Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404020116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
Shizuka Ichikawa, 18, was taken March 26 from the home of Marilyn Malloy and placed with a new host family on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she will attend high school for the rest of the year.
Malloy, 46, had criticized the California-based Academic Year in the USA International, the nonprofit agency that sponsored Ichikawa. She contends the agency charges too much to bring students to the United States, and she has demanded more thorough screening of host parents.
She believes her complaints led to Ichikawa's removal, but a spokeswoman for the agency denied that.
"I'm not going to give you a huge explanation for it, except that the decision to remove Ms. Ichikawa was done with her best interests in mind and with the full support of her parents, who knew beforehand," said Rebecca Megerssa, the agency's manager of program operations in San Francisco.
In a letter to Malloy, Megerssa wrote: "Despite repeated attempts to address your questions and concerns about our program, it has become clear that you no longer support AYUSA International. . . . Therefore, we can no longer approve of you as a host family for AYUSA students."
Ichikawa, who was enrolled at First Colonial High School, said she was upset about being moved. "I understand the reason why they need to do that, but I don't agree with that," she said.
She also said her parents were angered and that she considered returning to Japan, but she decided to stay.
Malloy said foreign exchange agencies "don't care about kids. They care about the bottom line."
But Karen Moore, a Chesapeake host mother who also has complained about AYUSA, said she believes the agency has improved. "I feel like I've been responded to favorably," she said. "I feel like they've taken what I had to say seriously."
by CNB