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| School for Teens Tries to
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FRIDAY May 23, 2003
By Brooke
Adams and Rhina Guidos
The
Salt Lake Tribune
More than two dozen U.S. teens were trying to make their
way home from Costa Rica on Thursday as parents,
government officials and operators of the Academy at
Dundee Ranch sorted out allegations of mistreatment and
permit violations at the school for troubled youth.
Staff at the ranch, which is
affiliated with the Utah-based World Wide Association of
Speciality Programs and Schools, was trying to contact
parents of about 20 teens who are demanding to be
released. Another six were in the custody of Costa Rican
child-welfare workers and three others who refused to
return to the ranch were in contact with local
authorities.
On Wednesday, the Patronato Nacional
de la Infancia (PANI), the country's child-welfare
agency, filed a complaint with local prosecutor Fernando
Vargas over alleged health-code violations, inadequate
staff certification and infringements of the students'
rights at the ranch in the town of Orotina.
Vargas created some confusion when he
told PANI it must ensure the students' safety but failed
to specify whether the agency should take over the ranch
or merely monitor it, said Tim Rogers, a reporter with
the Tico Times of San Josˇ.
But by late Thursday, ranch
officials, Vargas and the welfare workers agreed that
PANI would make daily visits to the ranch for the next
week or so, Rogers said.
"I was out there today and the
situation was calming down somewhat from what had gone
on the day previously," Rogers said.
Vargas visited the school Tuesday and
informed the students that under Costa Rican law, they
have a say in their treatment at age 15. Fanny Cordero,
communications director for PANI, said word quickly
spread among the teens that they could not be held
against their will and many began walking out.
Between 30 to 55 of the 205 teens
fled the ranch, which bills itself a "paradise for
change."
Most returned by nightfall, said
World Wide president Ken Kay in a telephone interview
from company headquarters in St. George.
Staff members were trying to reach
the parents of the 20 who want to go home, he said.
"It's difficult because of the
[Memorial Day] holiday, but we are complying," Kay
said, adding that he believed those teens were
"using this as a technique to manipulate their way
back home."
Cordero, however, said the teens in
her agency's care say they have suffered psychological
or physical abuse at Dundee Ranch.
PANI began an investigation of the
ranch several months ago after a former staff director,
some parents and their children accused the ranch of
various violations.
Cordero said those claims include
overcrowded conditions that forced some teens to sleep
on the floor, food restrictions and the staff's refusal
to let teens contact their parents.
The agency also found some staff
members lack proper credentials and that many students'
tourist visas have expired.
It also questioned whether the ranch,
which is licensed as a Spanish-language academy, should
actually be licensed as a rehabilitation facility. That
concern is being investigated by the Costa Rican
Department of Health.
Even though parents may have agreed
to the conditions and tactics used at the ranch, the
children are protected under Costa Rican laws and those
laws may have been violated, Cordero said. On Monday,
PANI gave Dundee Ranch 30 days to remedy any problems.
Kay said staff at Dundee Ranch, one
of nine such schools affiliated with World Wide,
believed they were in compliance with government and
school accreditation requirements but would address the
issues raised by PANI.
He described Dundee Ranch as a
"specialty boarding school," not a residential
treatment facility, that uses a reward and consequence
system to build self-esteem.
Kay acknowledged that most of the
teens at Dundee Ranch have "experimented" with
drugs and that staff use motivational and educational
tools to teach the risks of drug abuse. But Dundee
Ranch, he said, has never billed itself as a treatment
or therapeutic program.
"It is basically a
character-building program," he said.
The ranch's Web site emphasizes its
ability to aid teens who are acting out at home, school
or in the community.
Dundee, which opened at the site of a
former adventure lodge 18 months ago, charges $1,990 a
month per teen.
On average, it takes a teen 16 months
to complete the program.
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© Copyright 2003, The Salt
Lake Tribune.
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