Salt Lake City School for Autistic Healing comes under scrutiny for marketing campaign

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Two private schools in Utah -- the latest ventures of bankrupt real estate developer Bob Jones -- have come under scrutiny by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.

School is out for the summer. But early next fall, a team of accreditors will visit John Locke Academy, a mainstream high school, and the special needs School for Autistic Healing to verify finances, business and education licenses and confirm that the schools are being "ethically" marketed.

Failure to comply could result in loss of provisional accreditation, said David G. Steadman, executive director at Northwest who called for the probe because of the "history and publicity" surrounding the schools and owner Bob Jones.

Jones welcomes the inquiry. "We got approved [for provisional accreditation] because we met the qualifications and we will again."

But he is struggling to court investors and hasn't yet signed a lease agreement nor found a permanent home for his schools. Meanwhile, two people reported to be on John Locke Academy's advisory board have asked that their names be removed from the school's Web site.

Critics who say Jones left another special needs school in ruins last year are pleased by the probe. But they say it's small consolation to the 138 people who claim in court filings that Jones owes them tens of millions of dollars: banks, contractors, suppliers to the construction industry and parents of students and former employees of the now defunct

Utah Southvalley Community School (USC), formerly known as Woodland Hills.

"We all wonder how he can keep getting away with this. He seems to skirt under the law," said Pat Murdoch, the founder of Woodland Hills who once looked to Jones as the savior of her financially strapped school.

Woodland Hills had operated since the early 1990s, serving students with Asperger's syndrome and other cognitive and behavioral impairments, before Jones acquired it in 2007.

Jones promised to inject cash and build a comprehensive sports program. He changed the name and began recruiting athletes with scholarships, angering tuition-paying parents of special needs kids who said their children were bullied and neglected.

Murdoch resigned from Woodland Hills, Inc., a registered non-profit, and Jones remained as president. He now appears to be using the Woodland Hills name and non-profit status to raise money for his new schools, which opened last January -- at about the same time Jones filed personal bankruptcy.

A Web site promoting the School for Austistic Healing claims affiliation with Woodland Hills and encourages people to make tax deductible donations. If parents with autistic children give $50 a month and find three other people to make the same commitment, they could qualify to have their child's $14,000 annual tuition "paid for by the fundraiser," the site advertises.

Jones contends his schools have no ties to Woodland Hills. He said he is "unwinding" the non-profit and that the Web site was an oversight.

"When we applied with Northwest they asked us to stop using Woodland Hills. We opened new schools and closed the old ones. There is no tie or crossover," he said. "We're not raising money and we're not a non-profit."

There is nothing in federal law, though, to prohibit Jones from launching another school using Woodland Hills' tax exempt status. Whether tax deductible donations can be used to subsidize tuition, IRS officials won't say.

Citing privacy laws, IRS spokesman Bill Brunson declined comment.

Jones' bankruptcy filings, however, show an IRS claim for $685,000 in unpaid payroll taxes and penalties.

Jones said he has paid his dues, even negotiating an agreement with the Utah Attorney General to pay former employees' wages. He promises classes will start up again in the fall.

But he has lost some support.

Psychologist Leanne Beale wants nothing to do with John Locke Academy and asked Jones to remove her name from the school's Web site. Jones complied, though he denies using her name.

Said Beale, "I had never heard of the John Lock Academy and never gave permission for my name to be used in affiliation with this school." A licensed clinical psychologist and founder of the Autism Assessment and Treatment Center in Salt Lake, Beale said she was on the Woodland Hills advisory board, but withdrew after only two meetings, citing "concerns and a difference of opinion."

On Monday, Diane Minerich, a retired special education teacher of 20 years, also resigned from the board.

"It just makes me sick that after 20 years of teaching, my good name is being dragged into this," said Minerich.

A third advisory board member, however, remains loyal.

"I don't have a financial interest in the school. I'm there to advise. If they're going to go ahead with the school, I want to make sure it's done well," said Ronda Davis, a child and adolescent psychiatrist. "There's a real need for specialized services and a few of my clients who go to these schools have done phenomenally well."