Not sure if the Gayle Palmer aka Degraff is related to the apparently academic school :question: , but on a search I found the Lahonia Academy in Virgin, Utah by the AhQuin with
gayle degraff as the contact for admission person.
Thanks for the information on the counselor, wow!
Beattie council OK's sale of school
by Vernita Peeks
Published: December 07, 2005 11:35:51 AM
The former Beattie school will be sold to become a for-profit boarding school for special needs children ages 12-17, provided the school passes inspection by the purchaser, Beattie Academy.
The unanimous decision Tuesday evening by the Beattie City Council came after a report by Councilmen Joe Studer, Kevin O'Neil and Rob Olmsted and city maintenance man Leon Krous, who went to Virgin, Utah, over the weekend to visit a school there owned and operated by the same organization that will establish Beattie Academy.
The group from Beattie also talked with people in the school community, in law enforcement and city government in Virgin.
After the report, the more than 50 residents attending the meeting had a chance to ask questions. Then the council went into a 15-minute closed session to discuss sale of property.
Back in open session, the council voted to accept a resolution prepared by City Attorney Jason Brinegar. The resolution authorized the mayor to sell the east two-thirds of block 31, which is the school, for $75,000 under the conditions that the purchaser not apply for neighborhood revitalization or any state or federal tax exempt programs, that the organization meet all state requirements for boarding schools, that a fence be erected within 90 days of any city council resolution requiring it and that the city have the right of first refusal if the organization decides to sell in the future.
The purchaser is Joseph AhQuin of Virgin, Utah, who proposes to establish Beattie Academy.
Studer said at the Tuesday meeting that the facility in Virgin is a treatment facility, not a boarding school like Beattie Academy will be.
It is about five years old, on the edge of town, near a residential area, with a stone wall but no fence, Studer said.
The Utah facility has 46 students, Studer said. He said although Beattie Academy may have 225 students eventually, that is a long way from a beginning population of 30-40.
Studer said Beattie Academy will be a boarding school, not a treatment center like the Utah school, but he would have no problem with a facility like the one in Utah. The doors are locked there, he said, the staff works three eight-hour shifts and the students are always watched. The students look like everyone else in the community, he said.
Beattie Academy board would be brothers Joe and Clayton AhQuin and Steve Hall.
"Those guys are pretty impressive," Studer said. They knew how to interact with the kids and the kids all knew them, he said.
"I went out there open-minded and tried to find out something wrong but didn't find anything," Studer said.
O'Neil said he went looking for problems, too, but didn't find anything.
O'Neil said he talked with a 16-year old from Dallas who had been there 8-9 months and felt he had turned his life around.
Krous said he talked to a student who was not selected to talk with the visitors, and he got the same response.
"This program is incredible," O'Neil said. "It's ranked in the top five in the country, and other people are coming to consult with them."
The success rate at the Utah treatment center is 60 percent, he said.
O'Neil said the Beattie group talked with mayors of Virgin and Hurricane, Utah, and with a member of the Virgin City Council whom they met in a coffee shop. The feedback was positive overall, he said.
Olmsted said it will take at least eight months before the purchasers will be ready to open Beattie Academy.
When he was asked if there would be a Mormon religious bias in the school, Olmsted said he didn't detect any type of religious emphasis in the program in Utah. They focus on the kids and their needs, he said.
In response to information that the state of Utah has more than 300 special schools and treatment centers for youth, Olmsted said he thought there are so many because Mormons are very service-oriented and put a lot of quality and care in people.
O'Neil said these are not Mormon kids in the school, and there was no chapel in the school.
Studer said the residential part of the school had two plain bunkbeds for four students in each room. It was very quiet, there was no yelling, he said.
Residents at the meeting presented petitions showing a number of people in Beattie are undecided about whether they are for or against selling the school to become Beattie Academy.
Debbie Dwerlkotte, Beattie, spoke and asked the council to table the issue of selling the school so extensive research could be done on taxes the for-profit school would pay, licensing that would be needed, financial stability of the AhQuins, and determination of requirements for a use permit to be issued by the city of Beattie.
One of the council members indicated the AhQuins have already looked at schools in other small Kansas communities and will simply go there if they cannot buy the Beattie school.
Studer said if they come to Beattie and are not accepted by the community, they will leave because community acceptance is part of their plan.
Studer said if a manufacturer bought the school, there would be no guarantee that there would be no problems with personnel in the community or that they would stay.
"I think the Academy would help this town; I think this would put some pride in the community," he said.
http://www.mvleadvocate.com/web/isite.dll?1133976951437Father of the Ahquins at Lahonia in Virgin Utah?.
