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Loophole Let School Avoid
Regulation
By: Carol Mabin Miller
June 1, 2005
Neither the state nor the county
regulates private boarding schools, and -- after complaints about a
Broward facility -- some lawmakers say that situation needs
changing.
When police and state child
welfare authorities began receiving complaints about a small
military school tucked in a modest Fort Lauderdale neighborhood,
they wondered what government agency was overseeing the school.
They made a startling discovery:
The boarding school, Sister Soldier Military Academy, was operating
under everyone's radar.
Sister Soldier, like other
private boarding schools, is not licensed by anyone in the city,
county or state. It is not required to be.
''This is a loophole in the
regulatory system that needs to be addressed,'' said Jack Moss, the
Department of Children & Families' Broward administrator.
Child welfare officials became
aware of the military school in recent weeks after the state's child
abuse hot line received four reports that girls living there had
been physically abused, sources say. On Tuesday, the school's
operator abruptly shuttered the school, which enrolls girls ages
8-17 at a cost of $2,800 a month.
Denise Smith, who is listed in
corporate records as president of Sister Soldier's parent company,
JAM Youth Connection, did not return calls for comment.
Smith, who identified herself to
parents as ''Major Smith,'' denied abusing any girls in an interview
with WFOR, Channel 4. The girls, she said, were often
``disrespectful.''
''I've never hit anyone,'' Smith
said.
``But parents do sign a waiver
allowing me to restrain a cadet. It's unfortunate we had to close
because we were providing a program that benefited these kids.''
The Florida Department of
Education does not license private schools.
State law merely requires that
private schools register with the state and report the number of
children enrolled in their programs each year, a department
spokesperson said.
''Private schools are not
licensed, approved, accredited or regulated by the Department of
Education, or the local education agency, as schools,'' the
spokesperson said.
Likewise, the Department of
Children & Families has no authority to oversee programs that
designate themselves as boarding schools.
Moss said Florida statutes
specifically exempt such programs from the DCF's purview. ``Our
authority comes from state statutes, which specifically exempt
boarding schools.''
Moss said he questioned whether
Sister Soldier was, indeed, a boarding school since the academy's
education programs are not located alongside the Sister Soldier
residences, which are at 3271 Glendale Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.
``One of the first questions I
asked was: `Just because they call themselves a boarding school,
does it mean they are?'
''I got a bunch of
shoulder-shrugs,'' Moss added.
ZONING VIOLATION?
Fort Lauderdale city officials
have looked into the boarding school as well.
Sister Soldier is located in a
section of the city that was recently annexed from Broward County,
said city spokesman David Hebert, and the area is still subject to
county zoning codes. Under those codes, the house is in neighborhood
zoned for single-family residences.
Under the county's code, which
the city is enforcing in that neighborhood, the military school
could operate in the neighborhood as a community residential
facility under certain conditions: It would need to be at least
1,000 feet from another social service program or group home, and it
would need to be licensed by the state, said Hebert.
''If they don't have a state
license,'' Hebert said, they cannot consider themselves a community
residential facility.
A DISTRESSED MOM
Hebert said officials in the
city attorney's office are working closely with DCF to resolve the
problem. ''We consider it a priority,'' he said. ``We will do what
we need to do to ensure compliance with our laws.''
One parent who sent her
16-year-old daughter to the military academy said she was shocked to
learn Sister Soldier was operating without state oversight.
''I thought they had to be
regulated,'' said Kim Powers, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., whose daughter
was sent to the school by a Los Angeles talk show, at the show's
expense.
LEGISLATORS UPSET
And at least two state lawmakers
would like to see programs such as Sister Soldier come under some
state agency's regulation.
''This is a glitch in
regulation, and, obviously, this type of entity is falling through
the cracks,'' said state Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat who sits
on the Senate's Children & Families Committee.
''We always talk about
accountability. Obviously, there is no accountability for programs
such as this,'' Rich added.
Rich said she would consider
supporting legislation next year that would require boarding schools
such as Sister Soldier to be licensed and regulated by some state
agency. ``It sounds like this is an area where we need to have some
additional regulation.''
Said state Sen. Walter G.
''Skip'' Campbell, a Tamarac Democrat who chairs the Children &
Families Committee: ``If we need the Legislature to look at this, we
will definitely look at it.''
''All these schools need to be
regulated by somebody,'' Campbell added.
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