Bravo to The New York Times for exposing Cheon Park (on the front page of last Friday’s
paper), a contractor that was supposed to provide services for
developmentally delayed 3 and 4-year
olds. There are countless criminals to be pursued, but someone who preys on
developmentally delayed toddlers and their families is especially repugnant to
me. As the mother of a daughter on the
autistic spectrum, I know how it feels to be desperate for the early intervention
services considered critical to cognitive development. My heart goes out to the families who were
lured into a lavish building with marble floors, red carpets and promises of
state of the art therapy.
Desperation can
be blinding. Sarah once had a speech
therapist, who double-billed us and another family by taking our daughters out
together instead of individually. The speech therapist also bought stockings while
she was supposed to be working with our daughter, and she did other personal
errands under the guise of “helping the girls develop pragmatic language in the
real world.” Sarah’s speech therapist also acted as a
sub-contractor, persuading us to hire a tutor for Max. When
the tutor admitted to me that Max had refused to focus on academic work and
wanted to work on athletic skills instead, my blindfold came off. I fired both “tutor” and “therapist.” Who would not lament the money wasted on these
fraudulent “service providers?”
Mr. Park of
Bilingual SEIT takes this type of fraud to a whole new level. Bilingual SEIT was not only paid to evaluate
kids for special education, but the company also profited from providing
services for these kids–a clear conflict of interest. According to The Times, Mr. Park opened two of his own special-ed preschools in
2011, enabling him to bill 75% more per child in each classroom of 8 to 13 kids
than he had previously been receiving for individual hourly therapy.
To add insult to
injury, New York City and New York State paid Mr. Park for expensive
renovations to his buildings as well as for the “services” rendered to the
children. Some of these children, whose
first language was Chinese, were placed in classes taught in Spanish. Others , who
were supposed to receive individual therapy, got shoe-horned into groups of kids with a
hodge-podge of disabilities. Even more
shocking was that some kids had no disabilities, (and were in fact gifted). These children were being used to produce
greater billings, and they cost the government more than $50,000 per year, per
child. Bottom line is Mr. Park made
millions, not just on these vulnerable children, but also on real estate transactions involving the sale of the
schools and buildings.
What I would like
to do with Mr. Park and his ilk—given that racks and disemboweling are no
longer in fashion—is use him to overhaul the system he exploited. Remember the movie “Catch Me if You Can?” Based on a true story, Leo DiCaprio plays
Frank Abagnale, a brilliant check forger who eluded frustrated government
agents for many years. When he was
finally apprehended and found guilty, the FBI offered him a deal: Work for the government to improve detection
of bad checks and counterfeit bills and stay out of jail. I would like the government to offer a
similar deal to Mr. Park. Have him
assist the Board of Education in rewriting and overhauling the existing
regulations to crack down on greedy and unscrupulous contractors like
himself. The big problem with my idea
is that there are so many politicians misusing
funds, taking bribes, calling vacations
“business travel” that they may not want this party to end. Finding
a politician who genuinely cares about the robbery of developmentally delayed children
and their families—along with all taxpayer robbery—is probably like finding a needle
in a haystack. But find them we
must. As for the double dealers and
greedy opportunists, catch them if you can—any way that you can.
Labels: autism, corruption, crime, developmental delays, fraud, government, politicians, special education services