Prineville, Ore. — High Desert Christian Academy has announced it will permanently close at the end of the month, bringing an end to what it claims is more than three decades of education in Prineville.
In a Facebook post published late Monday night, July 20th, the academy thanked the community and confirmed that it would cease operations effective July 31st.
“Dear Prineville, All of us over at High Desert Christian Academy thank you for 32 memorable years of sharing the love of Jesus with your children while we also helped them improve their academic and life skills,” the video message stated.
“We will close our doors for good effective July 31st, 2026. God has been so good to us, and you have been His instruments of blessing to us time and again. Thank you! We love you and will miss you.”
The announcement did not provide a reason for the closure, nor did it indicate what arrangements, if any, have been made for currently enrolled students or staff. The Prineville Review will be reaching out to High Desert Christian Academy for additional information regarding the decision and whether families will receive further guidance.
According to the academy itself, the school traced its roots back to 1994, when it was founded as Crook County Christian School at First Assembly of God Church under the leadership of the late Pastor Duane Jordan. HDCA claims it later became an independent nonprofit in 2015, adopting the name High Desert Christian Academy after separating from the church. In recent years, the academy relocated to the former Pioneer Memorial Hospital campus at 1201 NE Elm Street, where it served students from preschool through 12th grade.
Disputes over the actual history of the school do remain. According to Oregon Secretary of State records, HDCA was formed in 2015 and was not a change in its name.
The Crook County Christian School continues to operate independently, including under the DBA of First Assembly of God and as a ministry thereof, an official with the Crook County Christian School told the Prineville Review. They stated that the confusion was due to HDCA having leased facilities from the First Assembly of God in 2015 when the Crook County Christian School ceased operations the same year after 21 years, and was only a tenant.
Crook County Christian School resumed operations in 2022.
According to the HDCA, it educated thousands of students from Prineville and the surrounding region, emphasizing Christian education alongside academic instruction. The school highlighted its Cognia accreditation and continued enrollment for the 2026–27 school year on its website as recently as this month.
The closure also follows a period of controversy surrounding the academy.
In October, the Prineville Review reported on allegations involving grant funding and governance after the academy terminated its longtime executive director. School officials denied the allegations at the time and disputed claims regarding the handling of grant funds and other administrative matters.
Other unconfirmed allegations involving inappropriate staff conduct involving a minor had also been swirling in recent months.
Whether those events played any role in the decision to close has not been publicly stated.
Monday night’s announcement came as a surprise, particularly given that the academy had continued advertising enrollment, tuition assistance, childcare programs and summer activities for the upcoming 2026–27 school year. Those references had been removed from the school’s website by Tuesday.
The Prineville Review will continue following this developing story and will update this article, including if High Desert Christian Academy provides additional information regarding the reasons for the closure.
Note: This story was updated shortly following publication to provide clarity about the academy’s legal entity history. The HDCA’s own claims of a history dating to 1994 were disputed by officials with the Crook County Christian School and supported by state records. We’ve updated the story with appropriate context on the disputed claims.
We’d like to hear from anyone affected by the academy’s closure. Please visit our Contact Us page on how you can get in touch or leave us a news tip.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
