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Parents rue their school choice
By STEPHEN HEGARTY
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- Several parents who used a state voucher to move their children from public to private school now accuse the private school they chose of abusing their children and failing to teach them. The school is the Bethel Metropolitan Christian School, a private school where most of the 60 to 70 children pay tuition using a state-funded McKay Scholarship for children with disabilities. Though several private schools involved in the McKay Scholarship program are succeeding at the hard work of teaching special-needs children, the complaints at Bethel are the sorts of things voucher opponents warned about. A school with no track record was established to take tax dollars for tuition, and now the state has no oversight to see that the money is spent appropriately. The amount of the state voucher can vary, but records show one child's scholarship would pay the school $7,203 this year. "They're using our tax dollars to run a private school that is abusing our children? That doesn't make sense," said Michele DeFosse, who withdrew her fourth-grade son from the school this week. McKay Scholarships are available to any child enrolled in public school last year who has a disability, which could range from a mild learning problem to blindness or retardation. Parents can choose from 342 private schools participating statewide this year. Parents at Bethel said the school has no books, no uniforms and has not provided special education services their children need. They said the school is understaffed and several teachers have left. And they said the school has verbally and physically abused their children for misbehavior. Even the headmistress of the school, Kimberly Marvin, wife of Bethel Metropolitan pastor Joaquin Marvin, took her children out of the school. Mrs. Marvin has since been fired as headmistress. The Rev. Marvin was fired as the dean. The new headmistress is Marva Dennard, a longtime member of the Bethel congregation. The school is run by the AJC 2000 Management Team based in Navarre Beach, and a woman named Angel J. Chavis-Rocker. AJC is a management agency for Good Schools for All, a nonprofit corporation. Rocker ran a school in Pensacola last year and expanded to several schools statewide this year. Rocker and the Marvins worked hand in hand to establish the school. The Marvins wanted a school on the church grounds that would "do positive things for children with needs," and felt Rocker could bring it about. They teamed with Marva Dennard to market the school with fliers, radio spots and presentations. The school started with 75 students this year. But Rocker and the Marvins have parted ways. Mrs. Marvin was surprised with a termination notice just before Sunday church services. "Those are disgruntled employees and they have been terminated," Rocker said from her office in Navarre Beach. She said that despite the change in administration, the school remains healthy and will continue. Rocker's management company leases the church property that houses the school. "I was asking questions -- too many questions -- as a mother," Mrs. Marvin said. "They told me not to worry about it. But my purpose is not to just house children so she could make money." The things that made Mrs. Marvin uneasy, including the lack of books and special programs, also have caused other parents to pull their children from the school and to file complaints. Many of the parents had concerns they kept to themselves. But at a school open house Monday, DeFosse spoke of her complaints, until Dennard called police to have her removed from the grounds. While DeFosse spoke with police, several parents came out to tell her they shared her concerns. "I could understand it if there was one parent," said Brenda Wright, whose son was in eighth grade at Bethel. "But I didn't know everybody had these complaints. That means there's a problem." "He doesn't bring homework home; they don't have speech therapy at the school," said Lesley Wise, whose son is in seventh grade. DeFosse last week filed an abuse complaint with the Pinellas Child Protection Investigative Team. She said her son was forced to stand against a wall for two hours as punishment, and that he was paddled on his hands. She also complained to the Florida Department of Education. But it is unclear what the state could do. "This is a parent choice program; it's the parents' decision to choose the best school," said JoAnn Carrin, spokeswoman for the department. "If parents are unhappy and they want to make a change, we stand ready to help them find another school." Voucher payments are made in four installments. Remaining payments go to a child's new school. Wise said she planned to re-enroll her son in his old public school, Tyrone Middle School. Several parents were contacting other private schools involved in the McKay Scholarship program. Many private schools participating in the voucher program have worked with special education children for many years. Others have designed programs specially to work with the kinds of learning disabled children who make up the majority of those taking McKay Scholarships. Marsharia Moore took her son Vincent Johnathan out of Bethel on Tuesday and got to work finding another school. "I don't know; should I put him back in regular school or in private school?" Moore asked. "I have to really look into the school this time."
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