Department of Homeland Security
Keeping Us Safe From Polish Choirboy, 12

DAVID WEIGAND / SF Chronicle 1sep04

Some Oakland boys who like to sing are taking on the Department of Homeland Security over the fate of a 12-year-old Polish kid who, in all likelihood, does not have terrorist designs on the United States.

Earlier this year, the 7-year-old Pacific Boychoir was contacted by the Youth Choir Foundation in Boston to gauge its interest in accepting 12-year-old Adam Kutny, a gifted alto who found himself somewhat stranded artistically after the choir he belonged to dissolved. Specifically, the Boston organization was seeking a choir school for Adam, and it just so happens that Pacific Boychoir is starting its own academy this month. The Pacific Boychoir Academy will be the West Coast's only choir school. And since the Boychoir itself performed with the San Francisco Symphony on its Grammy-winning recording of the Mahler Third, it wasn't exactly a ragtag bunch of kids warbling on some street corner.

In March, the Boychoir applied for Homeland Security approval for Adam to come to the United States and study singing. Music director Kevin Fox and managing director Pam Weimer were told that the application process usually takes about 90 days.

The finally got their answer two weeks ago, five months after applying for a document called an I-17, which would confer special accreditation on the school for accepting foreign students. The answer? You guessed: a definite "no. "

"They were screening us based on criteria for colleges and public schools, " Weimer said in a phone interview.

"One of their main points," Fox added, "was that we can't actually prove that we will teach kids" at the Boychoir Academy.

Weimer depicted the bureaucratic process as " 'You have to prove to us that you are absolutely not a security risk.' We are a music school, we don't exactly fit into their narrow little cubbyhole. We're teaching little boys to sing! Give me a break."

Although Pacific Boychoir has applied for a review of its application, and has enlisted the aid of Rep. Barbara Lee and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to drum some common sense into a few bureaucratic coconuts, time is a very real factor. Why? Simple biology. Adam is 12 now and it won't be long until his voice changes.

"If we get turned down," Fox explained, "we can reapply or appeal the original decisions, but that's going to take even more time."

Of course, even if the school eventually gets approved, Adam has to then apply for a student visa, which will also take time.

Meanwhile, Adam and his family visited the Bay Area over the summer to check out the choir and its plans for the academy. While he was here, he learned a couple of Michael Haydn pieces and was with the choir in centerfield at SBC Park when the boys sang both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems before the Giants-Expos game.

During his time in California, young Adam made a lot of friends among the other members of the choir.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the house" when Adam had to say goodbye to return to Poland, Fox said.

Page E - 1

source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/01/DDGUR8GVCN1.DTL&type=printable 1sep04