{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox school | name = Dade Christian School | native_name = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | logo = | motto = Where Christ Makes a Difference | established = {{start date|1961}} | closed = | type = Private Christian | status = | category_label = | category = | gender_label = | gender = | affiliation = | affiliations = | president = Pastor Reyner Cruz | chairman_label = | chairman = | rector = | campus_director = | headmaster = | head_label = Second Master | head = | head_name2 = Assistant Headmaster | head2 = | dean = | founder = | chaplain = | officer_in_charge = | faculty = | teaching_staff = | enrollment = 595 | grades_label = | grades = 2k–12th Grade | address = 6601 NW 167 St. | city = Miami | state = Florida | province = | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|25.9263|N|80.3065|W|region:US-FL_type:edu|display=inline;title}} | district = | oversight = | accreditation = Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools | us_nces_school_id = <!-- no nces record found January 14, 2018 --> | campus = Suburban | colors = Red and white | colours = | athletics = Baseball, Cross Country, Basketball, Volleyball, | houses = | student_union = | nickname = | mascot = Warriors | free_label = Emblem | free_text = | rival = | yearbook = | newspaper = | free_label1 = | free_text1 = | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | test_name = | test_average = | national_ranking = | website = {{URL|www.dadechristian.org}} | footnotes = | picture = Dade Christian School 2.jpg | picture_caption = | picture2 = | picture_caption2 = }} '''Dade Christian School''' is a private Christian school that enrolls kindergarten through 12th grade students in Miami, Florida.

The school was founded as a segregation academy in response to the court-ordered desegregation of Miami-Dade public schools.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/1977866556f2d3101823 |title=Brown v. Dade Christian S &#124; 556 F.2d 310 (1977) &#124; 6f2d3101823 |publisher=Leagle.com |date= |accessdate=August 12, 2022}}</ref> It is one of two private schools run by New Testament Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church that also runs The Master's Academy.<ref>ntbcfl.org</ref> Dade Christian School had a 2024-2025 enrollment of 595.<ref>{{cite web |title=Member School Directory (Membership) |url=https://faccs.org/membership/directory/ |access-date=May 25, 2025 |website=faccs.org}}</ref>

==History== thumb|Al Janney, founder of New Testament Baptist Church and Dade Christian

===Founding=== New Testament Baptist Church was founded in 1954, and Dade Christian School in 1961 by Pastor Al Janney.<ref name="Pastor's Letters"/> Janney founded Dade Christian School in reaction to court decisions removing mandatory prayer from public schools and as a segregation academy, a school founded to enable white parents to avoid having their children educated alongside black children.<ref name="Harvard"/> Janney pastored New Testament Baptist Church until 1976. He also founded the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, the American Association of Christian Schools, and the Baptist University of America. The next pastor, E.G. Robertson, pastored until 1986 and oversaw Dade Christian when it was named a Blue Ribbon School in 1984.<ref name="Pastor's Letters">{{cite web| url=http://www.thegatheringplacefl.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=210&Itemid=1| title=Pastor's Letter| last=| first=| date=July 27, 2008|website=The Gathering Place|url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219124342/http://www.thegatheringplacefl.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=210&Itemid=1|archive-date=December 19, 2009|access-date=July 11, 2010}}</ref> The current President and Senior Pastor of New Testament Baptist Church which currently oversees Dade Christian School is Pastor Reyner Cruz.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faculty & Staff |url=https://www.dadechristian.org/team-3 |access-date=May 25, 2025 |website=Dade Christian School |language=en}}</ref>

===Segregation ruling=== In 1973, a lawsuit was brought against Dade Christian School by an African-American couple named in the court documents as Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Brown, Jr. At the time, Dade Christian was an all-white school. The Browns sought injunctive and monetary relief against the school for not allowing their two daughters to attend. The couple had been handed a card that said the policy of the school was "one of nonintegration" and had been asked to leave. The school claimed in their defense that it was against their religious belief to have a desegregated school because of their belief objecting to interracial marriages. The school lost, leaving Brown's attorney to comment that the last quasi-legal segregation had been eliminated. Surprisingly, the Browns still wanted their children to attend the school. When Dade Christian School appealed the ruling in ''Brown v. Dade Christian School, Inc.'' (581 F.2d 472) in 1977, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiff in what was considered an open question left by the Supreme Court at the time. The court failed to produce a majority opinion, though, deciding to limit themselves to the specifics of the case. They concluded that even if it was a part of the school's religious beliefs, it was a minor one and thus outweighed by anti-discrimination rules. This brought up questions regarding the free exercise of religion if courts can determine what a religion holds.<ref name="Harvard">{{cite journal | jstor = 1340360 | journal = Harvard Law Review | title = Racial Exclusion by Religious Schools: Brown v. Dade Christian Schools, Inc. | volume = 91 | number = 4 | date = February 1978 | pages = 879–886 | doi=10.2307/1340360}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/240227|title=Private Religious Schools / Segregation / Court, Ruling {{!}} Vanderbilt Television News Archive| website=tvnews.vanderbilt.edu|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://law.wustl.edu/sba/upperlevel/Education_Policy_and_the_Law/EdPolicy-Appleton2-02.pdf|title=Educational Policy and the Law | website=Washington University in St. Louis School of Law| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516143417/http://law.wustl.edu/sba/upperlevel/Education%20Policy%20and%20the%20Law/EdPolicy-Appleton2-02.pdf|archive-date=May 16, 2018|access-date=}}</ref>

=== Current === The ministry of Dade Christian School serves a diverse population of predominantly Hispanic and African American families.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explore Dade Christian School in Hialeah, FL |url=https://www.greatschools.org/florida/miami/3373-Dade-Christian-School/?searchWhatType=autosuggest&searchLocationType=undefined&searchWhatKeywordValue=dade+christian+school#Students |access-date=May 25, 2025 |website=GreatSchools.org}}</ref>

===Partial campus sale=== In 2022, Dade Christian School sold about half of its campus to a real estate developer,<ref name="auto">{{cite web |last1=Bandell |first1=Brian |title=South Florida private school could sell land to developer |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/12/09/south-florida-private-school-could-sell-land-to.html |website=www.bizjournals.com |access-date=May 26, 2025 |date=December 9, 2019}}</ref> a sale it began exploring three years earlier.<ref name="auto"/>

==Cheerleading== At the 2006 Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders National Competition in Orlando, the junior high team won first place with a rendition of ''Grease''. The elementary stunt group also finished first.<ref name="newsroom">{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dadechristian.org/newsroom.htm |date=* |title=Dade Christian School Newsroom }}</ref>{{independent source inline| date=January 2018}}

==Notable alumni== *Maurice Kemp: Class of 2009, professional basketball player<ref>{{cite web |title=Maurice Kemp - Men's Basketball |url=https://ecupirates.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/maurice-kemp/585 |website=East Carolina University Athletics |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} {{Portal|Schools}} *[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1340360 Dade Christian School segregation ruling: article from the Harvard Law Review]

{{Education in Miami-Dade County, Florida}}

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Category:1961 establishments in Florida Category:Baptist schools in the United States Category:Christian schools in Florida Category:Educational institutions established in 1961 Category:High schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida Category:Private high schools in Florida Category:Private elementary schools in Florida Category:Private middle schools in Florida Category:Private schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida Category:Segregation academies in Florida