In less than a week, the St. Stephen Presbyterian Day School went from being a decades-old and beloved institution to being no more, and parents say church leaders have been largely silent about what precipitated the closure and what happens next.
It all began on Oct. 29 when school director Lauren Ferguson was dismissed from her role. According to a St. Stephen teacher and multiple parents whose children attended the school, Ferguson’s firing seemingly came out of nowhere. Later that day, church administrators informed parents that Marcie Ellen Duplantis, St. Stephen’s director of Christian formation, would take over as director.
In the days that followed, at least seven of the nine St. Stephen teachers resigned, along with at least two board members, sources told the Star-Telegram. Former teacher Sonia Behrens, who taught at St. Stephen for 23 years, said she resigned in solidarity with Ferguson. That backlash seems to have caught school and church leaders off guard…