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The "I Believe in Me Ranch" in Kearney will close at the end of the month, after the state auditor discovered a big problem with its finances.
About 25 special needs children go to school at the "I Believe in Me Ranch." It's closing has families scrambling to find another place for their children to go.
Dalton McConnell is a good kid. But, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, public school wasn't working. So, Kearney schools contracted with the "I Believe in Me Ranch" for him to study there.
Julie McConnell, Dalton's mom, said, "There is a lot of one on one and they really work on the behavioral issues and the learning disabilities."
Now word the ranch won't be an option anymore. Although Dalton no longer goes there, his mom worries about all the students whose futures hang in limbo.
"A lot of these kids are special needs and that really is the worst thing is where are they going to go now?" she questions.
Trouble began last year, when city council awarded a conditional use permit to the founders of the ranch to build a new facility near 92nd St. and Antelope Ave. amidst strong opposition from neighbors.
On April 15, 2008, Mildred Nienaber said, "I don't like the idea that I have to keep my eyes open all the way around to make sure that when I open my door I can get back in my own house safely."
That facility was never built. One year later the state auditor's office got an anonymous tip. An investigation revealed the Department of Health and Human Services was shelling out $15 thousand a month in rent for property worth only two to three thousand dollars a month.
Mike Foley, Nebraska State Auditor, said, "Rent that was far in excess of what would have been fair market rent to the founders of the ranch which was highly inappropriate and was a conflict of interest."
Foley said the ranch also owed the IRS roughly $100 thousand in back taxes. He said the ranch's closing doesn't come as a surprise.
"The combination of poor finances, extraordinary rent and tax problems just caused the house of cards to fall. Today was the day that the house fell," explained Foley.
Heather Hascall, the current executive director of the "I Believe in Me Ranch" issued this statement: "New management was asked to step in and attempt to resolve the issues identified by the state auditor's office and the board. Despite our efforts, it has become apparent that the ranch can no longer keep its doors open."
In the meantime, McConnell said it's the kids who are suffering the consequences.
"You wonder what's going to happen to the kids now," she said.
Officials with the "I Believe in Me Ranch" said they will spend the next two weeks finding alternative programs, schools and providers for their residents and students.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From ABC-TV in Nebraska:
