Wall Street Journal Surveys Therapeutic Boarding Schools

For profit, not-for-profit, some are good, some are bad.

(It is a hurried article and not very sophisticated about the state of residential education ("boarding schools") in the United States.

Boarding School Options Shift for Troubled Teens

March 31, 2005

Boarding School Options Shift for Troubled Teens
by John Hechinger and Anne Marie Chaker
Wall Street Journal

Desperate parents of out-of-control teens increasingly have turned to therapeutic, or "emotional growth," boarding schools that often blend outdoor adventures with psychotherapy and academics.

But the abrupt shutdown of one of the field's most prominent operators last week amid lawsuits alleging student abuse is raising concern about the quality and financial stability of these little-regulated, high-priced schools.

Last Friday Brown Schools Inc., the closely held owner of one of the nation's best-known therapeutic boarding chains, closed with no notice to families, sending 300 students home before the end of the school year. Brown -- which operated five boarding schools in Idaho, California and Vermont, plus other youth programs in Idaho, Texas and Florida -- filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7, meaning its operations will be liquidated.

Fenton R. Talbott, who served as chief executive of Brown before the bankruptcy filing, said the company has had trouble paying its high debt, and was unable to secure more financing, leading to the schools' end. Mr. Talbott said the school faced high legal fees and settlement costs related to a variety of lawsuits, including some on behalf of students and families alleging abuse. "We had no choice," Mr. Talbott said of the bankruptcy, declining to discuss details.

Based in Austin, Texas, Brown is part of a fast-growing industry. The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs lists 140 schools and programs, up from 43 in 1999. The schools generally charge $30,000 to $50,000 per academic year, with some parents receiving some funds from health insurance or local school districts that may be obligated to pay when they can't provide comparable services.

Hardly the boot-camp style facilities long associated with troubled teens, these schools for the most part blend vigorous outdoor activities such as horseback riding or mountain hikes with some level of therapy and an academic curriculum. Some are independent, such as Montana Academy, a co-ed school on a working ranch that caters to teens who are depressed or dabbling in drugs, among other issues. Others, such as Auldern Academy in Siler City, NC, are units of larger for-profit ventures such as Three Springs Inc., Huntsville, Ala., which operates nearly 30 programs from boarding schools to "outdoor treatment centers" situated in woodsy camp-like settings. Another big operator is closely held Aspen Education Group Inc., of Cerritos, Calif., which has 30 programs in 11 states.

Depending on the level of therapy offered, staffing can range from unlicensed "peer counselors" to on-site psychiatrists who can monitor medication such as antidepressants.

The growth comes as military schools seem to be losing favor as parents seek softer approaches. The number of all-boys military boarding schools has steadily declined during the past decade, says William Trousdale, a curator emeritus for the Smithsonian Institution who researches them. In part the shift also reflects the lessening stigma for psychotherapy and the increasing number of young people on behavioral medications, educational consultants say. The number of children on such drugs jumped more than 20% to nearly 16000 in 2003, from about 13000 in 2000, according to a study of 300000 members of pharmacy-benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc.

But while therapeutic schools have grown in popularity, many educational experts also caution that treatment approaches and quality vary widely. There is little, if any, large-scale, independent research to be found on how effective these schools are in helping troubled kids. And while residential treatment centers are typically accredited by a health-care organization, there is no national accreditation system specifically for "therapeutic" boarding schools. Parents must look to a patchwork of academic and health-care licenses and accreditations to judge quality.

(There's no national accreditation system for conventional boarding schools, either.  And accreditation isn't the same as saying, the program is good.)

Executives at these companies and the trade association say financial problems and complaints about mistreatment at Brown facilities are anomalies.

Still, Mark Sklarow, executive director of the Independent Educational Consultants Association in Fairfax, Va., says Brown's shutdown is generating "genuine concern" among parents and consultants because it can be difficult for consumers to tell whether a program is financially stable. Mr. Sklarow, whose group represents consultants who help families find private schools, says a dozen or so therapeutic programs close a year, but Brown's end was unusually sudden and took down a pioneer.

Industry officials often credit Brown's main operating unit, CEDU Education, with founding the therapeutic movement to help troubled teens during the 1960s. A Brown Web site says the name stands for "See and do," or to "see yourself as you are and do something with it." Founded in 1940, Brown once focused on residential treatment centers for troubled kids before it bought CEDU in 1998. With stunning mountain settings and price tags rivaling private colleges, the Brown schools in Idaho once attracted a celebrity clientele. Prominent graduates include the daughter of newscaster Barbara Walters.

This week, parents got a shock. Charlotte Adamis, parent of a 14-year-old student at Brown's CEDU Middle School, in Running Springs, Calif., said the company was helping her child get over severe behavior problems that led to fights and school failure. But, at 4 pm last Friday, she says the staff learned the school was closing and families were told their kids had 24 hours to leave the campus. Her family had prepaid $12,000 in tuition and will have to line up with creditors to see what, if anything, they will get back in the bankruptcy. She said the tuition was  $60,000 a year.

Ms. Adamis, a school librarian in Kingston, NY, now worries her son will suffer from "broken trust" because of the school's abrupt shutdown. "I'm furious, and I'm heartbroken," she says.

In a statement, Brown's controlling investor, private-equity firm McCown De Leeuw & Co., of Menlo Park, Calif., called the closure "unfortunate." Spokesman Sam Singer said that Brown's debt was incurred when the company bought the CEDU chain in 1998 for $78 million, which he said was too high a price. McCown officials expressed hope that buyers could be found for individual schools. The company's King George School in Sutton, Vt., remains open while Karen Fitzhugh, head of the school, tries to find a way to keep operating; she says a parent has made an offer to buy it.

Brown, in its court filing, cited a total of  $1.4 million in legal fees and settlement costs, including a pair of $150,000 settlements paid to two former residents of Brown's Oaks Treatment Center in Austin, Texas, a facility for adolescents with behavioral and other problems that Brown sold in 2003. In a lawsuit filed in state court in Austin, the students alleged they were sexually assaulted in 2002 by an Oaks employee, who ultimately pleaded guilty to assault charges, according to court papers. The company denied liability.

Court papers didn't mention some other legal tangles in Brown's past. In 2002, Chase Moody, 17, died at a Brown wilderness program called On Track, in Texas, after being restrained by camp staff members. State regulators said that staffers used improper restraints, but a grand jury handed up no criminal charges.

Also that year, CEDU paid a $300,000 settlement to two former students after they were hurt in what students at the time describe -- and the company confirmed -- was a riot at CEDU's Northwest Academy in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The company didn't acknowledge liability.

Last October two dozen parents and former students at two CEDU schools in Idaho, Rocky Mountain Academy and Boulder Creek Academy, filed four lawsuits alleging poor staffing levels that led to verbal and physical abuse by students and employees since 1998. The cases are pending in Bonner County District Court in Sandpoint, Idaho. McCown's Mr. Singer says the firm "believes the allegations have no merit whatsoever."

Another organization of these types of schools also faces scrutiny. Rep. George Miller (D., Calif.) has written letters to both State and Justice Department officials urging more investigations of seven programs in the U.S. and abroad that are part of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. Staffers say he is looking to introduce legislation in the next month to improve oversight of such programs, which he says have been involved in instances of abuse.

Ken Kay, president of the World Wide group, based in St. George, Utah, says, "There has never been any substantiated cases of abuse or mistreatment." But he added that two employees, each at different programs in Montana and Utah, were dismissed for endangering child safety. He said there were no serious injuries.

Edward Hallowell, a child psychiatrist based in Sudbury, Mass., and a retired Harvard instructor, advises that parents work with reputable education consultants who specialize in placing troubled kids to fund strong programs.

"They are really so uneven," Dr. Hallowell says of therapeutic boarding schools. "Some are absolutely wonderful and save lives. Others are unscrupulous and moneymaking pits that do a terrible disservice to parents. There's a real role for the good ones; you don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater."

This is a relationship-based program, and they closed this like it was a factory," a counselor at one of the schools told the Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Wash.

Brown Schools operate 11 boarding schools and educational facilities in Idaho, Texas, Vermont, Florida and California, according to its Web site. Facilities in Austin and San Marcos were sold to Psychiatric Solutions Inc. in 2003.

 

• Former CEDU Schools Reborn January 5 2007
• Update on CEDU Schools October 28 2005
• CEDU Properties Sold August 18 2005
• The Business of Troubled Teens August 18 2005
•  CEDU Closing: Buildings and Contents to be Sold May 8 2005
• CEDU Closing: On Edison Schools April 30 2005
• CEDU Closing: Pete Talbott's Resume April 27 2005
• CEDU Closing: McCown DeLeeuw Sued ByEmployees April 14 2005
• CEDU Closing: George Locker's Criticism of the CEDU Enterprise April 14 2005
• CEDU Closing: 1990 Snapshot of McCown DeLeeuw April 12 2005
• CEDU Closing: A Timeline of the CEDU Enterprise April 2005
• CEDU Closing: Letter from a Former Faculty Member April 2005
• CEDU Closing: Parents of CEDU Students Helping Economically Distressed Faculty April 7 2001
• CEDU Closing: Economic Impact on CEDU Employees Devastating April 7 2005
• CEDU Closing: 310 Employees Stiffed on Wages April  6 2005
• CEDU Closing: Who is To Blame? April 6 2005
• CEDU Closing: Running Springs Area Also Suffers Financial Impact April 6 2005
• CEDU Closing: An Alumnus Pleads, "Save CEDU!" April 4 2005
• CEDU Closing:  A Parent's Response to CEDU's Closing April 3 2005
• CEDU Closing: Bankruptcy Trustee Slams Door Shut, Then Open April 3 2005
• CEDU Closing: Parents Out Prepaid Tuition, Employees Lose Retirement. McCown Deleeuw Still Solvent April 3 2005
• CEDU Closing: King George Stays Open as Head Thinks on Feet April 3 2005
• CEDU Closing Shocks Industry Reporter April 3 2005
• CEDU Closing: Parent Company, Brown, Negotiating in Bad Faith?  April 1 2005
• CEDU Closing: More Details March 29 2005
• CEDU Closing: Brown Schools, CEDU's Parent, Files for Bankruptcy March 29 2005
• CEDU Closing: Margurite Sallee, The Brown Schools, and McCown DeLeeuw March 27 2005
• CEDU Closing: All CEDU Schools Closing Immediately March 25 2005
• CEDU Closing: Rocky Mountain Academy Folds Abruptly February 12 2005

Related Posts:

• Debunking "Tough Love" Programs April 11 2006
• Advice for Parents Seeking a Therapeutic Program for Their Children January 21, 2006
• Why The "Troubled Teen" Industry is Booming January 2, 2006
• The Road To Whatever August 25 2005
• Nonpublic School Governance April 23 2005
• Why Parents Seek and Pay for Therapeutic Boarding Schools April 14 2005
• NYT Article on the Therapeutic School Industry April 13 2005
• Therapeutic Schools: What Happens to Poor Kids April 10 2005
• Thinking of Sending Your Kid to A "Tough Love" Program?  March 30 2005

Questions Parents Should Consider Before Placing A Child

• NonPublic Schools: Part I--Overview
• NonPublic Schools--Part II Evaluating Mission, Values, & Goodness of Fit for Your Child
• NonPublic Schools--Part III Faculty and Staff Qualifications
• NonPublic Schools--Part IV: Evaluating Academic Program
• NonPublic Schools:Part V--On Accreditation
• NonPublic Schools:Part VI--More Detail on Financial Issues: IRS Status

Comments

[Stanley Michalski]

My exwife sent my daughter to Rocky Mt. Academy. I had a close relationship with my daughter before she went there but since she graduated she has refused to see me and her grandparents. Has anyone else had these experienses.

[K ARGUE]

my child is in an wilderness program as we speak. they are recommending he fo to a theraputic boarding school. he is 16. he has never used drugs and has no trouble with the law---is an A student and a golfer--any opinions---

[Liz]

I sent an email to Ms. Argue with the following information:

I am Just A Mom (JAM), not a professional in any sense of the word. I started writing about therapeutic programs such as CEDU because of my interest in parenting and independent schools ("private" schools). I became curious about something--why were most therapeutic programs for-profit, and most reputable, college-preparatory independent schools not-for-profit?

Your son was obviously in some distress, otherwise you would not have put him in a wilderness program during the school year. You don't say who "they" are--if it is the wilderness program, I wonder if there is a financial relationship between the program and the school. I wonder if you have used an independent educational consultant. If you have not, I would strongly recommend you find a practitioner near you who is independent (does not have any financial relationship with any program.)

The Consultant & At Risk Teens

Advising Families with Troubled Teens

In times of crisis a barrage of emotions often overwhelms parents. The confusion and desperation associated with a troubled teen can be extremely trying. As alternatives are explored, how do you know what options are available? Of the many forms of intervention, which meet the unique needs of your child?

Educational consultants help parents build a promising future for their child and their entire family.

Educational consultants are trained experts who possess comprehensive knowledge of placement options. Many consultants specialize in crisis intervention and have extensive experience advising families with children who have emotional and behavioral difficulties. This expertise is used to advise you on the most suitable placement for your child.

The consultant thoroughly interviews both the child and family to determine individual needs and concerns. Getting to know you and your child in a neutral environment is vital to discovering a solution.

In some cases, testing may be done to determine specific learning and behavioral patterns. Some consultants administer these tests themselves; others make referrals to other professionals for testing. Teens who are "acting out" can appear very similar although the underlying roots of the behavior may be quite different. An individualized approach is required to respond to a child's particular needs. A knowledgeable consultant can help you find which programs are suited for your child.

Research is done to find the best fit for your child. Because consultants have helped a variety of troubled teens, they are aware of a multitude of options and can expeditiously target the best choices. Educational consultants spend about 20% of their time on the road, visiting therapeutic programs and other educational institutions. Not tied to any institution or program, consultants can concentrate on what is best for your child and provide you with objective options.

After your child has been placed, the consultant follows up to monitor progress. Consultants often work as part of a treatment team in conjunction with therapists, and can also serve as a support for parents. Consultants look beyond the current placement and assist in planning for your child's continued progress.

Educational consultants advise on all facets of your child's care. This professional and confidential intervention often brings long-awaited direction to troubled families.

You can go to the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) website, and use their database to find a consultant close to you.

Good luck.

[More information on WWASP programs]

I've compiled information from former students about the WWASP corporation. Some school specific information and experiences are also present. Articles, forums, and former students even use the website to reconnect with each other. You might find out something you didn't know about these programs.

[Dana]

how do you find out if there is a financial relationship (i.e. kickbacks) between your "independent" consultant who recommends a facility? My ex put my daughter in a therapeutic school, after a hefty consultant fee to place her there. The school is privately owned and would not provide information on profit, etc.

[Liz]

I emailed Dana privately because her questions are so personal.

[ann]

Since the posting of this Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Wall Street Journal Surveys Therapeutic Boarding Schools

For profit, not-for-profit, some are good, some are bad

article/ blog is there any RELIABLE organization that supervises/ accredits "therapeutic schools and programs?'

Where can a parent/ grandparent go to find a good place for troubled teens?

[betty]

where can we find that is not sooooo expensive.