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Haslet's Heritage Christian Academy announced its closure in an email to parents, just weeks before the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The school, associated with Heritage Baptist Church, effectively closed its doors Monday, according to an email obtained Tuesday by The Dallas Morning News.
"Please know that no one wanted this outcome," the school's board wrote in the email. "We will be communicating with those impacted and will do our best to provide guidance and support in the weeks ahead."
The academy, located about 20 miles north of Fort Worth, was accredited by the American Association of Christian Schools, or AACS. Jeff Walton, executive director of AACS, said in a statement Tuesday they have not received direct communication from the academy's leadership, though the AACS regional director informed them the school had closed.
The group's accreditation commission began an investigation into the academy in February, and as of June 23, Walton said the school was under probationary accreditation status.
"At our last communication with school leadership, they were still working conscientiously to meet the expectations for continued probationary status, but apparently the headwinds and loss of parent confidence were too much," Walton said Tuesday.
Walton said a closed school is no longer accredited at any level, and if the school chooses to re-establish, it would have to start the process from the beginning. Online records with the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission say the academy enrolled just over 200 students.
The closure follows a months-long look into church leadership after it was discovered pastor Eric Crawford's 31-year-old son, a registered sex offender, was working there.
Crawford was "temporarily relieved" of ministry duties on Feb. 19 after his son, Caleb Crawford was fired, though he was still allowed to attend the church's public worship, according to a previous church statement. Eric Crawford later stepped down from his position, and church members voted on June 28 not to reinstate him.
When Eric Crawford resigned his position, church officials said they planned to bolster hiring rules and regulations by increasing security measures, auditing background checks and implementing a new visitor access system.
Caleb Crawford spent two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to indecency with a child by contact. He was released in 2018, court records show.
After his conviction, Caleb Crawford signed documents that stated his duty to register as a sex offender annually for the rest of his life, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. He also signed a form stating he would report any change in his name, workplace or educational status.
In 2025, Caleb Crawford completed his annual registration and reported his occupation as "self-employed construction," the affidavit said. He has not reported any employment changes since 2021 and has listed his work address as being in Fort Worth, though the church and academy are in Haslet, according to the affidavit.
In a previous statement on social media, Eric Crawford said he had allowed his son to "assist by leading music and performing certain maintenance work as an independent contractor" at the church and academy.
Caleb Crawford was arrested Feb. 20 for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements and bailed out three days later.
His case has been assigned a defense attorney and a prosecutor who works for the Tarrant County district attorney's office. The next court date is set for Aug. 12.
Read this story on dallasnews.com
