Parent Testimony Regarding the Dismissal of Case Against Garners

A personal reflection by Tim Jester, Academy and GOD Int’l Parents’ Day Out Parent 

It’s taken me a minute to decide how to handle this but here goes.

I’ll start by saying, Marissa and I are proud to send both of our boys to The Academy for G.O.D. which is part of the parent organization, Global Outreach Developments International, just up Old Hickory Boulevard in the Hopewell neighborhood.

The parent organization, the school, and everyone we know personally associated with G.O.D. International are God-fearing lovers of Jesus and others, and they have our full-throated support.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, Marissa and I found ourselves having to defend our choice and the community surrounding the school. This was in light of a salacious website and a largely one-sided article that appeared in The Tennessean after Global Outreach Development’s founders, Gregg & Tara Garner, were arrested on charges of TennCare fraud in March of 2021.

I must admit that, after hearing about the arrest and discovering the website, I too was gravely concerned about our choice. Should we continue to send our son to a school which claimed its mission was to, “holistically educate children to become responsible, kind and ethical neighbors,” while being run by a man arrested for fraud? If the allegations were true, we were not ok with that.

We had done our due diligence. For several years before sending our eldest son to The Academy, we became friends with people in the community and spent time thoroughly learning about the school and how they view education. Although not members of the organization (we still are not), we were welcomed with open arms and felt comfortable, accepted, and even loved.

When time came for us to put Callen in school, it wasn’t even really a choice.

But the events of March 2021 caused us to second guess our decision and dive back into more due diligence. I scheduled a meeting with Gregg, and Marissa and I spoke personally with him and other administrators about the fraud charges, the website, and the whole scenario.

We felt assured after that conversation, but it wasn’t enough. I had lunch with Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk a few weeks later and weaseled questions into our conversation. Funk put me in touch with his ADA in charge of financial crimes and I sent more questions to his direction.

Ultimately, we decided that we would trust Gregg, continue to believe the Academy was truly in the business of raising ethical neighbors, and continue sending Callen to school there. And in the time since, we have defended the school and the community at every opportunity.

And now, finally, it was made public a few weeks ago that on July 28, 2022, the court dismissed the case with prejudice and the District Attorney’s office declared nolle prosequi. (FULL STORY HERE.)

Without prejudice means the court reviewed the merits of the case and decided to not move forward.

Nolle prosequi is a legal Latin term that means the district attorney’s office is declaring that charges either could not be proved, that evidence demonstrated innocence or that there was found to be a fatal flaw in the prosecution's claim and the district attorney became convinced the accused was innocent.

Tim Jester, and his wife, Marissa, offer to make parents coffee at a morning fellowship for Academy families. The Jesters are participation and support of their student’s education at the Academy is a blessing to our faculty and staff.

Along with the news of dismissal, it also came to light through the process of legal discovery that a group of people disgruntled with Global Outreach Development presented false accusations of wrongdoing to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in 2017 which began a five-year journey that ultimately ended in complete dismissal.

So, why write all of this?

There are a few reasons.

We want you to know we support Global Outreach Developments International, their leadership, their mission, and the school where we send both our sons.

If you trust us, you can trust them.

But also, because The Tennessean probably isn’t going to run a retraction, we want all the people we know and care about to also know this organization is good and the people running it and serving it are amazing people.

If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to pick up the phone and call me.

If you read this from beginning to end, thank you.

And if you’re interested in a school that raises ethical neighbors while focusing on early childhood emotional and social development, let’s talk.

You’re not going to find a better school for your kids.

The Legacy Campaign

Dearest Grandparents,

I hope this letter finds you well.

The dynamic between a grandparent and a grandchild is fantastic to witness. Though both are on two different ends of the spectrum of life, they possess a beautiful connection that allows them to be very present in their season of living. The smiles on both of their faces show they enjoy the simplicity and pleasures of life, but in different ways. Let me explain...

I believe that no one is more captivated by a child opening a hoped-for gift than their grandparent. Of course the child’s parents are fixed on them, witnessing the wonder in their eyes and the joyful anticipation of their prize. However, the parent’s appreciation of the moment is naturally limited to their experience on the timeline of life. And while for the parent that moment is perfect, I suggest it can also get better, and this is something a grandparent knows.

You see, similar to the parent, the grandparent’s perspective of that gift-opening moment sees their grandchild’s wonder, hope, and joyful anticipation. But simultaneously, they see their own child, now an adult, living out the adventure of parenthood, igniting a string of memories from their past, flooding them with images and feelings welling up in their soul. All of this enriches the moment beyond their own capacity to hold onto it all, resulting in tenderness, the taking of lots of pictures, and a quiet, rewarding smile. 

What a blessing to live long enough to see your children raising their own children, and celebrating life with them. God is so good!

In this 8th year of The Academy’s existence, we wanted to extend an invitation for grandparents to participate in what we are calling “The Legacy Campaign.” This fundraising effort is to help us continue providing scholarships for our students, your grandchildren, ensuring they get a Christ-centered education and an affordable one at that. 

You may not know this, but since our inception we’ve given scholarships to our students that make up the difference between what school tuition costs are and what families can pay. These scholarships are based on a sliding scale related to family income and other factors like number of children enrolled in school. In 2019 alone, we provided just over $170,000 in scholarships for our students. In 2020, almost $20,000 in scholarships were given just to our international students in Uganda and The Philippines. Praise the Lord!

So, up until now, where did this money come from? Some of it has come from the generosity of donative individuals - some of you in fact - and also our parent organization, Global Outreach Developments Int’l. It has also come through the generosity of faculty and staff, many of which have volunteered in their positions. For example, it wasn’t until year 7 that a Principal was actually on payroll, and even now, several key administrators still volunteer their service.

Students from the Academy’s inaugural year, 2013, together on the playground.

8 years ago, we started with less than 20 students, in 4 different grades, in 2 classrooms, and an all-volunteer faculty and staff. Today, we have over 200 students, in kindergarten through 12th, in over 24 classrooms, with over 40 faculty and staff, plus another 20+ routine volunteers! Even though we had such awesome growth, which included purchasing over $1,000,000 in new facilities, we did not pass a proportionate increase onto student tuition, holding to our value of keeping this education affordable for families.

However, in order for us to continue offering the quality education that we have been able to up until now, we need your help. Much of our natural growth comes from multiple child families. When a family has to put 4 kids in school, that affordable tuition (ours is still one of the lowest in the state for a program like ours), at full price can require an additional $15,000 of consideration for a family per year. Our scholarships help keep siblings together in the same school, they help single-parent families overcome their income limitations, they help impoverished families in the developing world and even missionary families get access to a biblically based and innovative model for education. 

We are asking you to help us raise $50,000 this year so that we could continue to help our parents (your children), keep their kids (your grandchildren), in school with a tuition cost they can afford. 

Grandparents and students enjoy the Academy’s annual “Grandparent’s Day” event.

Proverbs 13:22 lets us know that a good person is one who leaves a legacy for their children and their children's children. What a great legacy to give your grandchildren in the form of a Christ-centered, biblical and holistic education that teaches them the word of God, including God’s vision for his Kingdom and how they can use their education to bring about a better world. 

I hope you truly consider giving a tax deductible donation to “The Legacy Campaign.” I sincerely pray that God will bless you and your family and if anything, after reading this letter and thinking about your grandchildren, I hope you will feel that rewarding smile come upon your face.

Serving Jesus our Lord,

Gregg Garner

Founder/Headmaster

The Academy for G.O.D.

Why Teaching Basic Arithmetic is Dumb

I often get asked: “So, why don’t the kids have ‘real math’ classes at this school?” 

It’s an easy question to answer, but it’s only been made complicated by the institutional experience of most parents: we all went to school where it was an accomplishment to have memorized a times table, or race through a series of addition and subtraction flash cards. All activities that have been proven to impede the child’s logical development as opposed to enhancing it.

The easy answer: Teaching them math, like we were taught, will rob them of their ability to critically think and problem solve, and in turn, retard their development as a whole.

The complicated answer has to do with a review of some history of education in the United States, and cognitive studies in education.

Historically, our education system was designed to supply workers for factories. The great concern was that a worker would be able to add a series of widgets together so they could put them into a box, or take a minimal amount of defected items off of the line, without exceeding an expected quota. Basic arithmetic was necessary to accomplish the big goals of production for factories. While this was of necessity for assembly lines, it was of detriment to the development of the individuals on the line. 

Today, studies in cognitive development have shown that the student’s reasoning faculties are dulled by the introduction of arithmetic in early years.

Our approach at The Academy is to introduce the abstract processes of math at a later point in the students cognitive development (i.e. 6th or 7th grade) and focus on developing the child’s intelligence during the formative years (i.e. K-6), so that when it’s time to learn math, the foundation they have will make that experience pleasurable and easy to do. This way they will be able to apply reason to the everyday problems math was intended to address, most practically in the fields of engineering, architecture, mechanics and robotics to name a few.

Below is a link for you to read about these theories for yourself and to get a better idea of what we’re doing at The Academy. Enjoy the article, it’s a very interesting read.

Psychology Today: How Early Academic Training Retards Intellectual Development.

Gregg Garner

Headmaster

The Academy for GOD

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201506/how-early-academi