Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have insisted that their new private school, The New Village Academy, is not a Scientology school despite the fact that it uses some of Scientology’s unproven educational methods and textbooks, including “Study Tech,” a system developed by the cult’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Five out of seventeen of the teachers at the school are known Scientologists, and the language on the school’s website, including it’s motto “Spiral Up,” borrow heavily from the Scientology lexicon. Smith has consistently said that it’s not a Scientology school and has even spoken to protesters from the group Anonymous, many of whom were impressed by how approachable and earnest he seemed. According to Smith he’s just using a variety of educational methods and seeing what works. “You can take different parts of things you like and put them all together,” he explained.
Radar Online has an exclusive that Jada recently fired the head of the school, experienced educational administrator Jacqueline Olivier, primarily because she disagreed with the use of Scientology’s Study Tech. Study Tech has never been independently verified as effective, and many educational experts say that it teaches the basic tenets of the cult to unsuspecting children, and is essentially religious education in disguise. Olivier’s replacement, Piano Foster, has unsurprisingly taken Scientology courses and is not likely to question the use of Study Tech:
Jacqueline Olivier – the woman the famous husband and wife enlisted to set up their Calabasas campus – was axed from her $200,000 a year position via a telephone call from the Matrix actress.
“Jada phoned Jaqueline and told her that they had ‘decided to go in another direction’ with the school,” an insider told RadarOnline.com. “As head of the campus her position was becoming untenable as she did not agree with Study Tech and felt uncomfortable with it.” Olivier “thrashed-out” a severance package with the couple and “it’s understood that she signed a confidentiality agreement with regard to her time at the school.”
Calls to Olivier were not immediately returned but it is understood that she has taken-up another position within the educational recruitment field.
The school head and the superstar couple were said to have clashed about the school’s mysterious Study Tech curriculum which was devised by Scientologist founder Ron L. Hubbard. While the school’s official website simply reads “Coming Soon!” under Head of School, RadarOnline.com has learned that Piano Foster is the new woman tapped for the role.
“They have appointed somebody else who is more ‘in-line’ with their thinking as to how the school should be run,” the source added.
When contacted by RadarOnline.com, Foster confirmed: “I officially took over on July 1, 2009, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ve been working in education for the past 20 years at various public and charter schools so I feel I’m ready for the job.”
Foster remained tight-lipped when asked about her famous employers or any other controversies surrounding her school.
When The New Village Leadership Academy opened last September it attracted several demonstrators who protested outside the main gates that it was a front for Scientology teachings. Will and Jada had previously been home-schooling their two children Willow, 7, and Jaden, 9, at their nearby $20 million Calabasas mansion. The couple signed a deal to lease the campus for $889,000 for a three year period while re-naming it and picking up all other additional costs. Both their kids attend the school whose motto is Spiral Up! – tuition ranges from $7, 500 to $12,500 for pupils from pre-kindergarten through grade 6.
[From Radar Online]
People have the freedom to teach their children any religion they please and to follow any educational method they deem appropriate. Educators and schools have an obligation to be transparent when it comes to other people’s children, and to let parents know if they follow a religious curriculum. There are sure to be parents who send their kids to this school thinking that it’s a secular school endorsed by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, a couple who has so far avoided controversy mainly because they deny having a connection to the “church” of Scientology. Now that they’ve fired the head of their school for disagreeing with those teachings and have replaced her with a Scientologist, I guess we know how central Scientology is to their school’s curriculum.
[Thanks to Greg for the tip.]
Will, Jada and their children Willow and Jaden are shown at the premiere of The Day The Earth Stood Still on 12/9/08. Credit: PRPhotos
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