child welfare agency to close Agape Boarding School, which has been under investigation for reported abuse.

The court order would include the immediate removal of students from the Cedar County school over concerns for their safety.

But on Thursday, all of that was put on hold. Here’s what happened:

▪ Attorney General Eric Schmitt and the Department of Social Services filed a petition in Cedar County Circuit Court on Wednesday, asking the judge to shut down the school, citing concerns about the safety of students and using a new law that gives the state some oversight of unlicensed Christian schools. The request for the court injunction came after an Agape staff member was placed on the state’s Central Registry for physical abuse.

▪ Judge David Munton signed the order calling for the immediate shutdown later Wednesday.

▪ But on Thursday, Munton decided to ask the Cedar County Sheriff James McCrary to go to the Agape campus near Stockton, Missouri, to verify that the staff member on the Central Registry still works there.

▪ The judge then set a court hearing — twice — for Thursday.

▪ That hearing was delayed until Monday after Agape’s attorney, who is currently out of state, said he wouldn’t be able to make a hearing on Thursday.

▪ The court order is now on hold and the 63 students at Agape will likely remain there — at least until Monday.

▪ Until Monday’s hearing, the state and Agape have agreed that two Children’s Division workers will have 24-hour access to the Agape facility to observe the children there.

This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 1:42 PM.