The previous post discusses the general state of accreditation for educational enterprises serving children in prekindergarten through grade 12.
This post looks at a troubling pattern of accreditation for some questionable programs.
The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAC) accredits public, private, supplementary education and special purpose schools in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
For most public and private schools, the state commissioners evaluate the candidate schools.
However, NAAC also accredits schools in the United States outside of the seven regional states.
The International and Transregional Committee (ITC) represent schools and educational programs who are either international or are those whose student's residences are outside of the seven Northwest states.
The International and Trans-regional Committee coordinates, monitors, and provides guidance to the commission regarding alternative and international education programs. The schools and programs represented by this committee include distance education, Browning Residential programs, travel study, supplemental education, postsecondary nondegree granting, and international.
"Browning Residential programs" so identified only at the above-referenced page at NAAC's website. They are better known as those associated with Robert Browning Lichfield, Teen Help, or the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS).
At the June 26-27, 2006 meeting of the commission, questions were asked about NAAC's accreditation of the Academy at Ivy Ridge.
Academy at Ivy Ridge. Dr. Bob Donaldson requested a brief description of the Academy of Ivy Ridge. Dr. Steadman reported that the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools had accredited a private boarding school in New York. He conducted a preliminary visit and two separate teams were sent to the school within the next two to three years. Subsequently it was discovered that the school was not licensed to grant diplomas in the state of New York. There was a lawsuit in which the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools was not named. The Association was later made aware that the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools was not licensed to conduct business in the state of New York. The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools immediately ceased all accreditation activity in the state of New York upon this notification. The Association subsequently contacted a lawyer to deal with the New York Attorney General’s office and no further contact has been made by the state of New York.
It is not clear which suit Dr. Steadman is referring to, as several have been filed against the Academy at Ivy Ridge. What is clear that the Attorney General's office issued the following press release.
What is remarkable about the membership of the International and Transregional Committee (ITR)
International and Trans-Regional Committee
- Dr. Joe Ingalls, Montana (Chair) (Principal, Roundup Elementary School, 600 1st Street SW, Roundup, MT 59072)
- Dr. Dick Darst, Oregon (Oregon State Executive Secretary, NAAS
C/O: COSA, 707 13th St. SE, Suite 100, Salem, Oregon 97301-4035) - Heidi Kostizak, Washington (SES) (Kostizak's educational expertise apparently comes from running three Sylvan franchises; she was once a teacher for the U.S. Department of Defense school system at an airbase in the Philippines)
- Judy Albertson, Washington (Principal, Marysville Middle School, 1605 7th St., Marysville, WA 98270)
- Ken Kay, Utah (Special Purpose)--(Kay is the president of World Wide Association of Specialty Program and Schools (WWASPS). His son, Jay, runs Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. Many of
the WWASPs program are accredited by NAAC. Kay is also the president
of Browning Academy, accredited by this organization. Browning Academy is also used to secure loans.)
- Terry Ogborn, Utah ( Principal of Millcreek High School, an alternative placement high school serving Washington County School District. REACH and Detention Center, District Youth In Custody Director, St. George, Utah)
- Dr. Jim Rawson, Utah (Distance) (Instructional Designer, High School courses, Brigham Young University--his program is accredited by NAAC)
- Keith Savage, Nevada (former Principal, Yerington High School, Nevada)
- Dr. Ray Lindley, Oregon (PSNDG) (Director of Private Schools and Specialized Programs, Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation, Oregon Department of Education)
- Amy Westby, Virginia (Travel) (Director of Education, Worldstrides, and a former teacher and administrator. Worldstrides is accredited by NAAS )
- Geoffrey Thomas, Idaho (At large) (Superintendent, Madison School District No. 321, Rexburg, Idaho)
In other words, the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools' standing committee, ITC, exists in part to accredit schools in which Ken Kay has a financial interest.
How is this not a conflict of interest?
Download list of international and regional schools
Many of the schools accredited by NAAS in the above list have been named in a class-action lawsuit, as has Ken Kay (the Wood suit, also known as Chase et. al v. WWASP) brought by the law firms of Hendriksen & Henrickson (Utah) and Turley Law Firm (Texas).
Here is Ken Kay's rebuttal.
In July, 2006, a class-action suit was filed against WWASPS by former students and parents of former students in New York State, asking for $100 million in damages. NAAC was named as a defendant in the suit. (Dungan et. al v. Academy at Ivy Ridge.)
In an article written by Chris Garifo published on April 15, 2005 in the Watertime Daily Times, discusses Northwest Association of Accredited Schools' role relative to the Academy at Ivy Ridge:
The Boise, Idaho-based Northwest Association conferred candidate membership on Ivy Ridge in 2002, the first year the boarding school on Route 37 just outside of Ogdensburg was open. Candidate members must complete a self-evaluation within three years of their application date that shows they are in "substantial compliance" with the association's standards.
Candidate membership allows an institution to claim it is accredited but does not allow it to vote on association bylaws, standards or membership dues. Accreditation indicates that an institution provides a level of education that meets standards set by the accrediting agency.
Ivy Ridge had maintained its accreditation up until last week as a result of visits to the campus by two teams from the association, Mr. Steadman said.
Another visit to the campus was planned this summer, but that also has been put on hold, said Leonard D. Paul, Northwest Association's associate director.
"Everything is on hold pending a response to our request that they show licenses and/or certificates, whatever is required in the state of New York to operate," he said.
The association sent Ivy Ridge the cease and desist letter after a telephone inquiry from the Watertown regional office of the state attorney general's office. That inquiry led the association to believe the school does not have the state licenses required by the organization, Mr. Steadman said.
The association accredited Ivy Ridge because of its affiliation with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, Mr. Steadman said. WWASPS is based in Utah, which is among the states covered by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.
"They belong to WWASPS," Mr. Steadman said. "It was WWASPS that asked us to accredit them; we accredit all of their schools."
However, WWASPS President Kenneth E. Kay said Ivy Ridge does not belong to his organization; it just receives programming and support.
"We don't own or direct what they do," he said when the state inquiries were first launched.
However, Ivy Ridge and WWASPS have more than a business relationship.
Utah businessman Robert B. Lichfield, one of three members of the WWASPS board, bought the 237 acres of the former Mater Dei College campus where Ivy Ridge sits. He leased the property to WWASPS. He also is Mr. Finlinson's brother-in-law.
If WWASPS no longer wants to claim ownership of Ivy Ridge, "then we won't accredit them," Mr. Steadman said.
Despite the action taken against Ivy Ridge, Northwest Association does not plan to reassess the accreditation of WWASPS's other facilities, in Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Jamaica. WWASPS-associated schools in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Czech Republic reportedly were closed by their respective governments because of allegations of physical abuse, a claim Mr. Kay denies.
"We have no reason to look at other accreditation," Mr. Steadman said. "We had no reason to look at Ivy Ridge; we just have an attorney from New York asking everybody under the sun about its history."
Northwest Association also will not take into consideration any of the abuse allegations being investigated by the state, Mr. Steadman said.
In a news story published in the Deseret News on Tuesday, April 21, 2005, Ken Kay is speaking of the Academy at Ivy Ridge's accreditation problems:
In New York, the organization's Academy at Ivy Ridge had its accreditation suspended last week in the wake of a New York Attorney General's Office investigation that is probing the school's licensing and educational credentials.
A subpoena was issued in February gathering numerous documents for an ongoing probe — an investigation [WWASPS President Ken] Kay characterizes as a "lack of communication" between Ivy Ridge and state officials.
Whatever the case, Ivy Ridge's accreditation was suspended by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools in Boise and the school put a disclaimer on its Web site, listing its lack of accreditation and detailing its negotiations with state educational officials to offer sanctioned diplomas.
The disclaimer comes despite the school's existence since 2002, when it opened just outside of Ogdenburg near the Canadian border and since then has promoted two forms of diplomas as an academic offering.
Kay said the problem is unfortunate because the students' education is being sacrificed simply due to "some bureaucratic jousting going on."
The Northwest Association, the regional accrediting agency for Utah and several other Western states, suspended Ivy Ridge's accreditation until the issue is clarified, Kay said.
"They ran gun-shy because they got a threat from the attorney general in New York."
It is interesting that Kay did not reveal his association with NAAS.
On December 1, 20006, the New York State Department of Education refused to allow the Academy at Ivy Ridge to resume granting high school diplomas, citing numerous educational and health concerns.
A letter from the State Education Department to Ivy Ridge quoted in the Watertown Times says, "The Department's review revealed that AIR is principally a behavior modification program and not a school..."
Given New York State's response to the Academy at Ivy Ridge, I am curious as to why NAAC would not revisit accreditation for the other schools and programs in the WWASPS umbrella.
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