LAWRENCE W. STANFIELD - STANFIELD EDUCATIONAL ALTERNATIVES - (SEDA)
CEO Interview - published 02/19/01

DOCUMENT # LAQ615

LAWRENCE W. STANFIELD is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stanfield Educational Alternatives, Inc. Mr. Stanfield is the creator of the company’s unique and highly successful educational programs. Mr. Stanfield possesses a Master of Science degree in Learning Disabilities and an undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with certification in the field of the mentally handicapped. He brings extensive experience as Founder of Special Education Programs for private schools throughout America. He was the Founder of one of the nation’s first pediatric head injury public school programs and served as Director of Pediatric Educational Services for New Medico Head Injury Systems in Florida. Mr. Stanfield’s personal struggles as a reading and learning disabled child give him the understanding, compassion, drive and insight to lead Stanfield Educational Alternatives, Inc., to its future destiny as a world leader in education. As an author, education pioneer and creator of educational programs and materials, Mr. Stanfield is well qualified to ensure that SEA meets the challenge of educating America’s more than 26 million illiterate population, not to mention the educational needs of the world.

Sector: Education & Training Services

TWST: Could you start us off with a short overview and profile on Stanfield Educational Alternatives?

Mr. Stanfield: The Stanfield Educational Alternatives Corporation obviously started with me as a child. I was severely learning and reading-disabled and I had significant emotional problems as a child. I went through the typical life-impacting struggles of not being able to read throughout my school years. In fact, I was told in the tenth grade that I should abandon any hopes of ever attending a college because I simply did not have what it takes. Instead of destroying me, as such pronouncements have done to many children, it created a passion deep inside of me to reach the children who are struggling with similar problems in reading and learning. Thus, I began a path that led me indeed through college and graduate school. Not only did I attend college but I earned a BS degree in Elementary Education along with a special state endorsement to work with the mentally handicapped. Later, I enrolled in graduate school at Nova University in Florida and earned my MS degree in Learning Disabilities. I graduated from both schools with honors and was I blessed to be awarded the distinguished education award of Teacher of the Year at the end of my undergraduate work. The passion to help other children avoid experiencing the pain and trauma that I had experienced began to burn deep within me. I began developing a specialized reading system that could provide specialized reading and learning strategies that were in use everyday with reading and learning disabilities in a clinical setting. Later I was employed as the Coordinator of Pediatric Educational Services for a company called New Medico Head Injury Systems located with its home office in Boston, Massachusetts. I worked at its post-traumatic ranch in Florida to which children and adults with head injuries were sent after hospitalization. While at New Medico, I lead a team of specialists in the development of what later became one of the nation’s first pediatric public school integrated programs for children with significant head injuries. I also served with the State of Florida in the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Service (HRS) as a case manager and crisis counselor in its Family Protective Services Division. My responsibilities included working with dysfunctional families in crisis. I believe my professional and personal background provides an adequate foundation for the work I now do with The Stanfield Corporation in the development of a global hybrid educational network of franchise Montessori schools and special education tutorial centers under one roof. My passion to help struggling readers evolved into a company called the National Children’s Reading Foundation which is a 501C3 Non-Profit Reading Corporation that was founded in 1994. It was clinical setting that was dedicated solely to helping children in public and private school overcome life crippling reading disorders. While continuing to develop my first reading system I used the opportunity to implement the reading system into the reading therapy provided to the children at the NCRF Center. The results were absolutely staggering! I discovered by using my reading system, children were able to increase their reading levels 1-2 years in less than 40 hours of reading instruction. That’s a time period that equals less than six school days. This unique and amazing psycho-educational reading system affectionately became known as The Easy Reader System One, named by one of the volunteers who used it in a public school to help at-risk children learn to read. The National Children’s Reading Foundation provided services for about five years at which point The Stanfield Corporation was birthed. A gentlemen came along and said there’s a big need in the world for what you’re doing and the programs you’re developing. He suggested packaging the entire educational concept into a marketable form and thus the franchise network of educational centers called The Stanfield Ed-vancement Center was born. The National Children’s Reading Foundation evolved into what is today known as the National Organization for Reading and the Arts, called NORA. It’s mission is to help public schools and other community facilities that work with children receive scholarships and services from Stanfield Centers for at-risk children who cannot otherwise afford tutorial services. NORA is currently working with the Florida Juvenile Justice Division towards the establishment of a model reading program to help children and youth regain hope and purpose through the implementation of Stanfield’s successful educational reading programs. The Stanfield Educational Alternatives Corporation was developed because of a vision to reach children in more than a tutorial setting. It believes that a holistic educational education system is needed to change the self-destructive academic and behavioral patterns of children and youth. Our first reading program proved to be so successful that I developed a second reading system that is focused on the children in grades 4-6, whereas the Easy Reader System-I is focused on the children in grades 1-3. We are able to continually document children increasing their reading levels 1-2 years in only 40 hours of actual instruction. That’s less than six school days. That is still amazing to me. So, as a corporation Stanfield began to carefully look at the market in America and realized that the United States is currently spending $740 billion a year on education with 43% of our fourth graders still unable to pass a reading test. As we looked into the matter further, we discovered that half of high-school graduates have not mastered seventh-grade arithmetic. These statistics are appalling. Despite all of the increased attention to reading literacy 42 million adults in our nation are still functionally illiterate. Stanfield knows that its niche is a continuance down the path I have been traveling for more than 30 years; developing and implementing specialized reading and learning programs, materials, and systems for children with significant reading and learning problems. If these children are not reached, they will ultimately become the increase in the statistics of overburdened juvenile courts. This became a major departure from the Sylvan and Huntington type tutorial centers that have immersed America’s educational scene. We are a network of Stanfield Reading Clinic. We are educational specialists who develop a full array of effective educational programs and materials in-house. Stanfield operates its own educational research and development center and operates a staff of artists and writers nationwide. Once our new programs have undergone an extensive testing period, they are placed into Stanfield’s educational network of franchise schools and reading clinics. The results achieved by the implementation of our first reading program into a public school in Indian River County, Florida, were so awesome that the principal, within six months, called the State Department of Education and recommended that the Easy Reader System-I be placed in all elementary public schools throughout the State of Florida for at-risk children. This, I believe, provides you with the basis and groundwork for where Stanfield Educational Alternatives has evolved. Our vision is to develop a global network of Stanfield Hybrid Educational schools and reading clinics to provide all the specialized educational services that have developed.

TWST: What specifically is on the agenda when you look out over the next 12 months? What would make that time frame a success?

Mr. Stanfield: Over the next 12 months, we’re looking at many very exciting things. Our plans project the launch of a $2-$3 million on-line reading academy. This is a recreation of all of my unique reading programs structured within a highly motivational game format. Children can enjoy the high interest challenges hacking their way through dense jungles, shooting at wild monsters or attempting to cross an Indiana Jones-type swinging bridge over a river of hungry alligators. We are setting our programs within an interactive, animated game format with The Stanfield Interactive Database beneath it controlling all of the educational complexities associated with such advanced technology. We plan to establish 3-5 corporate-owned Stanfield-Hamrick Educational Centers and a number of franchised ones. We’re cautiously moving into the franchise sales market because we want to make sure that we have everything integrated and effective. We have completed all of the legal work required for franchising and we are already receiving request for franchises. Stanfield is currently licensed to sell franchises in 31 states. A major technological tool of Stanfield is its massive educational and business database. The Stanfield Interactive Database, or SID, is a program I developed to ensure my successful strategies and programs are used in the correct manner to obtain the appropriate results. It is a clone of me, if you will, that enables each Stanfield school or center to process all evaluations globally. The Stanfield Interactive Database will evaluate all testing data and provide a complete individualized educational plan just as I would if I were there in person at the center with the parent. What this means is that no matter where the Stanfield franchise may be located in the world, it will have the same sophisticated evaluative-prescriptive system as anyone else. The most recent addition to the Stanfield menu of franchise options is our Stanfield-Hamrick Educational Network International System. It is a marriage of a proven European educational system called the Montessori Education System. It’s been in existence for more than 70 years. Stanfield is merging its Montessori preschool and elementary school into one hybrid franchise center, all under one roof. The best of both educational worlds will be available to families including specialized psycho-educational evaluations and counseling. This concept produces a one-stop-shop in which families will be able to receive complete holistic education. We’re looking at the On-line Reading Academy and the Stanfield-Hamrick Educational Network to be available within the next year. Our Stanfield Reading Clinics are available for purchase now.

TWST: What are the cash or capital requirements for all these projects?

Mr. Stanfield: Stanfield will need approximately $10 - $20 million dollars over the next 3-5 years. Most of this will be used to establish corporate centers and schools as well as develop the on-line reading academy, the Stanfield animated educational television series. We also want to launch support production of games, coloring books, plush characters, etc.

TWST: Can you support yourself through your own revenue streams or will you be looking for additional equity or cash?

Mr. Stanfield: Once we have established 3-5 corporate schools and Stanfield Reading Clinics, and sold several Stanfield franchise units, we should begin to be completely self-supportive. Stanfield will still require an infusion to support the rapid development of all of our educational ancillaries.

TWST: Can you give us an assessment of your top management team at this point?

Mr. Stanfield: Paul Serluco, a former CGO for Boeing aircraft, is currently interim CFO for Stanfield. Once funding is in place Stanfield will secure a permanent CFO. The CEO is myself and I bring a wealth of professional educational and business experience to Stanfield both as a visionary and executive with previous corporations. Kevin Price has been assigned interim position in New Business Development. Mr. Price served as an executive member of a large multi-faceted firm in Orlando that helped companies go public. We will need to expand management. We’re going to be looking for a Chief Operating Officer to come to assist with the myriad of responsibilities required. We are going to fill a marketing position to bring together the support production ancillaries. We were approached by a contact with Nickelodeon about seven months ago and asked if we were interested in putting our program on television. It was premature at that point and we declined. Yes, we will definitely need to expand management on an “as-needed” basis. I think we have a lot of the areas we’re going to be expanding in as Stanfield emerges from the lean start-up stage. Stanfield is positioning itself for a very large national move. We’ have already started negotiations with several key national leaders in franchise development who have agreed to join the Stanfield vision.

TWST: What misperceptions do you encounter as you talk to potential investors and analysts? Or are there any legacy or background issues that at this point should be left at the front door?

Mr. Stanfield: I think the first thing that Stanfield has to make clear is that our major competition, be it Sylvan Learning Centers or Huntington, is successful as general tutorial adjuncts to education. Stanfield is a specialized company and it has targeted those who have reading and learning problems. Our primary focus is to help the 8 million-plus who are stumbling around in America trying to learn to read. So the perception that we need to change is that we are just another type of Sylvan Learning Center. We are educational specialists and we have built programs and material with the specialized strategies needed to enhance reading success for reading and learning disabled students. We operate our own research and development division and we develop our own products. Our programs are designed to supplement virtually any program in use in the public school system. I think that one of the biggest misperceptions about Stanfield is that being the new guy on the block we can’t provide the range of services that our competitors do. We’re going up against names like Sylvan, Huntington and Kaplan. People immediately tend to say, “Well, why should I send my child to a Stanfield Center if Sylvan or Huntington has been around for some time?” But the difference is we are the specialists. With my experience, training and background, we have built into the Stanfield Interactive Database all of the specialized strategies and decisions that I have been successfully making for three generations. Eventually, we are going to have our own competition coming after us because we’re going to be a very rare breed of full service educational network. Of course, as you probably know the Bush Administration has reaffirmed that one of the priorities with this administration will be education. Our programs work and we can place them in virtually every community through our educational franchise network to ensure that every community has an opportunity to impact its illiteracy problems.

TWST: What are three or four points that convince an investor to buy in with Stanfield Educational Alternatives?

Mr. Stanfield: The first thing that I think would be a recommendation to investors is to encourage them to educate themselves in the educational support field. Each potential investor needs to look closely at Stanfield in comparison with other opportunities to understand what really makes Stanfield different. Let’s take for example the Stanfield Online Reading Academy. Once the initial $2.5-$3 million of developmental cost is satisfied, the Online Reading Academy will operate at a profit margin of 85%-90%. Not only will this amazing on-line interactive reading system provide developmental reading services worldwide in many languages but it will also provide homes with specialized reading services that would normally cost a parent $75 - $125 an hour to receive similar services. Stanfield can operate the on-line program with as few staff members as three because once the program’s developed and that cost is removed, it will provide a very nice return for the investors. The second point to make is Stanfield has various options to package the investors’ investments. We can package it so they can receive a return through perhaps some of the proceeds that come back from the Internet services or we can package it with stock discounts and other fringe benefits. The Online Reading Academy will generate a great deal of interest, I am confident, once the news gets out about the level of sophistication in technology. Because Stanfield is filling a huge niche, we’re going to be hard-pressed to meet the demand I am sure! There’s no one like us out there that offers a hybrid of a school-tutorial hybrid educational franchise network. I think what I would tell these investors is to watch Stanfield very closely in the coming months. Make a habit to check our Website helpingkids.com regularly for updates. Education is here to stay and Stanfield will become a household word for a quality education throughout America and possibly the world!

TWST: Thank you. (DA)

LAWRENCE W. STANFIELD
 President & CEO
 Stanfield Educational Alternatives, Inc.
 7785 Baymeadows Way
 Suite 104
 Jacksonville, FL 32256
 (904) 443-7826
 (904) 443-7763 - FAX
 www.helpingkids.com
 e-mail: stanfield@helpingkids.com

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