Return to Bethel Girls Academy Page
By Nikki Davis Maute
American Staff Writer
nmaute@hattiesb.gannett.com
June 20, 2004
The family that operates a home for troubled boys in Lucedale has ties to a girls academy in Petal that was raided by state officials last month.
But while members of the same family operate the two schools, the Bethel Girls Academy has no administrative or ownership link to the Bethel Boys Academy in Lucedale, said boys academy director John Fountain.
"My brother operates the girls academy in Petal and the girls and boys attend the same church," Fountain said. "We don't share administration or advice. In fact, I seldom have time to even talk to my brother. This is a 24/7 job."
The schools do have a lot in common, however.
Both target troubled teenagers who haven't been helped by more traditional schools and they use structure and discipline to keep students in line.
Both use a Biblically-based approach to helping teenagers straighten out emotional and behavioral problems.
And the academies share the services of a minister, the founder of the Boys Academy, who was banned from any control of the boys school by a court order that came as a result of allegations of abuse.
It's the application of discipline that is a common thread in state scrutiny of the Bethel schools.
Bethel Girls Academy came under state review last month when agencies including the state Department of Human Services, state Attorney General's office and the state Health Department removed 38 girls from the Petal facility.
According to documents obtained by the Hattiesburg American and some provided by DHS, the girls accused director Herman Fountain Jr. and employees at the school of physical and verbal abuse.
The documents contained reports that girls enrolled in the academy were forced to exercise until they fell down, had to swim in a pond polluted with sewage and had furniture thrown at them.
Fountain Jr. denied allegations of abuse but has acknowledged his school needed to do a better job with its paperwork.
No charges have been filed in connection with the incident and Fountain Jr. said Thursday he was again taking in students at the school.
13 boys removed from school in 2003
The Boys Academy operates under a consent decree that requires it, among other things, to refrain from using electricity to discipline students.
John Fountain, of the Boys Academy, said he knows first-hand what his brother is facing because last July, 13 boys were removed from the Lucedale home. The move came after allegations surfaced that students in the boot camp program had been beaten, denied proper medical treatment and shocked with a cattle prod.
School employees were accused of forcing students to exercise in the sun without water and then punishing students when they asked for water.
John Fountain settled the dispute with the state without admitting any wrongdoing. He agreed to allow bathroom and water breaks during exercise sessions and said the school wouldn't use electrical devices for discipline, according to the consent decree.
"I didn't even know what a cattle prod was then," John Fountain said. "The electric fence they were talking about was an electric wire I put at the top of the fence because some boys kept trying to run away."
John Fountain denied any abuse took place at the academy. He now has 62 boys.
"We had some bad boys then, boys who had burned down houses and others who beat up their parents," John Fountain said. "But I no longer take boys coming from that situation."
John Fountain praised the efforts of DHS and the George County Health Department.
"They have done a fine job here," he said. "They make us better. There's a line between discipline and abuse and you can't cross it."
Family has history of run-ins with state
Running group homes for trouble youth has placed the Lucedale school in the sights state investigators before.
The brothers' father, Herman Fountain Sr., opened Bethel Children's home in Lucedale.
In 1988, state welfare officials raided that home and removed 72 students amid allegations of abuse and neglect. In 1990 a judge closed the home, but four years later Fountain Sr. reopened the home as Bethel Boys Academy.
Under last year's consent decree, Fountain Sr. was forced to relinquish all interest and control of the boys facility.
The decree only applies to the Lucedale School, and states that Fountain Sr. is allowed to remain affiliated with Bethel Baptist Church in Lucedale where he is pastor.
Although barred from oversight of the Lucedale school, Fountain Sr. does provide spiritual guidance to both the boys and girls academies operated by his sons, John Fountain said.
Each Sunday, students from both academies attend Bethel Baptist Church.
John Fountain said he regrets that some people, including some state officials, appear to target the facility because of his father.
"I want to abide by the law and my operation is totally different from my father's," he said. "Thank goodness for people in this community who are awesome. They are good people who have supported me for they believe in what is right. If there's something wrong, I want to hear it."
Bethel Boys Academy takes at-risk adolescents from around the country. Most of the students are from outside Mississippi, and parents in many cases pay tuition of $22,000 a year.
Not everyone pays the full amount, however.
"It depends a lot on what people can afford," John Fountain said.
Efforts by the Hattiesburg American to reach several of those who have made public complaints on Web sites against the Boys Academy were unsuccessful.
Former state Attorney General Mike Moore, who oversaw the consent decree, declined to comment on the agreement.
The Hattiesburg American also filed a Freedom of Information request with DHS to learn about licensing procedures and prior complaints about the academy and how the agency conducts investigations into abuse allegations.
DHS had until June 15 to comply with the request, and although the agency did provide some details on how it handles allegations, it hasn't responded to direct questions about licensing or prior involvement with the Bethel Girls Academy.
DHS officials declined comment for this story. Representatives of the state Attorney Generals office who were handling the Bethel Girls Academy investigation couldn't be reached for comment.
While there are critics of the boys academy, a parent said the school was a godsend for his troubled teenager.
Ian McCulloch was 15 when his parents sent him to the Lucedale school. He's now a 19-year-old Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq.
"He was rebellious and impossible to control," said Ian's father, Tom McCulloch. "He came and went when he wanted and we could not control him."
The Nashville, Tenn., couple said the 13 months Ian McCulloch spent at Bethel changed him profoundly.
"He came home respectful and with a purpose, something he had lacked," Tom McCulloch said.
The biggest change? His aggressive nature was checked by his time at the school.
"I don't mean he won't fight because he still likes to fight, but he does not go looking for a fight," Tom McCulloch said.
Tom McCulloch, 51, and his wife, Debbie, 50, are now dormitory parents at Bethel Girls Academy.
"We gave up our jobs, sold our home and moved here to help the Fountains," Tom McCulloch said. "We thought we had lost our son. They have given our son back. We will be here for them."