It's not just King George school that has parental support, evidently: lots of folks are queuing up to purchase CEDU properties, and possibly want to keep the CEDU model afloat.
Why was CEDU ever a for-profit model? I suppose because of the history--Mel Wasserman's private fiefdom. He certainly made out hansomely, selling for a reported $78 million dollars.
Not-for-profit means you have to have a board for oversight, There are standards of good practice. There are at least a few regular, college-prep schools that really are the brainchild of one person, and aren't for-profit. Mr. McCown's wife was the founder of one of them, Nueva, (before they were married) and is still teaching "emotional intelligence" and the dilemma of the gifted child.
But I digress. The bankruptcy is filed in Delaware. The board of directors consisted of Fenton Talbott, John P. Docherty, and David McDonnell. The bankruptcy trustee is one George Miller.
Fenton "Pete" Talbott
John P. Docherty is a psychiatrist and the CEO of Comprehensive Neuroscience
David McDonnell was a director of Care Advantage, Inc. in 2001
"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.
- RMA closing;
- CEDU shut down #1
- CEDU management notes
- A partial list of sites critical of "troubled teens" facilities
- Brown Schools, Parent of CEDU, Declares Bankruptcy;
- More on CEDU closing immediately
- A Parent's Plea: Don't Close CEDU
- An Alumni Pleads: Don't Close CEDU
- Bankruptcy Trustee Finds $1.5 Million Too Late to Keep Schools Open
- CEDU Closing: Parents Out Prepaid Tuition, Employees Lose Retirement. McCown Deleeuw Still Solvent
- King George's Head Thinks on Feet, Keeps School Open
- CEDU Closing Stuns Struggling Teen's Len Woodbury
BONNERS FERRY -- More than a dozen offers to purchase Brown Schools facilities in various combinations or individually have been made in recent days, but no deals will close until bankruptcy trustee George Miller has had a chance to assess the properties. Miller said he has not rejected any offers and is trying to sell the schools as quickly as he can, but he doesn't want to risk a dispute in sale process.
"I don't want potential suitors to object to the process because it was too quick," he said. "A legal fight in a bankruptcy court just delays the whole thing and would be counterproductive."
If competitors don't have sufficient information for bidding, the process will have to be started over because a judge will throw out the sale, Miller said. "We're hoping that it goes through in an orderly process," he said.
Miller also said he must still investigate what went wrong to cause Boundary County's biggest employer to go bankrupt, costing 250 jobs in the Boundary County area. Now he is responding to hundreds of phone calls, trying to resuscitate the schools and talking to parents, staff and others.
Miller plans to be in Boundary County early next week to look at the schools owned by CEDU, which operates under the Brown Schools umbrella. CEDU operated Northwest Academy, Boulder Creek Academy and Ascent in Boundary County and Milestones in Coeur d'Alene. It operated Rocky Mountain Academy until February this year, when the corporation closed down the school, saying RMA could no longer attract quality staff and students.
Offers have been made on all the schools in each in each state where Brown Schools operates, including Idaho, California, Vermont, Texas and Florida. Offers have also been made to purchase different combinations of schools, as well as individual schools.
"It runs the entire spectrum of interest," Miller said. Until they are sold, the court has authorized paying minimal staff to continue operations, to "keep the heart beating."
Most of the staff left after CEDU abruptly announced last Friday it was closing down all its schools. Although CEDU employees were told Thursday that CEDU could not make payroll and they would not be paid for three weeks of work already done, none realized the financial situation was so dire.
Parents who prepaid tuition did not get refunds. Some lost tens of thousands of dollars and many were angry, saying the suddenness of the closure demonstrated lack of concern for children in CEDU's programs.
CEDU did not disclose the cause of the financial difficulties, attributing them to "a number of factors."
Idaho Commerce and Labor officials were told of the closure late last Friday and faced an onslaught of newly-unemployed CEDU workers earlier this week. Commerce and Labor officials were still trying to find answers as the week progressed. Officials expect the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate to rise from 6.5 percent in February to 12.7 percent in April.
Miller said the announcement was sudden, he believes, because Brown Schools had intended to file chapter 11 bankruptcy for some time, which would have allowed for reorganization. Instead, negotiations broke down, Brown Schools filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, schools were shut down, employees were let go with no notice and students were abruptly sent home.
Brown Schools listed assets of $1 to $10 million and debts of $10 to $50 million in the bankruptcy documents filed in Delaware. The corporation has more than 200 creditors.
Since the closure, emotional-growth education organizations, individuals and groups have rallied to help parents and students. Parents of Boulder Creek Academy students have set up an account at Wells Fargo to help former CEDU employees.
The former employees have also lost access to health insurance and their 401(k) plans have been frozen, allegedly because money paid by employees wasn't put into them prior to the bankruptcy filing.
Miller said he does not know if the employees will eventually get their back pay.
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.
CEDU Posts
- 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
We are one of the families that had our child at Ascent and had paid $16.,000 for the program, which of course we are out- we had no choice except to prepay. Does anyone out there know if there is a parent lawsuit in the works? A class action suit? Thanks- Marilyn
Posted by: Marilyn Norberg | Thursday, April 07, 2005 at 08:32 PM