First Baptist Christian School is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Independent Baptist Independent Baptist churches (some also called Independent Fundamental Baptist or IFB) are Christian congregations, generally holding to conservative (primarily fundamentalist) Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse af ...

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

and

high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

Christian school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

located at 1211 North Vermilion Street in Danville,

Vermilion County, Illinois Vermilion County is a County (United States), county in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois, between the Indiana border and Champaign County, Illinois, Champaign County. It was established in 1826 and was the 45th of Illinois' 102 cou ...

, United States. It is a member of the Illinois Association of Christian Schools and

American Association of Christian Schools The American Association of Christian Schools (AACS) is an American fundamentalist organization based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that unifies individual conservative Protestant schools and statewide Protestant school associations across the countr ...

. The school was founded in 1953 as an educational ministry of Danville's First

Baptist Church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

. Its current divisions are ''elementary'', which includes kindergarten through grade 6, and ''secondary'', which includes grades 7 through 12. The school's stated mission is "to make the most of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

through spiritual, academic, physical, and social development."

Sex Abuse Scandals

First Baptist Christian School has now had 3 former staff members charged and plead guilty to sex crimes against children. The most recent and the only case to document abuse actually occurring onsite was 21-CF-703 in Vermilion County, IL. The defendant, Robert S. Lazzell, was previously a teacher for one year before becoming the principal. He was principal at First Baptist Christian School from 2000-2016 before leaving to take a job with Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, WI.
Robert Lazzell plead guilty to one count of Criminal Sexual Assault (Class 1 felony) on August 1, 2023
and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with a requirement that he serve at least 85% of that sentence. Prior to Lazzell's charges coming to light, First Baptist's former music pastor and Bible teacher, Roger VanRaden (2003-2013 on staff) was charged and plead guilty in Champaign, IL to sexually assaulting one of the members of the youth group at his new church job as youth pastor. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prior to VanRaden's charges, a high school math, science, and Bible teacher named David Cornelius was charged in 2003 with sexually abusing a young child in his wife's daycare, as well as soliciting sexual favors from a high school student at his new school position with Schlarman High School (also in Danville). He plead guilty and was sentenced to 4 years of probation.

References

External links

* Baptist schools in the United States Christian schools in Illinois Private elementary schools in Illinois Private middle schools in Illinois Private high schools in Illinois Schools in Vermilion County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Danville, Illinois Educational institutions established in 1953 1953 establishments in Illinois {{VermilionCountyIL-geo-stub