World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools
Organization associated with the troubled teen industry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP) was a Utah-based organization that operated a network of behavior modification programs and boarding schools for teenagers. Founded in 1998 by Robert Lichfield, the organization was associated with the troubled teen industry and operated facilities in the United States and several other countries.
| Formation | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Robert Lichfield |
| Founded at | La Verkin, Utah, US |
| Purpose | Supporting the troubled teen industry |
Key people |
|
| Website | http://www.wwasp.com |
WWASPS-affiliated programs enrolled teenagers referred to the programs by their parents or guardians. The organization operated through a network of affiliated companies that handled admissions, transportation, billing, and educational services. At its peak in the early 2000s, WWASPS-associated programs enrolled thousands of students and generated tens of millions of dollars in annual tuition revenue.
WWASPS and several affiliated schools faced widespread allegations of physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, unlawful restraint, and inadequate supervision of students. Multiple facilities were investigated, sanctioned, or closed by government authorities in the United States and abroad, and former students and parents filed numerous lawsuits against the organization and affiliated programs.
By the late 2000s, most WWASPS-affiliated schools had closed or severed ties with the organization. In 2010, WWASPS president Ken Kay stated that the organization was no longer operating. The organization and its programs have since been the subject of documentaries, investigative reporting, and survivor memoirs examining the troubled teen industry.
History
Founding and early structure
The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP) is an organization based in Utah, in the United States. WWASPS, founded by Robert Lichfield and incorporated in 1998, stated that it was an umbrella organization of the troubled teen industry.[1][2]
Expanasion
In 2005, Robert Lichfield and the Utah-based holding company, Golden Pond Investments Ltd., made an offer to buy the campus of the Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, to open a new school for adolescents needing help with discipline, responsibility and leadership skills. It was announced that the school would be directed by former WWASP staff member Randall Hinton and his brother Russell Hinton. The Hintons told Boonville officials that the proposed school would not be a part of WWASP.[3][4] The Boonville City Council rejected the proposal.[5]
Decline and closure
In July 2007, World Wide's president, Ken Kay, told the Salt Lake Tribune that only two schools remained in the WWASPS network, and that one, Majestic Ranch Academy in Utah, was likely to sever its ties with the organization.[6] In a December 2010 newspaper article, Kay was reported to have said that the organization was no longer in business, but because of ongoing litigation, it had not been dissolved.[7]
Programs and Operations
Organizational structure
WWASPS operated through a network of affiliated schools and companies, many of which were incorporated as separate legal entities. According to reporting by The New York Times and other publications, the organization provided centralized marketing, admissions, training, and administrative services to affiliated programs.[8][7][1][9][10][11]
Affiliated companies
Associated companies provided services including student recruitment, transportation, tuition billing, and parent seminars for families enrolled in WWASPS-affiliated programs.[12][13][14][15][16][1][17][10]
Admissions and transport practices
Some students were transported to programs by private escort services contracted by parents or affiliated referral companies.[18][19]
Schools and international facilities
WWASPS-affiliated programs operated in several countries, including the United States, Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, Samoa, and the Czech Republic.[20][21][10][15]
Related and spinoff programs and projects
Some former WWASP personnel have gone on to establish or work at other similar institutions:
Ken Kay was superintendent of Browning Distance Learning Academy, a provider of homeschooling curriculum.[7][22] Its materials were used by Mentor School in Costa Rica.[23] As of 2022 no other school or homeschooling group has used Browning Distance Learning Academy, and it is assumed the company went bankrupt after Mentor's closure. Browning Distance Learning Academy does not seem to be up and running at this time.
Controversy
WWASPS and its associated institutions have been the target of criticism over their treatment methods, including allegations of severe abuse and torture by staff at programs supported by WWASPS.[24] The programs have been the subject of legal investigations by several U.S. states.[5] In 2003, a reporter for The New York Times interviewed 60 current and former program participants and parents; some gave positive reports of their experiences, while other participants and parents said that WWASPS programs were abusive.[8]
On August 10, 2001, a 17-year-old girl named Valerie Ann Heron ran from her room and jumped off the 35 ft high balcony at Tranquility Bay and consequently died from the fall she had only been at program for 24 hours.[25][26]
A 2006 WebWire report summarizing allegations in a lawsuit stated that children in WWASPS programs were denied adequate food, subjected to physical restraints including being chained in dog cages, forced to eat their own vomit, and experienced emotional and sexual abuse.[27][28]
Numerous former students or their parents have filed lawsuits against WWASPS, its personnel, or individual schools. Most have been settled out of court or dismissed for procedural reasons. For example, a 2005 lawsuit filed in California on behalf of more than 20 plaintiffs was dismissed because the judge found that California lacked jurisdiction. In June 2007, Utah attorney Thomas M. Burton told a reporter that six suits he had filed against WWASPS on behalf of his clients had been dismissed on procedural grounds. WWASPS president Ken Kay told an interviewer that lawsuits against WWASPS are ploys to get money, brought by people who "are never going to be happy."[29] A lawsuit filed in 2007 against WWASPS and its founder, Robert Lichfield, on behalf of 133 plaintiffs alleging physical and sexual abuse and fraudulent concealment of abuse brought negative publicity to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, because Lichfield was one of six co-chairs of the Utah state fundraising committee for Romney's campaign.[29][30][31]
On several occasions, WWASPS and its principals have responded to criticism by suing their critics. Robert Lichfield sued two individuals associated with the International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC) for defamation, invasion of his privacy, and causing "intentional interference with 'prospective economic advantage'."[5] In May 2005 a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed (on jurisdictional grounds) a defamation lawsuit brought by WWASPS against a United Press International reporter who had done research for a news story about alleged abuse at several WWASPS schools. The reporter was accused of having made defamatory statements about WWASPS to "potential students, former students, parents of potential and former students, an employee of a state agency responsible for licensing a member school, and a Utah attorney who had filed numerous suits against [WWASPS]."[32]
In 2010, animals were removed from Carolina Springs Academy due to neglect and malnourishment. There were also several animal corpses found on the property.[33]
Legal
Multiple news outlets reported that Morava Academy was closed by authorities in the Czech Republic, and that its American managers, Glenda and Steven Roach of Utah, were arrested and charged with offenses including human rights violations, torture, and false imprisonment of students[34][35][36][10] According to reporting, Glenda Roach later left the country on a medical waiver, while Steven Roach failed to appear for further proceedings.[36]
The New York Times reported that at least three programs—Cross Creek Manor, Majestic Ranch, and Carolina Springs Academy—had operated without required licenses; the latter was fined $5,000 by the state of South Carolina for unlicensed operation. [20]
In 2003 Deseret News reported that US State Department had sent investigators to Paradise Cove program located in Wester Samoa. they were investigating allegations of Solitary Confinement, Withholding of rations and that by end of 1998 the program had closed down.[37]
In 2004 the Mexican government performed a raid on Casa by the sea and shut down the program.[15]
On August 31, 2007, Randall Hinton was convicted of one count each of third degree assault and false imprisonment, for mistreating students at the WWASP-affiliated Royal Gorge Academy, of which he was manager and co-founder. However, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty for four other counts of third-degree assault and one other count of false imprisonment.[38] Hinton was sentenced to 25 days in jail followed by one year on probation.[39]
In May 2013, a lawsuit involving a company associated with World Wide was settled for $3 million without an admission of liability. The case stemmed from the 20004 death of a 16-year-old girl at Spring Creek Lodge Academy in Montana, a facility that has since closed. According to depositions from staff and owners, the girl had been subjected to disciplinary measures prior to her death.[40]
In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation performed a raid on Midwest Academy in Keokuk, Iowa after allegations of sexual abuse and fraud.[41][28] It has been the subject of 80 calls to law enforcement over the course of three years and the subject of 19 founded child abuse claims..[42] Benjamin Trane who owned Midwest Academy was convicted of sexual abusing and physical abuse In 2018.[43][28]
Media coverage and legacy
The World Wide Association of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools has been the subject of extensive media coverage. Contemporary reporting including investigative journalism by outlets such as Dateline NBC and many major newspapers such as The Independent, The New York Times and The Guardian, examining allegations of abuse during the organization’s operation. The bbc aired a program called locked in paradise about the organistation and their Tranquility Bay program.[44] PBS also released a documentary titled whose watching the kids.[45]
In later years, World Wide Association of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools was the subject of a Netflix miniseries documentary called The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping.
