World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since February 2006. (help, talk)

1 Overview
2 Purpose
3 Facilities
4 Allegations of Abuse
5 Conflicting Reports from Former Residents
6 External links

[edit] Overview

The World Wide Association Of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP) is an organization based in Utah, United States. WWASP was founded by Robert Lichfield and was incorporated in 1998. WWASP operates as an umbrella company, endorsing facilities which operate in accordance with WWASP guidelines. One of the primary components of this organisation is Teen Help LLC who raise funds, promote the individual schools and process tuition payments and admissions paperwork.

WWASP appears to operate under, or in co-operation with, a number of other companies offering similar programs and facilities. Premier Educational Seminars (Premier Educational Systems) is one of these companies, but there are many more.

[edit] Purpose

WWASP claims it can correct specific types of behavior, perceived as inappropriate by their parents or society in general, in children 12 and up. Each school and program is independently owned and operated. WWASPS claims to have helped over 10,000 students and families.

[edit] Facilities

WWASP operates, or is associated with, a number of facilities, both within the Unites States and overseas:

Academy at Ivy Ridge in New York, United States
Cross Creeks Programs in Utah, United States
Pacific View Retreat in Ensenada, Mexico
Carolina Springs Academy in South Carolina, United States
Majestic Ranch Academy in Utah, United States
Spring Creek Lodge Academy in Montana, United States
Bethel Girls Academy in Mississippi, United States
Casa By The Sea near Ensenada, Mexico (Closed in September 2004)
Midwest Academy in Iowa, United States
Academy at Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica
Tranquility Bay in Jamaica
High Impact near Ensenada, Mexico (Closed in 2002. Raided after evidence of abuse.)

[edit] Allegations of Abuse

WWASP programs have received many allegations of physical, emotional and mental abuse against the school staff. Notable criticisms include an article published by the New York Times, an article published by Observer Magazine, and sworn testimony by former attendants of their most infamous facility, Tranquility Bay.

In August 2004 a legal case was fought between WWASPS and P.U.R.E. WWASP attempted to prevent P.U.R.E. from reporting on the allegations made by former residents and their families. During this case Ken Kay (President of WWASP) when asked about allegations of sexual abuse committed against residents of WWASP facilities stated that in his opinion, sexual activity between staff members and students is "not necessarily" abuse.

Casa By The Sea, a WWASP facility near Ensenada, Mexico was closed in September 2004 following an investigation by local authorities which discovered evidence of abuse. A number of other facilities have also changed their names to avoid negative publicity arising from allegations from former residents.

Dundee Ranch was closed on 26 May 2003 following a week of rioting, vandalism and students running away from its campus. The chaotic student revolt was sparked by a government intervention ordered by the Prosecutor's Office in Atenas to investigate allegations of abuse and students being held at Dundee against their will. (As reported by Tico Times.)

Casa By the Sea had an affiliate program in operation about an hour east of the facility. High Impact was a "wilderness program" or boot camp in which the WWASP schools would send their "non-working" students. High Impact was raided and closed due to evidence of child abuse and unsavory living conditions.

[edit] Conflicting Reports from Former Residents

The opinions of former WWASP residents are divided. Some claim the program saved them from death or other tragic fates, while others report psychological trauma from their stay. However, in some of these former students' testimonies, they claim to have been required to believe that the program saved them from a terrible fate in order to avoid punishment and gain merit points. These "merit points" were used in internal systems, which dictated the level of freedom and access to certain liberties allowed to each student. The lowest level limited students to only communicate with staff and students of higher levels, and also disallowed them from having contact with their parents.

Articles about WWASPS often quote parents who are very satisfied customers. Some critics attribute this effect to cognitive dissonance: the programs are somewhat expensive, and if they are viewed as a failure later, the parents would have to acknowledge their own mistake, and worse, that they spent thousands of dollars to fund a program that ultimately harmed their children.