(This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy.)
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction allowing the Frazer School to remain open for the upcoming school year while its leadership works to settle a financial dispute with former owner James Schrader.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Karen K. Specie, of the Northern District of Florida, granted the injunction against an eviction notice filed by Schrader, who operates the nonprofit Newberry Christian Community School Inc. (NCCS) and formerly owned the Frazer School building.
The ruling bars Schrader from further transferring, dissipating, mortgaging or otherwise encumbering the building while the adversary proceeding continues, according to a statement from Will Frazer, the school’s founder and a former Buchholz High School teacher.
The judge’s decision comes after Schrader filed a complaint May 29 in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Alachua County seeking to evict the Frazer School from its building at 4700 NW 89th Blvd., known as the Hudson Building, over alleged unpaid rent and mortgage payments.
Shrader filed the complaint after handing ownership of the school to an unpaid three-person board – Frazer, Olanrewaju Fayiga, the school’s principal, and Maxim Dolinsky, director of undergraduate finance and professional development at the University of Florida – in December 2025, following accusations by Frazer of financial mismanagement.
Schrader and his wife, Rachel, have repeatedly denied those accusations.
Under a transition and asset purchase agreement between the Frazer School, NCCS and the Schraders that was signed last year, Frazer agreed to make mortgage payments directly to Capital City Bank rather than pay rent to NCCS. In Shrader’s complaint, he alleges Frazer never made those payments.
NCCS sent Frazer a notice of default April 30 demanding rent payments after the missed mortgage payments, according to court documents. Then, a second notice May 14 after Frazer still had not paid.
After Frazer failed to comply with the second notice, NCCS issued a written demand for possession May 22, warning that Frazer must pay $150,000 in outstanding rent or vacate within three days or face further legal action.
By May 29, Frazer had done neither, Shrader alleged in the complaint, and the school’s registered agent, Fayiga, was served a court summons giving the school five days to respond to the complaint.
The Frazer School filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 12 and filed a complaint against Shrader and NCCS on June 19. The school is seeking treble damages of $14,020,207.77, three times the $4,673,402.59 in damages it claims, plus attorneys’ fees.
It is also asking the court to recognize the Frazer School as owner of the Hudson Building, void what it calls a sham lease, avoid transfers it calls fraudulent, and impose an equitable lien, in addition to damages for breach of the transition agreement.
Both NCCS and the Frazer School contributed toward the $8.5 million purchase of the 60,000-square-foot Hudson Building. The Frazer School raised about $5 million of that total, including loans from at least 17 parents.
Frazer’s complaint alleges civil theft – that the Schraders and NCCS diverted money from parents and other benefactors into accounts they controlled, used it to buy the building in NCCS’s name, then charged the Frazer School rent.
The complaint also alleges Schrader breached the transition agreement by not transferring ownership back to the Frazer School when he resigned last year.
A trial is scheduled for Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tallahassee.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Judge blocks eviction of Frazer School in dispute
Reporting by Chelsea Long, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chelsea Long, Gainesville Sun | USA TODAY Network
