FORMER STUDENT SUES GODDARD COLLEGE
PLAINFIELD -- A former student is suing Goddard College, claiming she received a degree but no education.
Katrina Yurenka moved from Seattle and enrolled in the school's program for single parents in 1986. The program is designed to provide a college education to single parents.
Yurenka claims the facilities offered were inadequate and the degree she received in early childhood development is worthless.
"I don't feel competent" to teach pre-school children, she said. "I wanted to learn and to have hands-on experience, but I was told to do a written project instead. That's not what I knew I needed to be a pre-school teacher."
Her suit, filed in Washington Superior Court, seeks $15,526 to offset her expenses, plus triple damages.
Goddard President Jack Lindquist disputed the allegations in the suit, saying there were temporary problems with the program when Yurenka enrolled, but she "could have remained in the project with no more than the initial minor difficulties experienced by other single parents."
He said Yurenka, when voicing concerns about the program, was advised to take an additional semester but opted not to do that.
'I don't feel competent' to teach pre-school children. I wanted to learn and to have hands-on experience, but I was told to do a written project instead. That"s not what I knew I needed to be a pre-school teacher.'
Katrina Yurenka, former student
