Parent Organization de-friends local karate school

The four Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) in Highland Park have rejected an advertisement by Family Kickboxing Academy (FKA) in the 2011-2012 Friend Finder. The PTO's annual contact directory for the public school district is distributed at no charge, under sponsorship of dozens of local businesses and families.

Michael Juliar, a longtime PTO volunteer who had designed and produced the Friend Finder for over 12 years, resigned after his written appeal of the decision was rejected.

“I’m trying to distance myself because I found it ugly," Juliar said. "It casts a bad light on the community for reacting this way."

Joel Levy, co-owner of FKA's predecessor, Family Martial Arts Academy, was arrested in March for sexual assault of a minor and improper touching of another minor in distinct incidents. He has since entered a guilty plea and awaits sentencing for his crime.

Shortly after his arrest, Levy sold his half of the business to Dwight (Mercee) Smith, an instructor at the school. According to Smith, Joel Levy has no role in the FKA, an enterprise founded in June at the same location as the previous school. Levy’s former business partner and wife, Yvonne Levy, owns half of this company.

The new academy has several policies aimed at preventing possible actions and accusations of misconduct. Smith explained, “There are never two people left alone here without another adult,” and parents are allowed to sit-in on classes at any time.

Invited by editor, de-friended by PTOs

In June of 2011, Juliar invited the school to advertise in the Friend Finder as the old school had done for many years. By mid-September, a payment schedule was agreed, ad copy and the first payment were submitted, but the check was never cashed.

[Disclosure: The Mirror has previously sold advertising to Family Martial Arts Academy, and is also a paying client of the 2012 Friend Finder.]

Lynn Hutkin, the volunteer Advertising Manager for the Friend Finder, says that discussion had already commenced in response to another parent’s concern regarding the martial arts school appearing in the directory.

After two weeks of debate, the four PTOs decided to "not run their ad this year, given the timing. We’re not looking to burn bridges with them or to permanently cut ties, but the majority of the PTO felt that the situation needed some time for people to heal and move on,” Hutkin said.

Hutkin and a second PTO member, Jenni Chapman, met with Yvonne Levy and Mercee Smith to communicate their decision. Yvonne Levy says no specific motivation or PTO polices were mentioned, only that "some people were uncomfortable" with the ad.

Regarding her husband, she said that Joel Levy has no direct relationship with the new business. “I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other,” she said.

Hutkin admits that her attempt to convey the PTO's decision with sensitivity “may have come across as being vague.”

Case closed

The FKA partners requested a meeting with the PTOs but were denied any form of audience. “They said it was rejected and they wouldn’t let me speak,” Mercee Smith said.

“Many members of the PTO felt that they had heard their point of view,” Hutkin said, referring to member opinions expressed during the internal debate and a subsequent letter of protest from Michael Juliar, the Friend Finder editor.

The one-page letter, sent in late September, dismisses the PTOs' “visceral snap reactions (to) a very shocking and sad situation” in the wake of Joel Levy's “reprehensible crime.”

Juliar goes on to agree with an argument advanced by some FKA critics: “Accepting an ad for the (Friend Finder) implies an endorsement of the business;” but Juliar stated that indeed the business should be endorsed.

“Running the ad supports the other victims of the crime: the perpetrator’s family and the business’ five employees . . . You don’t throw stones at a criminal’s house,” Juliar wrote, condemning the decision as inappropriate and morally incorrect.

When Juliar learned that the PTO's decision would not be reversed, he responded with his resignation.

Disputed precedents on oversight

Asked about the operation of the Friend Finder publication during his tenure, Juliar stated and reiterated that there had never been any form of oversight of his volunteer work, by the PTO or anyone else prior to September 2011. He says he knew of no formal process of reporting on the ads, let alone any procedures to investigate or consider the background of business owners. “No one officially ever came to me and said do this or don’t do that,” according to Juliar, until now.

But Hutkin, who has managed the directory's advertising sales since 2009, disputed Juliar on PTO oversight. “I am on the PTO (board) and was aware of all advertisements that would run.” Asked directly, she did not claim that any regular reporting process has existed.

“We’ve never found ourselves in this situation before,” Hutkin said. "We just tried to do the right thing by everyone,” adding that the PTOs are now discussing the creation of policies and procedures.

For his part, Mercee Smith says, "They didn't hear every opinion if they didn't hear mine." The father of three says it is an injustice that he cannot advertise his business locally. "This is my only source of income. In order to keep these doors open, people need to know we exist.” He added that no-one but himself or Yvonne Levy was authorized to speak on behalf of the kickboxing academy.

Smith also said that flyers posted around Highland Park by the FKA are immediately torn down. He did not speculate on who might be removing the flyers or why.

[Ed. note -- Beginning November 2011, HPMirror.com requests that you include your name with any posted comments. Unsigned comments will generally not be published. Your name can be withheld by request to the editor.]