By Jennifer Potash
The Princeton Packet
Tuesday, July 10, 2001

   The state Division of Youth and Family Services and the New Jersey State Police are investigating allegations of physical abuse against several Princeton children during summer camp last month at the Princeton-Blairstown Center in Blairstown.
   Among the allegations reported to The Packet by several parents and children:
   •A girl, 8, was wrestled to the ground and restrained there by two counselors;
   •A boy, 8, was slapped across the face by a counselor; and
   •A girl, 10, was locked in the camp's kitchen, as punishment for attempting to run away.
   Also, the children allege, some female campers were subjected to unwanted sexual comments by male counselors.
   Stephen Nislick, vice president of the Princeton-Blairstown Center Board of Trustees, said the center called the state Division of Youth and Family Services to report the allegations. In addition to a DYFS investigation, he said, the board has begun its own.
   The camp counselors allegedly involved have been reassigned at the camp and have no contact with children, Mr. Nislick said.
   "We, the board members and the organization, care deeply about these children and we're taking the complaints very seriously," he said.
   About 15 children from Princeton spent six days at the camp from June 25 to July 1, according to the State Police. They ranged in age from 8 to 13, according to the parents.
   The stay at the camp — 275 acres of forest, a lake, streams, waterfalls and trails in Warren County — was sponsored by the Princeton Young Achievers.
   Princeton Young Achievers provides an after-school tutoring and enrichment program for low- and moderate-income students attending the Princeton Regional School District.
   The Princeton-Blairstown Center was founded in 1908 as the Princeton Summer Camp by a group of Princeton University students and alumni seeking to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged inner-city children through outdoor and camping experiences.
   Hendricks Davis, executive director of the Princeton-Blairstown Center, said the center has a very supportive and good relationship with the university but is an independent nonprofit organization.

Parents stunned

   For the parents, some of whom attended the camp when they were young, the allegations were shocking. About seven parents and four children gathered Saturday afternoon, along with some grandparents, at the Redding Circle community center in Princeton Township to discuss the alleged abuse.
   "We couldn't believe what we were hearing," said Michele Elbaridi, whose daughter, Kayla, 10, went to the camp.
   Portia Edwards-Gyampo said her son, Aaron, 8, was slapped across the face by a male counselor.
   "They had no right to lay a hand on my child," she said.
   Aaron said he and another camper were rolling left-over glue from arts and crafts on their hands into balls. When the campers held up their hands to show them to a male counselor, Aaron said the counselor told them he would "smack us" if the children touched him.
   When Aaron placed his finger on the counselor's arm, he said, "He put glue on his hand and hit me in the eye."
   Ms. Edwards-Gyampo said she was still removing glue from Aaron's eye when he arrived home.
   Aaron said he did not see the camp nurse after the incident.
   Natalie Gillette said the camp was the first time her daughter, Shanay, 10, spent away from home.
   "I couldn't believe it. Shanay was shouting she never wanted to go back before the bus (returning the children from camp) stopped," Ms. Gillette said.
   Shanay, who does not want to talk about the experience, tried to run away from the camp, Ms. Gillette said, and was locked in the camp's kitchen alone.
   In a separate incident, Ms. Gillette said, Shanay was hit in the eye with a belt buckle swung by another camper the last day of camp. Shanay, who arrived home with a black eye, was not taken to a nurse at the camp and when she tried to go to a nurse, a counselor told her to go back to the tent, her mother said.
   Lisa and Terence Andrews said their daughter, Tara, was denied medical treatment and twice restrained by counselors which left the 8-year-old with fingernail marks on her arms and legs.
   Ms. Andrews said Tara had been hit in the head with a rock by another camper, but the counselors did not allow her to go to the camp nurse and pinned the girl to the ground when she tried to go to her cousin, Kayla Elbaridi, 10, for help.
   "Tara said she felt dizzy," Ms. Andrews said, adding the camp staff did not call her to report the injury.
   During the last night of the camp, a bonfire was scheduled and the children said it was canceled after a fight broke out among another group of campers. Chantal McRae, 13, said the counselors told some campers to return to their tents, but there was a lot of confusion about what to do and where to go.
   Tara tried to find a camper she knew from Princeton but when a camp counselor began to chase her, she ran, said Kelly Curtis, 12. Kelly said she observed a female counselor pin Tara's arms to her chest and bring her to the ground while a second female counselor held Tara's ankles.

Looking for answers

   Ms. Andrews said she has not received a clear reason from the center's officials as to why her daughter was restrained.
   A camp counselor called Ms. Andrews after the second restraining incident and told her to drive up to Blairstown and get Tara, claiming the girl was unruly.
   "I said, 'Let me speak to Tara,' and she's crying, saying 'Please, Mommy, tell them to stop hurting me,'" Ms. Andrews said. "What is a mother supposed to do?"
   Later, Ms. Andrews said, when she and her husband each spoke to Mauricio Mason, the assistant director of programs at the Princeton Blairstown Center, Mr. Mason gave conflicting answers about what happened to Tara.
   "He told me Tara was never restrained but he said to my husband that yes, they did restrain her," Ms. Andrews said.
   Kayla Elbaridi said she did tell Mr. Mason about the incident with the rock and several accounts of male counselors using inappropriate sexual language to the female campers. The parents said Mr. Mason acknowledged that Kayla reported the incidents to him at the camp during a meeting with camp officials Thursday at the Clay Street Leaning Center.
   Mr. Mason was not at the camp Monday, according to a woman who answered the phone. She referred requests for comment to Mr. Davis, executive director of the Princeton-Blairstown Center.
   Many of the parents said they were outraged the counselors remained at the camp.
   "They should not be anywhere near children," Ms. Gillette said.
   Princeton-Blairstown Center officials declined to release the names of the counselors.
   According to the center's Web site, the counselors "are 19 years or older and are trained in numerous areas including interpersonal skills, first aid, CPR and water safety. Extensive technical training includes running our ropes courses, canoeing, rock climbing, backpacking and adventure course challenges."
   The parents also said they are angry that the camp would not let the children call home, especially after being told at a mandatory meeting held by camp personnel before the session that they would be permitted to do so.
   Several of the children said a pay phone, which they claimed was not off-limits to them, was locked up once they sought to contact their parents.
   Kayla is a veteran of the camp — having attending several sessions for the past few summers.
   "Many of the mothers let their kids go because of Kayla," Ms. Elbaridi said.
   Kayla said, "I'm never going back."

Police confirm probe

   Several parents called the New Jersey State Police barracks in Warren County on Friday.
   Spokesman Sgt. Al Della Fave confirmed an investigation is under way and said officers will interview the children and their parents this week.
   The Division of Youth and Family Services, under state law, cannot comment on whether an investigation is under way, said spokesman Andy Williams.
   The division has a unit called the Institutional Abuse Unit which investigates alleged abuse in places such as day-care centers, hospitals and camps, said DYFS spokesman Joe Delmar. The unit checks any physical evidence of abuse and will interview children, any alleged perpetrators, as well as individuals who were at a site and may be aware of an incident, he said.
   If DYFS can substantiate any claims, then a case is usually referred to a county prosecutor's office, he said.
   In cases when abuse allegations are validated by DYFS, the state Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates camps, may conduct its own investigations, which could lead to the suspension or revocation of the camp's license, said Marilyn Riley, spokeswoman for the department.
   The Princeton-Blairstown Center has a "really strong and good record" based on past inspections, audits and other reviews, Ms. Riley said.
   Peter Paris, president of the Princeton Young Achievers Board of Trustees, said the organization is concerned about the alleged incidents and may not be involved directly in sending students to the camp in the future.
   Another Princeton organization is weighing whether to send its participants to the camp.
   Corner House, which provides a nonprofit counseling agency for adolescents, young adults and their families, usually sends a group of children every summer, said Executive Director Gary DeBlasio.
   "We're going to wait for the results of the investigation," he said.

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