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TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
PRIVATE REFORM
SCHOOL FLOURISHES IN FLORIDA: VICTORY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY MOVED TO THE
MORE CONSERVATIVE PANHANDLE AFTER CALIFORNIA TOLD IT TO GET A
LICENSE OR CLOSE
Sunday, February 23, 1997
By: Bill Kaczor
Students work silently on
their individualized lessons at Victory Christian Academy in Jay.
The private school moved to Florida after California threatened to
shut it down.
Jennifer Donovan ran away
from her California home, took drugs, quit school and was arrested
before winding up in a hospital where doctors said she was depressed
and put her on Prozac.
After she was released, the
17-year-old girl went back to drugs and ran away again. Her
frustrated parents then sent her across the continent to Victory
Christian Academy.
The fundamentalist school
for girls moved to Jay, an isolated farming town in the Panhandle,
five years ago from Ramona, Calif., in a cloud of controversy over
its methods and refusal to abide by state regulations.
Victory Christian, however,
is thriving in Florida's less restrictive regulatory climate. Its 76
beds are usually filled and the Rev. Mike Palmer, the school's
director, says he gets more applicants and referrals than he can
take.
``I hated it,'' Jennifer
recalled eight months after her arrival. But it did not take long
for strict discipline, religious indoctrination and a drastic change
of scenery to change her outlook.
``I got saved after my first
three weeks here,'' she said. ``When I first came here . . . I
didn't want to live anymore, I didn't want to be here at all.
Slowly, after that I began to look at myself in the future.''
Jennifer is off drugs, made
up nearly two academic years and will graduate from high school this
spring. She wants to re-establish a relationship with her family and
go to college.
Victory Christian is one of
a growing number of, in effect, private reform schools, many with
religious ties, being established across the nation.
They are a last resort for
many parents who have lost control of their children to drugs, sex
or merely teen-age rebellion.
Palmer, an Independent
Baptist minister, closed the Ramona facility rather than submit to
state regulation in 1991, contending it was a matter of religious
freedom.
Two years earlier, the
former professional photographer had pleaded no contest to operating
an unlicensed community care facility and was placed on probation.
When he continued operating without a license, authorities raided
his campus and returned to court in an effort to close him down.
The California Department of
Social Services accused Victory Christian of punishing girls through
solitary confinement in a tiny ``get right'' room, mishandling
prescription drugs and violating fire codes. Officials also
questioned Palmer's practice of isolating new students from their
parents.
The case ended in a
settlement based on the licensing issue. No findings were made on
other accusations, which Palmer had denied.
The agreement was for Palmer
to get licensed or shut down. He chose the latter. ``We as
Christians felt that we could not operate under the requirements of
what Social Services wanted,'' Palmer said. He said that included
letting friends visit. He also argued that he did not need a license
because Victory Christian was a boarding school, not a community
care facility.
A California judge ruled he
was engaged in behavior modification and, therefore, had to be
licensed.
Florida allows
religious-based agencies that do not receive government aid to avoid
state licensing through certification by the private Florida
Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies.
Palmer said that
certification allows him to operate within the law yet ``take a
Bible and show the young lady what the word of God says about moral
issues.''
California Deputy Attorney
General Beth Jacobs, who handled the 1991 case against Victory
Christian, recently said if the school is operating in the same
manner ``it would be a very scary place.''
Palmer said such views are
based on erroneous perceptions from the past.
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