I have told you all the facts as they exist and as they are and were and will always be... ginger
I know nothing or cant remember anything about the sunshine deal but I know the girls would help sweep the quad every morning as part of their choirs as you can imagine in Costa Rica the leaves from the trees cover everything constantly and it was swept clean every morning.... Consensus developed through prejudiced opinion rarely is evidence of truth. If so the world would actually be flat and the sun would be in orbit along with the rest of the universe around the earth...this was the truth until they saw the whole picture and then when reveled the truth was totally different then they originally believed....concerning the person who son makes claims I don?t recall his situation but the only kids who ate a different diet was the kids in op which was rare and usually short term... the level ones ate the same food as I did and yes I ate there every day. As for Amberly I will include the letter Joe and I wrote to the Pani in rebuttal to her fabrications and some other facts. I find her as a person whose story changes considering who she tells it to and find her disingenuous and extremely Machiavellian below is her own correspondence which illustrates this and also the Panni letter...
amberlyk
Hi everyone! Thanks for your questions and support of the program. Just to clarify on the rice and beans story, when the kids are in worksheets, they eat rice, beans, and fruit. We made this policy so that the kids would have more of an incentive to behave themselves and stay out of worksheets. We also approved it with our doctor before starting it to be sure that they would get all the nutrition they need. While they get bored with it if they are in worksheets for a while, they get plenty to eat and stay healthy. What I've seen with the letters to parents is that when they are manipulating you, they tell you something that has a little tiny truth in it, but twist it around to play with your emotions.
The following letter is our response to the Amberly Knight and Martha. Martin letters, please read all the following documentation. We also have lawsuits pending on these letters seeing they were written in violation of signed confidentiality Agreements that Dundee Ranch Academy had with both of these parties. (These Legal agreements do not cover any issues of Gross Neglect or Abuse, which we encourage in our policy and procedure manuals and all training to be reported by staff to appropriate entities immediately, if it ever occurs.)
We have recently reviewed a couple of critical letters regarding Dundee Ranch Academy from a former employee and parent, and would like to address the concerns that were brought up in those letters, to help put in perspective the issues at hand. The following are the THREE points that should be considered; (1) The letters contained falsehoods and many inaccuracies, (2) Her opinions do not accurately reflect those of the other employees, and (3) This is a good program for most kids, in spite Amberly?s opinions and our actual imperfections.
The letters contained many lies and reckless inaccuracies with slanderous accusations. She states that Joe Atkin left Dundee Ranch Academy because he was ?fed up with the chaos.? We feel this is largely unfair for her to speak in Joe?s behalf, especially considering that he is still working with the company and does not agree with her assessment.
These letters do not represent the opinions of the majority of us who worked at the Academy during that time. Of course, there are always differences between ownership and management, and we had our differences, but the ownership of the facility would not intentionally put the students at risk. Many of us that worked with this former employee have continued with the company and believe in what we are doing. All of us are a part of the organization because we enjoy seeing the change in these young people?s lives. The WWASP organization has been in business for many years and has thousands of supporters; it has a good track record. Is the program for every troubled teen? No, but it has obviously worked for many struggling young adults. Attached to this letter are the opinions of other employees and their feelings regarding the recent letters? In short, the critical letters are exaggerated and outdated.
Amberly represented that this program has profit margins of ?50-75%,? which shows her naivety and business inexperience. Besides the fact that she was not privy to our financial records, anyone who has run a business knows this is impossible. Furthermore, our goal has been to provide the same services that one would receive in the states at a lower tuition rate. Do we have cost controls? Yes. Her examples of the profit margins on our charges were grossly overstated, such as the mark-up in transportation and prescriptions. There are many operational costs involved in providing these services that were blatantly ignored.
Although exaggerated and in some cases slanderous, some situations had some small truth to them and have been addressed and solved by management. The former employee has not been on campus for over 7 months and is not aware of the changes that have occurred in that time. The overcrowding in the dorms was solved by providing the girls with a separate dorm building; thus, reducing the number of students in a room. Our water source is regularly checked and has been consistently found to be a better quality than the public water. The letters mentioned that students writing essays were not provided with proper back support; however, all students were and are provided with the standard chairs with back supports. It was said that the students are not well fed; yet the students are gaining the weight and muscle back that they had previously lost prior to arriving at the Academy. The students are healthy. The incident last year when toilet paper was not available on campus was the fault of our Management team, not the owners. It did not happen because of a lack of financial resources, but rather irresponsible purchasing coordination. It was said that students don?t have a chance to grieve; yet we have a Grievance Committee that meets twice a week to review the students? grievances. These grievances typically have to do with points, and we would take very seriously any grievance on abuse. Our policies dictate that if this were to happen we would do an investigation and report it to authorities as defined by legal council.
There was even a false accusation that a student actually died at some ?High Impact? program in Mexico. This is completely UNTRUE and unrelated to our Academy, since we have never been there or sent any of our students there. This was simply an attempt to build distrust and insecurity in our program. The Basic Training facility that we are building down here is not modeled after the ?High Impact? program, and its facilities are actually quite nice. Further more, this program is not even open.
Our program was established to help kids, not punish them. Our systems such as Observational Placement (not Observational Punishment) are designed for control, not punishment. Students are only required to be placed in there for one hour, if they remain in control of themselves. Restraints are used at times, but only by trained staff. Our program teaches the student that they are in control by making correct decisions. Their behaviors determine their rewards, and we reward them often. Like the students, our behavior determines our rewards and consequences. We take accountability in creating much of the confusion that is circulating because of these recent emails. Had our program run perfect, they would most likely not be circulating, but we have not had a perfect track record.
In regards to the graduate students that came here as ?interns,? here are the facts. The ownership had no knowledge that they were even hired, and they were actually hired by Amberly. Once they arrived, Joe told Amberly to remove the former students from the campus several days before the actual incident happened. Amberly insubordinately refused stating it was her right as "director" this discussion was not shared with the owner till after the incident and if he had known he would have fired Amberly right then; and this sad Incident would have never happened. A few days later, there was some kind of altercation that took place after hours in staff housing and one of them was hurt. As a company, we covered the financial burdens that were created, even though this was not our creation. (over $15,000 in medical expenses) The "interns" involved were both over 18 and were on their own time (Again, the ownership had no knowledge that these Interns existed, and he was in Texas on business when the events occurred. We have continued to support this former student and thank heavens she has recovered remarkably well. It was at this same time that Amberly ?resigned,? knowing that upon review of the situation her services would be terminated. Because of our separation, we feel that Amberly has started this controversy. If Amberly was so truly concerned about the quality of the program, why did she wait 7 months to send her ?letter?? The program teaches that living in Integrity is acting in the now, not 7 months later.
Some have speculated that the reason for staff turn over is low wages; however, this is not the case. We provide our staff members with rewarding wages as well as full health insurance. We have become one of the largest employers in the area and have provided significant economic impact to the surrounding areas. Our wages have been competitive enough to attract employees from San Jose as well. It is true we have had several Directors and Family Reps. leave Dundee. Most of these were Americans and came with a short-term commitment in mind. Many have continued to work with the WWASP organization. We are now recruiting more Costa Rican staff that will be with us for the long-term.
We want constructive feed back, and we encourage it, then and now. We are always trying to make the program more responsive to the needs of the students and the parents. We want to put these letters behind us and get on with the management and operation of the very finest school possible. We are working with the U.S. Consul General and Child Services of Costa Rica (PANI) in a mutual effort to insure the safety of our students, and to insure that parents are receiving the educational and residential benefits hoped for. If you have concerns regarding your child or the program, PLEASE CHECK INTO THEM!!! Please feel free to contact us directly at
http://www.academydundee.org under student photos KRISTEN IS IN THE SECOND GROUP OF GIRLS TOP ROW IN THE MIDDLE.
SHE IS IN DIAMONDS.
James & Yvette
Daughter Kristen M. enrolled since December 13.
Posts: 21 | From: Harvey, Louisiana | IP: Logged |
sarahsmom
Member
Member # 1362
posted March 15, 2003 07:50 AM
Jim and Yvette,
As I said privately this is awesome and reassuring to get from Kristen. It is also enough to hopefully reassure you that "things" are okay at Dundee and the students are not "touched" by all the "crap" going on with the "Knight" and "Amberly" issues.
The "e-mail" that is out to people apparently started out as personal and somehow ended up in someone else?s hands. Where is the integrity and accountability of the person who underhandedly did this? People are still talking about the management rather than questioning the security and freedom to express on this board. The incidents involved also occurred months ago (like back in the summer of 2002). Why do people keep bringing up stuff that is old and water under the bridge?
As I said in other post, this is not the first of disgruntled incidents and probably not the last. The management has stood accountable to us that they are aware, working on the issues and are ready to move onto improvement to better the "complaints and allegations" put forth by the involved people and we, the parents.
You'll be going to Discovery very soon and will be able to converse with your daughter about the awesome adventure of Discovery (it is not everyone?s cup of tea, but if open minded, a sip of the tea and make a difference). Sign up for Focus (you'll have a chance there) and give it a try, it can't hurt.
You are still in the early stages and look at the progress she is making! I bet all of her e-mails have changed and she?s not blaming anymore, this is great.
Can't wait to meet and good luck in everything to BOTH of you. Keep me posted and let's plan for the next support meeting.
Awesome job, to your daughter, tell her hi from us.
Kudos,
Debby
Daughter Sarah D @ CSA since 6/01, Dundee Ranch 10/6/02-12/26/02 Level 5, PCII 12/02
I am an honest, worthy, powerful woman with a purpose to grow within myself and to show my self-confidence and excellence to others as well as be in service to others.
Discovery, Focus, Visions Grad, and Staffed Adult Focus & Discovery with the kids of CSA 2/27/03. Brother Charlie a Teen Discovery Grad!
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Posts: 790 | From: Hammond, Louisiana | IP: Logged |
