8 June 13 - 19, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents be served concurrently. The Kanakuk website says reports of the camp employing other abusers is a “false narrative.” Camp Kanakuk did not respond to the Observer’s questions about Harmon’s employment or relationship with the camp. In 1994, the Dallas Police Department in- vestigated the abuse of one Kanakuk camper who said his counselor, Paul Green, mo- lested him during the Thanksgiving holiday, which Green spent with the victim’s family in Dallas. According to a report by the Springfield News-Ledger, Green admitted to the crime in a recorded phone call with the victim, and police were preparing to make an arrest when Green died in a car accident. The victim and his parents also reported the molestation to Kanakuk’s “trip director” at the time, the Springfield News-Ledger re- ports, although it was never made clear whether the report was shared with other parents, law enforcement or White, the camp’s owner. Another former Kanakuk camper, Trey Carlock, died by suicide in 2019. Carlock, who graduated from Highland Park High School, was a “Kanakuk Kamps abuse survi- vor” who “fought valiantly against the trauma he suffered,” according to an obitu- ary written by family. Highland Park K-LIFE, a “sister minis- try” that works alongside Kanakuk, told the Observer Harmon did not work or volunteer with the group’s Dallas chapter. Trinity Christian Academy The other school Dallas Police identified Harmon as having ties with, Trinity Chris- tian Academy in Addison, told the Observer Harmon attended several school-sponsored trips alongside his parents, who worked at the school. The school currently requires every TCA employee and volunteer who goes on a school-sponsored trip to complete a yearly background check, a policy that has been in place “for a number of years.” A spokesperson for the school declined to say what year Harmon’s last trip occurred. “We are disturbed to hear about these al- legations. ... Every employee, as well as every adult volunteer who attends any overnight school trip, also receives training in how to spot potential sexual predators and the ne- cessity of reporting any suspicions of abuse,” the spokesperson said. “Although it is our understanding that the offense mentioned by the Dallas Police Department involves a victim from another school, we grieve for anyone who has experienced assault or abuse in any setting.” Trinity Christian Academy is reaching out to alumni who may have been on the trips Harmon attended to make them aware of the Dallas Police Department’s investiga- tion, the spokesperson said. The school is also sharing the contact information of Dal- las detectives who are leading the investiga- tion. The Dallas Police Department said it is “possible” Harmon could face additional charges. DPD asks anyone with information re- garding Harmon to contact Dallas Police Child Exploitation Squad Detective Eric Seyl at 214-671-4473 or [email protected]. ▼ EDUCATION PRIME OPPORTUNITY A NEW BEZOS ACADEMY IS PLANNED FOR DALLAS, OFFERING FREE TUITION. BY JACOB VAUGHN J eff Bezos (yeah, that Jeff Bezos, the guy who founded Amazon) is opening up several tuition-free Montessori preschools, and a new one is set for Dallas. The Bezos Academy has partnered with the local organization Juliette Fowler Com- munities to launch a new tuition-free pre- school campus in Dallas. The new Bezos Academy campus will sit in Dallas’ Lake- wood neighborhood and serve 60 children ages 3-5. The campus will include three class- rooms, a workspace for educators and an outdoor play area. The Bezos Academy will cover operating costs for its preschool at no cost to eligible families, providing everything the children need from three meals a day to learning ma- terials. This will be the sixth Bezos Academy preschool announced for the Dallas area to date. There are campuses in Old East Dallas, North Dallas, Lancaster and Cockrell Hill. Others are planned for Oak Cliff and Den- ton. There are also schools in Houston and San Antonio, and elsewhere across the country. Families earning up to 400% of the fed- eral poverty level (about $125,000 a year for a family of four) with children aged 3 or 4 are eligible to apply. Admissions will be lot- tery-based but will prefer foster and home- less children. Bezos Academy is not accepting applications for the new campus yet, but interested families can visit its web- site to check when applications open. “Early childhood development is very critical,” Ni- cole Gann, president and CEO of Juliette Fowler Communities, said. “Why we’re so committed to this partnership is that in the core of Dallas there are what are called childcare deserts where there’s just not enough childcare, and specifically not enough affordable childcare.” She added, “So, we find ourselves having an opportunity with Bezos to bring early childhood development to families that might not otherwise be able to access it for themselves, either due to location or afford- ability.” Juliette Fowler Communities has always had intergenerational programming for se- niors and children. But the organization doesn’t do a lot of work with children in the classroom. This partnership with the Bezos Academy will change that. “This is a natural extension for us because we’ve been facili- tating that intergenerational programming,” Gann said. Allison Leader, a spokesperson for Bezos Academy, said about 50% of children across the country don’t enroll in preschool. “Looking at the data and the drivers of that, what becomes really clear is that affordabil- ity and accessibility are the two biggest things preventing parents from being able to give their kids the sort of strength that pre- school provides,” Leader said. “That means, ‘Is there something near me and can I afford the thing that’s near me?’” What Bezos Academy is trying to do, she said, is find places where there are large per- centages of kids ages 3–5 not enrolled in pre- school and setting up shop there. Leader said Jeff Bezos went to a Montes- sori preschool as he grew up with a single mom. “He really credits that experience as giving him those early learning building blocks that help set him up,” she said. “So, when it came time for him to really start thinking about what things he wanted to put his personal wealth into, to focus his philan- thropy on, this was one of the things that rose to the top for him.” She said the Bezos Academy has 19 cam- puses across the country, with 20 more planned over the next few years, including more in Dallas. Juliette Fowler Communities serves about 700 children a year, but this new part- nership will give it the capacity to help an additional 60 children every year for the next ten years. “I certainly hope that it grows beyond that,” Gann said. An eligible family may find they can receive other ser- vices from Juliette Fowler besides childcare. She said, “It’s just a nice way to continue to expand our outreach here right on our cam- pus but continue to bring people awareness to the services that we offer.” Gann works with people who spend hundreds of dollars a week on childcare, meaning this partner- ship could save some families thousands of dollars a year. She said the programming at the campus will focus on accommodating the children’s needs. “You meet them where they are as an individual and you figure out what are the things that ignite them or to help them thrive,” she said. The partnership could lead to even greater things. “I’m just really issuing the call to action to say,” Gann said. “If we’re an example of what’s possible, what might else be possible?” ▼ CITY HALL DROPPING LIKE FLIES HISTORY REPEATS WITH CITY HALL SHAKEUP AFTER BROADNAX RESIGNATION. BY EMMA RUBY A t the request of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Af- fairs met in an executive session last week to discuss legal issues related to severance pay- ment to former city manager T. C. Broadnax. Broadnax in February said that several members of the City Council had requested that he resign, which would have required the city to pay more than $420,000 in sever- ance. Now that Broadnax has taken up the city manager’s position in Austin, Johnson is looking for a way out of paying the former city manager or any future holder of the of- fice such a sum. While the council debated legal avenues on the financial side of Broadnax’s depar- ture, Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert spent most of May making decisions about staffing. Since Broadnax’s resignation, other major players in the city manager’s of- fice have resigned. In a memo to the council last month, Tolbert said Deputy City Man- ager Jon Fortune and Chief of Staff Genesis Gavino both planned to follow their old boss south to the state capital. Gavino vacated his position two weeks ago, and Fortune’s last day in Dallas was last week. Both Fortune and Gavino started working for the city in 2017, when Broadnax was hired. Two assistant city managers, Robert Perez and Majed Al-Ghafry, also announced plans to leave shortly after Broadnax’s good- bye. The DeSoto City Council approved Al- Ghafry, who also came to the city of Dallas in 2017, as the new city manager recently. Perez will start as city manager in Topeka, Kansas, later this month. The resignations of Perez, Al-Ghafry, Fortune and Gavino mean that half of the city’s eight-person executive leadership team have parted ways with the city. In a city news release, Tolbert announced the ap- pointment of former Sanger City Manager Alina Ciocan to replace Perez. In April, Dallas’ chief information officer Bill Zielinski announced his resignation, al- though he told The Dallas Morning News his departure was not connected to Broadnax’s. One City Council member who requested Broadnax’s resignation, Chad West, told the Observer he felt some of the staff Jason Sung/Unsplash At the new Bezos Academy campus, children will learn subjects like math and reading. >> p10 Unfair Park from p6
