Exclusive | US church sues top Hong Kong school ‘for only serving rich’, threatens eviction
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod says school it co-founded in 1966 has amassed more than HK$2.8 billion in reserves
A US-based church is suing the management of a top Hong Kong school it co-founded in 1966 for allegedly breaching an operational agreement, accusing the institution of serving only the “rich and privileged few” and amassing excessive financial reserves.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is the registered owner of the Hong Kong International School’s (HKIS) campus in Repulse Bay, told the institution to rectify its numerous breaches or face eviction from the property and its other campus.
But the school’s operator rejected the “false” allegations on Thursday, expressing confidence in winning the lawsuit while pledging to minimise any disruption brought by the case to students.
The operator’s comments came a day after the church said that if the school management, which it accused of accumulating reserves of more than HK$2.8 billion (US$359 million), failed to comply with its demands, it would establish a new private primary school.
It said it would welcome the current students and staff to join the new institution. To be called the Hong Kong Pacific School, it said it would charge lower fees with no debenture required for priority admission.
“[The litigation] is an absolute last resort,” Christian Preus, chairman of the synod’s board of directors, said in an exclusive interview with the Post.
“At the same time, this is our school. We did found it. It’s drifted so far apart that it’s not fulfilling the promises we made when we started the school; we can’t just walk away from that.”