Parents, staff denounce Thayer Learning Center
By Ray Scherer
rscherer@npgco.comSt. Joseph News Press
May 1, 2005
Three weeks after its release, a state report on the death of a teen boot camp cadet continues to spawn reaction among parents and former workers.
The Missouri Department of Social Services investigation concluded that Thayer Learning Center's failure to offer medical care to
15-year-old Roberto Reyes contributed to his death -most likely from a brown recluse spider bite - in November Roberto's parents, Gracia and Victor Reyes, subsequently filed a wtrong-ful death lawsuit against the camp.
Meanwhile, Caldwell County Prosecutor Jason Kanoy has yet to decide whether he will file charges based on the report's findings. Mr. Kanoy was out of his courthouse office last week and unavailable for comment.
An initial status review for the lawsuit is set for Wednesday morning before Buchanan County Circuit Court Judge Weldon Judah. It's estimated that a jury trial would last two weeks.
In the interim, two more parents and a former worker contacted by the News-Press offered personal stories on their experiences with Thayer. Their versions of what happened at the camp add to accounts of physical abuse and
medial negligence reviewed in the Reyes' report.
Karen Avera of Texas decided to pull her son, Ryan, out of Thayer after only one week in January. News of Roberto's death contributed to her decision.
Her arrival at the camp to retrieve Ryan worried her even more. He was covered in cuts and bruises and was hopping on one foot, she said. His face had a sunken appearance and he had lost 10 to 15 pounds in his brief saty.
"I was completely shocked at what I saw," Ms. Avera said. "He looked so bad. As far as he knew he was going to a boarding school."
Officials refused to offer medical treatment for a fractured left ankle, she said. She also alleged that at one point, Ryan was tied to another student and dragged across a shower floor.
Ms. Avera said he witnessed other students being abused. An example of abuse she cited were students being force fed.
"There was one other child there who was getting it even worse than my son was," she said.
Sue Warner of Connecticut became so concerned and uncomfortable that she decided to remoce her son, Justin. Justin, who stayed at Thayer for four months, came down with a high fever at one point. He wasn't taken to see a docotr and staff only gave Tylenol to help alleviate the condition, she said.
"He was medically neglected," Ms. Warner said.
Besides being ill for a week, Justin was forced to endure manatory exercise drills despite soreness.
"They continued to make him run, even though his knees hurt him," Ms Warner said.
The abuse wasn't limited to physical means, she said.
"One of the sergeants was calling my son a gang member," Ms. Warner said.
In another incident, Justin was unsuccessful in disaproving a staff claim that he stole muffins.
Ms. Warner admitted being naive at first kept her from becoming alarmed about Thayer. Now, she offers support to other parents of ex-students.
One of the school's former drill sergeants, Ed Black, said staff would occasionally resort to certain tactics to punish all cadets for one person's mistake.
"It was a common practice to deprive the children of sleep," Mr. Black said. "They would routinely wake them up in the middle of the night and have what they called a 'smoke session' as a way of punishment... During a smoke session, they would have the children doing push-ups, mountain climbers, eight-counts, sit-ups, leg lifts or running. Some of the children ran until they fell out. At that time, the drill instructor would get in the cadet's face and start yelling at them to stop the theatrics and get up and exercise."
No matter what, Mr. Black said, "the drill instructors wanted the sergeants to yell at the cadets all the time. But they also wanted you to praise them while they were being punished."
The smoke sessions could last as long as three to four hours, Mr. Black said.
State investigators said Roberto was ordered to wear a 20-pound sandbag around his neck as punishment for not participating in exercises.
"Everybody thought he was just lazy," one drill sergeant said in an interview conducted by a state social services team.
Willa Bundy, one of Thayer's owners, told investigators that Roberto would encourage disobedience amoung other students.
