School Vouchers in Action

["David Altman" <altman_d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Choice school found to be empty promise

Parents apply, learn it doesn't have home; operator blames 'system'

By Jamaal Abdul-Alim and Mike Johnson
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: Sept. 22, 2000

William J. Perry said he just wants to teach the children.

And if things had gone the way he planned, the disgruntled former teacher
from the Woodson Academy, 5510 W. Blue Mound Road, would have gotten
thousands of dollars from the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program to do
it.

Perry, who insists on being called Doctor Perry and said he reads books
simply by laying his hands on them, claimed he was just a "fingertip" away
from turning his vision for his school - the Sensas-Utcha Institute for
Holistic Learning - into a reality.

But he said "the system" stopped him.

Which is essentially true.

Perry had secured about 130 or so applications from low-income parents who
wanted to enroll their children in his "institute" - even though he never
secured a place for it to be housed.

"Some of my parents couldn't even sign the application," Perry said during
an interview Friday at his north side home, which he refers to as the
"administrative office" for his school.

"I had to write it for them," he said.

And the only thing that stood between Perry - who claims to speak 28
languages fluently - and the first of four $141,800 installments from the
state was an occupancy permit from the city.

Had Perry secured a place to run his school and the occupancy permit, he
would have gotten the first check next Thursday, a state official confirmed
Friday.
One of the parents who planned to entrust her 17-year-old daugther's
education to Perry - who boasts of a PhD in metaphysics - said Perry told
her and several other parents that their children could stay at home and not
be marked "absent" because technically they were still "present."

"I'm embarrassed by the situation," said the 40-year-old disabled homemaker,
who declined to give her name.
"Here's a man that has no school, it wasn't gonna open, and I'm down as one
of the parents," said the woman, who was contacted by a reporter who
obtained her phone number from Perry.

Perry provided the Journal Sentinel with the names of several parents who
planned to enroll their children at his school and insists he "has nothing
to hide."

In an interview at his home at 2470 W. Keefe Ave. - where the heat and
electricity have been disconnected - Perry said the only reason his school
is not open today is because his detractors are out to thwart his plans to
liberate the minds of the young with his radical approach toward education.

"People didn't expect me to go this far," Perry said at his home, where a
"PhD" from the American College of Metaphysical Theology in Minneapolis
hangs on the wall of his office.

According to the college's Web site - http://www.americancollege.com -
students can get a "PhD" in subjects such as metaphysics, divinity and
religious education for $199.

Nevertheless, Perry said the doctorate degree confers the right for him to
be called "doctor." He said "Sensas-Utcha" means "God's Power to Heal" in
several ancient languages.

But the school's situation has officials with the state Department of Public
Instruction concerned about the limited oversight they are provided under
current law.
"We are concerned about how public dollars are being used, but the (choice)
law doesn't provide us with much oversight," said Tricia Collins, who
oversees the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program for the Department of Public
Instruction.

"When we do request something as simple as an occupancy permit, we get
criticized for trying to undermine the program," Collins said.

Her concerns were echoed by Terry Craney, president of the Wisconsin
Education Association Council.
Craney seized the opportunity to call for tighter regulations of choice
schools. WEAC is the state's largest teachers union and has been an opponent
of the choice movement.

"This is just a symptom of what we see in the whole choice school program.
Some of these schools have found out to be non-existent," Craney said.

"These schools have no accountability. They have non-certified teachers,"
Craney said.

Mary McCultry, 46, a machine operator at Navistar, had planned to enroll her
two sons, 14 and 15, at Sensas-Utcha. But she and her husband decided
against it when they concluded that Perry was trying to "get even" with
Woodson Academy, a choice school where Perry formerly taught McCultry's
sons.

Perry said Woodson fired him as a teacher last year. Officials at the school
did not return several calls seeking comment.

So what stopped Perry from securing the place to run his institute for
holistic learning?

According to Perry, he had approached the YMCA and several churches, but
they would always renege on their plans.

Elve Everage, executive director of the YMCA branch at N. 12th St. and W.
Garfield Ave., said Perry approached him in early August to discuss leasing
space there for the school.

"He walked in without a scheduled appointment," Everage said.

Bart Bosman, health and physical education director at the YMCA, said
several "major red flags" went up shortly after Perry approached them with
his plans.

Sometime during the third week of August, Everage said, a "huge shipment" of
books from Scholastic Inc. for a "significant" amount of money arrived at
the YMCA for the school, even though Perry had no lease agreement.
The book supplier even asked the YMCA to sign for the order and be
accountable for paying for it, Everage said.
"We're not going to pay for the books," Everage said. "We're not running the
school."

Bosman said there was one other shipment of books. "I still have a box of
books downstairs," he said.
Everage said the YMCA did not enter into a contract with Perry because he
"came to us with a last-minute rush plan to get a school started.

"He did not have a solid business plan or the money. We could not enter into
a contract on pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking," Everage said.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sept. 23, 2000.


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