A Lehigh Acres church and an unaffiliated Christian school renting a portion of the church’s campus are defying state orders and remaining opening in spite of the Florida Department of Health issuing a cease and desist order this week.
Growing pains forced the Lehigh Christian school to move to a larger facility this summer. They chose the a different church that the school is affiliated with. The problem is the addition of some 150 people five days a week during the school year has led to a three times the average sewage flow, the state health department said in its order this week.
Such an increase requires the landlord church, the Lee Boulevard Baptist Church, to bring the existing septic system into compliance or to join the municipal water and sewage system. Both are costly, ranging from $80,000 to $150,000.
The cease and desist order was issued Tuesday.
The Rev. Robert Roper, who oversees the Lehigh Acres Christian School, said the school will remain open as it has nowhere to go.
He said he doesn't believe three times the sewage in an out-of-compliance septic system poses enough of a problem to essentially stop functioning as a school at the Lee Boulevard Baptist Church.
"There is nothing wrong with the school. There's no hazard, there's no sanitation issue. It's a, they're anticipating that there could be one, but there's certainly no reason to infringe upon my First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. So it's we're just not interested in shutting the school down until there's a problem," Roper said.
The state in its order says there is a problem and until they expand the septic system or join the municipal system – which is not a quick fix –neither are to remain open.
"We're not going to shut down, OK," Roper said.
Founded as a ministry of the First Church of Alva in 2018, the school began with three students. Its student population is now around 130.
Over the summer the school moved over to the unaffiliated church and pays rent to use the portions of the church property for its school.
Problems arose this summer when state inspectors from the Florida Department of Education as well as from the Florida Department of Health came to sign off on the project.
In a statement from a Tampa-based public relations agency, the state health department cited the church/school property for water and sewage issues and initially issued a punitive shut-down for Nov. 30.
Neither Roper nor the agency could explain why the order was issued before Nov. 30.
WGCU News is waiting to hear back from the health department. However the sanitary nuisance notice provided to the church lists the steps needed before either the school or church could continue to operate on the site.
Roper said he lost teachers in anticipation of a shut-down and some students also left, though he could not be sure that was the reason.
Whether it's bringing the septic system up to code or the hooking up the a municipal water system, none are a quick fix.
Moving the school to another location — even if administrators could find a place — won't come quickly and certainly not without disruptions, Roper said.
"There is no other place. When this whole thing started, we did a thorough search, and there was no other place that you could move a school that's that large," he said, "And you can't shut down a school in the middle of school year.
"You know, it takes a month to move and reconvene school, because then you don't have enough days — educational days in the calendar year or the school year, so it's virtually impossible to comply."
Roper said he offered to bring in air-conditioned portable bathrooms but was declined.
"I tried," he said. "I've tried offering pumping out the septic system on whatever interval they required."
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