MURDER AT MOUNTAIN PARK

MURDER AT MOUNTAIN PARK

Thursday, April 4, 1996

EDITORIAL

MURDER AT MOUNTAIN PARK

The murder of a student at Mountain Park Baptist Academy near Piedmont, Mo., about 110 miles south of St. Louis, says more about the individual teen-agers involved than the unorthodox methods that the school uses. But it also points up a deficiency in Missouri law that deserves close scrutiny and correction: the state's lack of authority to monitor and regulate private education.

Authorities say 16-year-old Andrew Futrelle II of Boca Raton, Fla., had come to Mountain Park just a few weeks before he was beaten and slashed to death by three fellow students. They had planned to take over the academy to get on network television, and investigators said they killed Andrew because

they feared he would not go along with their scheme.

Educators familiar with Mountain Park and similar schools say such institutions cater to students whose parents feel they need more structure and more discipline than they can get in schools near their homes. They draw from a nationwide audience and promise a mix of religion and strict training.

Exactly what that training involves is not always clear. At Mountain Park, Post-Dispatch reporters found families of former students who complained about what goes on behind the chain-link fences topped with barbed wire. One woman whose granddaughter was withdrawn from the school called it a "horror

chamber," whose techniques counted as much on intimidation and physical punishment as on setting a godly example. Its operators - Bobby and Betty Wills - came from Mississippi, where they had lost a three-year battle over efforts by the juvenile court to monitor their school.

They had nothing to fear in Missouri; state law gives authorities no power to monitor such institutions. All they must do is follow local health, safety and fire codes, if any exist.

Such lack of oversight is an invitation to abuse. Greater regulation may not have been able to prevent the death of Andrew Futrelle. but it would give parents of current and prospective students a better idea of what to expect.

The state doesn't need to control the curriculum at private and religious schools, but it should be able to see that students receive reasonable, humane treatment.