Puyallup church ends lease of K-6 school that would play teams with transgender athletes
A Puyallup church will not allow a local elementary school to hold classes there starting next school year due to conflicting beliefs about letting their student athletes compete against schools that have transgender athletes.
Motion Church will not renew Cascade Christian’s lease for the 2024-25 school year. This means the elementary school will operate out of the church this school year, but must find a different location for its elementary campus next fall.
The school’s K-6 students have had their classrooms at the church’s Puyallup campus at 601 Ninth Ave. SE for the past 20 years. More than 300 students go there as of this school year. Motion Church is one of Cascade Christian’s three K-6 elementary campuses. The junior high and high school students study at 811 21st St. SE — that space won’t be affected.
Cascade Christian Superintendent Ken Friesen told The News Tribune the decision to not renew the lease happened last month.
A portion of an announcement on the school’s website reads: “Motion Church has made the decision to vacate our lease with them over a matter we view differently — the matter of competing against schools with transgender athletes.”
Asked for comment and given a publication deadline, Motion Church officials did not respond to The News Tribune’s emails and calls late last week and early this week. Someone at the church who sent a text message Wednesday directed a reporter to an executive assistant and human resources employee, whose automated email response said she is out of the office until next week.
A Washington Interscholastic Activities Association policy states athletes will participate in programs “consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed.”
Cascade Christian sent a letter to junior high and high school parents about the policy, stating its plan to play against teams that have transgender athletes “while maintaining a position of respectful disagreement.”
The school wrote in the letter: “… if an individual athlete or family chooses to not participate for any reason, we will honor and respect that decision.”
The elementary school offers sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball, cheer, flag football, track, cross country, tennis and golf.
Friesen said up to this point in time the elementary school hasn’t knowingly played against a team with a transgender athlete. The number of times this may happen seems “pretty rare,” he said.
The school’s junior high and high school athletes have also never knowingly competed against a transgender athlete, Friesen said.
“It’s one of those things where sometimes we disagree on things and sometimes that disagreement might lead to going separate ways,” Friesen said. “We still believe Motion Church wants the best for us. We want the best for them.”
When asked about the cost of leasing space at Motion Church’s Puyallup campus, Friesen declined to share that information.
As of Oct. 18, the school hasn’t found a new location. Families will be notified about the new location as soon as there is one, Friesen said.
Cascade Christian Schools have offered child care, preschool and K-12 classes for over 30 years. The school has five campuses throughout the Puyallup area and about 2,000 students, total.
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 2:00 PM.
