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 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 - 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.