Christian Preschool Closes After Greedy Employees Refuse To Pay To Work There

No one wants to work anymore!

A Christian preschool and daycare program in Key West, Florida, is being forced to shut its doors, leaving more than 50 kids and their parents in the lurch, due to “staffing issues.”

All Josh Dryer, the pastor of the Fifth Street Baptist Church which owns and operates Sunbeam Christian School, wanted was for the school’s nine teachers to simply sign a 22-page document that would require them to tithe the church 10 percent of their income, whether or not they were members. So the plan was to pay them, and then require them to pay the church back 10 percent of their paychecks, simply for the privilege of working there. This would mean that if they made the average $37K a year that a child worker in Key West, Florida, makes, it would only cost them about $3,700 a year to work there — which is only (checks notes) significantly more than I pay for my super fancy gym that has freakin’ Kiehl’s in the locker room showers. What kind of entitled brats would refuse such a sweet deal?

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Not only would employees be required to pay to work at Sunbeam Christian School, they would also have to agree to only take jobs that are in line with the church’s values, again whether or not they are actually members of the church.

“Any outside employment that contradicts the faith and values of the Fifth Street Baptist Church is forbidden,” the manual stated, according to Keys Weekly.

And when they’re not working? Employees would also be required to live “biblical lifestyles,” as per the church’s definition, regardless of their personal faith.

The nine employees were fired with a mass email on July 28, which read in part:

Fifth Street Baptist Church is terminating you due to your unwillingness to sign and abide by the Fifth Street Baptist Church personnel manual. … We communicated that your reception of and abiding by the manual was a condition of your employment. … Please remove all personal belongings from your classroom and return all property belonging to Fifth Street Baptist Church at the end of business day on Friday, Aug. 4. … We will be in prayer for you as you search for your next place of employment.

Crazily enough, the parents who send their kids to the Sunbeam Christian School are not super happy about this, given that they were given a very short period of time to make other arrangements for their children while they are at work.

Via Keys Weekly:

“No parent would place an infant in daycare if they didn’t need to work,” said Kimberly Sprague, who has no child care for her infant daughter as of Aug. 4. “I just came back to work after maternity leave and I can’t find a place for my daughter. I don’t understand why he would do this. There are so many kids there. And the homepage of the church’s website talks about ‘serving the community.’ I’m just shocked.” […]

Another Sunbeam parent, Angelica (who didn’t want to include her last name because of her husband’s job in the community) is a sixth-generation Conch whose daughter loved her years at Sunbeam.

“The staff there is so loving,” she said. “The new pastor came from Jacksonville a few years ago and has been changing everything, including making the Sunbeam staff tithe. I think when parents and teachers started pulling back from the church’s requirements, the pastor decided to shut it down. But it’s got to be a revenue source for the church.” 

After Roe v Wade was overturned, Pastor Josh Dryer wrote on Twitter, “A sign of the end times…our justice system rules in favor of the weakest, most needy people in our nation, pre-born babies. And many of our leaders declare that their decision was dangerous, deadly, and unjust. Come Lord Jesus come!”

So, you know, he really cares about the children.