As a direct result of complaints from upset and outraged parents and students who were misquoted or ignored by Tim Weiner, we are formulating a response to the Editor detesting the articles written by Mr. Weiner as biased and slanted.

A recent Gallup Poll showed that only 36% of Americans believe the Press generally get the facts straight http://www.time.com/time/columnist/poniewozik/article. Part of the reason for this distrust of the Press is that reporters will often misquote, misrepresent, or ignore any statements made by the people they interview that doesn't fit into the kind of story they want to write.

Here are a few examples of the many comments from parents we have received recently reflecting Tim Weiner's lack of accuracy:

"The fact is that he did not quote me and the reason he did not quote me was because I only allowed him to quote exactly what I said and I told him that I was very happy with Dundee and WWASPS and I would send my son back in a heartbeat if necessary and if he asked my son he would tell him the same thing." Anita-Mother

"Tim Weiner may have a history of manipulating things and distorting the truth. On the Internet, I found that he did a story and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, then his award came in question because of this manipulating and distorting." Donna - Mother

"I said mostly good things about the Program, the few things that I said that were negative is what he chose to use. It was pretty much what I said but he only used the one thing that I said I didn't like." Laura - Student

"Tim Weiner said, "Well maybe we can do a follow up story on failure of the mental health system." He sounded like he was very objective and led me to believe that he was willing to really look into this, but I never heard back from him." Karen - Mother

"I guess where I really felt misquoted was: I was explaining to Tim how when we were making the decision about which Program to send Zachary to, we got the brochures and it listed all of the schools and individual information about each one. I explained to Tim that after talking with many people, describing my son and his actions, we decided that Tranquility Bay would be the best, because he needed more behavior modification. I then compared that if my son needed more therapy and had some deep psychological problems, then I would have chose Cross Creek Center. Then when the article came out, Tim Weiner put it like I was some kind of expert saying that no kids with any psychological issues should go to TB. In fact, he put part of what I said, a dash, something that I didn't even say and then more of what I said. So it looks like I said all of it. I would love to talk to others that were misquoted. I remember when I read the article, I actually was thinking if they had misquoted me this badly then I wondered if they had done the same to the other parents. I wondered how they felt." Kristin - Mother

"I am very clear that Mr. Wiener is looking for bad news and looking for quotes that can come out looking terrible, and the people are not aware of that." Bob - Father

"My daughter, Jill, was contacted by Mr. Weiner and asked to provide information about her experience with Tranquility Bay and the WWASP program. The second time Mr. Weiner called was during our Friday "game night" with my husband, our granddaughter and Jill. Jill listened to Mr. Weiner read the portion of his article pertaining to her and I heard her say "I have thought about this and I decided you can use my name, but no offense intended, you got it wrong, you can't finish there. You didn't follow up with everything else that I told you. You didn't state further that yes, I came home from the Program, got into heroin, tried to commit suicide but that was a real eye opener to me. That now I am working a full time job, I am starting college in the fall, I am living at home with my parents and we get along great and I credit the Program and the tools I learned there for this success. I went back to Jamaica after my suicide attempt and because the Program taught me that my life is worth living, I am now home and living a great life and that I would not be here if it wasn't for TB and the Program." Mary - Mother

Recently a government official visited Casa by the Sea unannounced, because of an article written by Mr. Weiner. The official thoroughly inspected the Facility, interviewed students, and staff. While Casa By the Sea has had numerous inspections by government officials, this was the first time this particular official had ever visited the Facility. Based on the news media accounts, she came expecting to see a terrible program. She said she found quite the opposite. She was very impressed with the Program and their care of the students.

If any parents would like to be a a co-signer on the letter to the Editor. Just e-mail us a note.

Sincerely,

Ken Kay
President
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools