Student Faced Physical, Sexual Abuse at Wv Christian School

By Ryan Quinn
Charleston Gazette-Mail
June 17, 2016

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-education/20160616/lawsuit-student-faced-physical-sexual-abuse-at-wv-christian-school

A lawsuit is ongoing against a now-closed Kanawha County Christian boys boarding school and its leaders over allegations that a student was starved and physically abused and — because of alleged lax supervision — sexually abused by another student, and the minor’s lawyer expects the litigation to expand.

“We certainly have had other people reach out to us who are victims of that organization, and we would anticipate filing suit on their behalf,” said Charleston-based attorney Troy Giatras, the lawyer representing the minor and his guardian ad litem in the case against Blue Creek Academy, which Giatras said was in the Clendenin area, near the border of Clay and Kanawha counties.

The lawsuit also names Bible Baptist, a Belva church sponsoring the school, as a defendant, along with James Waldeck and J.R. Thompson, Blue Creek Academy’s former director who, according to The Daily Beast, has started a new religious school in Montana. In answers to the lawsuit, the defendants have denied the allegations.

In an extensive article published online Sunday — titled “Rapes, Daily Beatings, and No Escape: Christian School Was Hell For These Boys” — The Daily Beast reported on the allegations of child abuse and educational neglect at Blue Creek Academy, fitting it into a larger trend of problems at Christian schools that have less oversight, or nearly no oversight, compared to public schools.

“Like thousands of other religious private schools around the country — many of which become havens for abuse — Blue Creek Academy operated unlicensed, unregulated, and wholly unmonitored by the state,” reported The Daily Beast, a national media organization. The news organization also wrote that the U.S. Government Accountability Office “found thousands of allegations of abuse at teen reform homes and camps from 1990 to 2007, some of which involved the death of a young person.”

After the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources removed Blue Creek Academy’s students, state Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano sent Waldeck a letter in September 2014, saying that he was revoking the school’s Exemption (k) status. Betty Jo Jordan, Martirano’s executive assistant, told the Gazette-Mail that the exemption allowed students to attend the school.

“Due to the egregious nature of the non-compliance [with state law], children’s health, safety and welfare, any future attempts by the school to seek reinstatement of the exemption status will be denied by this office,” Martirano wrote.

According to DHHR documents, a child allegedly ran away from Blue Creek Academy in June 2014 and was taken into custody by Clay County Child Protective Services. The documents state the soles were worn off his shoes, and he was hungry, dirty and had a “foul odor.” The child reported being molested by another student in 2012.

“An investigation was completed at the time and was unsubstantiated,” the documents state.

The child said he was whipped with a paddle if he failed a test or failed to memorize scripture, and that punishment also included a diet of beans and water. The documents state there were seven more boys at the school at the time.

“All children present at Blue Creek Academy have disclosed abuse/neglect,” the documents state. “The academy is infested with rats.”

Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Rocky Holmes advised removing the children.

Jordan said the state Department of Education’s records dating back to 2008 show only three Exemption (k) schools had their exemptions revoked. Another was Miracle Meadows, a Salem boarding school whose director, Susan Gayle Clark, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, including child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury, and was sentenced in April to six months in jail and five years probation, according to The Exponent Telegram.

The school allegedly used handcuffs and isolation rooms and covered up sexual assaults by moving students to other schools, according to the newspaper, which reported that Clark isn’t allowed to leave the state during the five years of probation, something the Harrison County prosecutor had argued was important to keep her from opening a similar school in another state.

Jordan estimated that there are about 130 Exemption (k) schools in West Virginia, representing all of the state’s non-Catholic religious schools.