Is Southlake’s Gateway Church the right place for Carroll’s convocation? Some say no
The Carroll school district is defending its use of space at Gateway Church for a school kickoff event after concerns arose on social media.
The school district plans to hold a breakfast and convocation for staff at the Gateway Southlake campus on Monday.
Some believe the venue choice was the wrong move considering that the U.S. Department of Education is conducting five civil rights investigations into the school district — including one about potential harassment of LGBTQ students and students of color.
Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris told his congregation to back the state’s “bathroom bill” in 2017. The bill, which would’ve regulated transgender Texans’ bathroom usage, died in a special legislative session.
A Dallas man has been protesting outside Gateway’s Southlake location for more than two years after he received an email from the church saying he was no longer welcome — he had asked during a virtual Bible study if it was OK to say “Black Lives Matter.”
Lawrence Swicegood, a Gateway spokesperson, said the church offers help to any school or city that needs it. When the school district reached out and asked for the space, Gateway obliged. Gateway is offering the space for free.
Swicegood said the Southlake convocation has been been crowded in the past. Gateway is not participating and is just offering the parking and event space, Swicegood said.
“Isn’t that absolutely the craziest thing you’ve heard of?” Swicegood said in response to a question about location concerns. “That we’d rather have the teachers stand in the hallways or not being able to get in to a meeting versus go to a facility that has more than enough room, facilities, parking.”
For Jennifer Hough, a Southlake parent who has a senior and sophomore, the decision brings the school district back to square one.
“I was like, ‘Really? We’re here again?’” she said in regard to seeing the news for the first time.
Others on Twitter said that if they were teachers, they would call in sick ahead of the event.
The district said Gateway has the space to fit all 1,200 of the school’s operational staff, has enough parking and is centrally located, a representative for the school district said in an email Wednesday afternoon. The high school is undergoing repairs on its air conditioning system, and the other school facility that could accommodate the number of people attending would be the football stadium. However, it’s August, and the Texas heat is unforgiving.
The representative said the church has been used as a gathering place for strategic planning meetings.
Southlake has held its baccalaureate ceremony at White Chapel Church. Keller schools held their 2021 convocation at Northwood Church, a spokesperson for the school district said.
Shortly after the school district sent its email response to the Star-Telegram, it forwarded an email Superintendent Lane Ledbetter sent to staff that afternoon explaining why Gateway was the chosen location.
“Last spring, we began planning for convocation and had to consider the summer HVAC work scheduled in portions of CSHS,” Ledbetter wrote. “We knew up front that the completion of that project would take the entire summer. Additionally, it was a priority to include all Dragon staff in this year’s convocation. Therefore, we are excited this year to include all CISD child nutrition staff, custodial/grounds/maintenance staff, transportation staff, and bus drivers in our convocation event!”
Ledbetter continued: “With the desire to include all of our operations staff in our convocation and the current HVAC repairs mentioned above, we do not have an indoor CISD facility with enough capacity to accommodate this event. The Gateway Southlake Campus has offered for our Dragon Family to use their auditorium, free of charge, to celebrate our new year!”
This story was originally published August 4, 2022 at 5:18 PM.
