CEDU Closing: Reaction from Running Springs Area

Lake Arrowhead is not as isolated as the Boundary County / Bonners Ferry, Idaho locations for other CEDU schools, but the local economy is still going to take a hit from the school closings.

How do you run a 38-year-old company worth $88 million into the ground in about four years?"

CEDU School Declares Bankruptcy-- Local Business and Dozens of Employees Affected--By Michael P. Neufeld

"How can they do this to kids?" questioned CEDU employee Bill Miller from Running Springs reacting to Friday's surprise announcement the 75-acre campus was closing.

CEDU Education is closing CEDU High School and CEDU Middle School in Running Springs effective immediately. The two emotional growth-boarding facilities are among seven facilities closed by the division of The Brown Schools based in Palm Beach, Florida.

"We anticipate all our students will be back in the care of their parents in the next 10 days," according to CEDU Education CEO Pete Talbott. "In the meantime, the student's safety and making this transition as easy as possible is our priority."

Talbott's statement, issued from Sandpoint, Idaho last Friday continued, "I deeply regret we have come to the end of CEDU's nearly 40-year history. Our schools have meant a great deal to our students, our staff and their communities."

Talbott blamed the closures on the financial insolvency of the division indicating the firm had "run out of options for keeping the emotional growth education system viable."

"It's very sad," Miller stated as he prepared to depart the campus Easter Sunday morning. "We had a very tearful meeting Saturday morning and told the middle school students CEDU was closing. One girl wiped away tears and told staff members 'but I don't want to go home.'

"I really loved the CEDU environment," Miller stated, "and we were able to do wonderful things for the kids." Miller, who has lived in Running Springs most of his life, had been employed at CEDU for just under seven years.

"In addition to not being paid for the past few weeks of work," Miller reported, "I had accrued about two months of vacation time." As tears streamed down his face, Miller was more concerned for the students than he was his own uncertain future.

"A decision by the board to file for bankruptcy has a dramatic impact on each and every one of our students," Miller said as he climbed into his car and drove past the CEDU sign that read, "To Dream the Impossible Dream."

"We brought the children in before breakfast at 8 a.m. Saturday and sat them down and explained to them the school was closing," according to former counselor Skip Borg. "Some of the children were fearful of going home and getting back into what they were doing before coming to CEDU.

NO PAYCHECKS

"The managers were told by phone about the closing at 4 p.m. Friday," Borg added. "Staff was told individually by their immediate supervisors. That phone call was supposed to tell us when our paychecks were going to be there but ended up telling us they weren't going to pay us and we basically lost everything we had coming to us."

The 19-year resident of Arrowbear, who had worked at CEDU two different times, was involved several years ago in the closing of the Kaiser Steel plant in Fontana. "At least, they were honorable enough to pay us," Borg said.

SHERIFFS INVOLVED
Last Saturday, at 9:55 a.m., a San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy was dispatched to the CEDU campus in Running Springs and was told by CEDU officials all Running Springs students should be off campus by Tuesday.

Over the years, the CEDU campus has generated a large number of calls to the Sheriff's Department for everything from runaway students to reports of abuse and incorrigible youngsters.

"Since January," Corporal James Bergendahl from the Sheriff's Twin Peaks station stated, "we've probably averaged 30-40 responses to CEDU a month. It was generally higher in the summer months. We did tie up a lot of man hours out there."

IMPACT TO LOCAL BUSINESSES

The closing also impacted several local businesses.

Steve Aguirre from Deer Lick Lumber had already contacted his attorney Monday morning and was basically told, "Since it's Chapter 7 you might as well write it off. It's not even worth going after.

"It's not a good situation," Aguirre stated, "especially coming out of the winter time. To deal with something like this is definitely a pain. I know a lot of the local CEDU people didn't know the facility was going to close down and they were still in here charging things up until the end."

Jim Guffey, who owns the Valero gas and convenience store in Running Springs, is out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment. However, a spokesperson for the facility indicated CEDU recently switched from an open account to a Valero fleet charge account billing process reducing the local outlet's potential losses.

Dr. Keith Simpson, who has a private practice in Running Springs, served as CEDU medical director and his wife, Cindy, was the addiction specialist.

"It has affected about 40 percent of our practice," Cindy Simpson said, "But we want to let people know we're not leaving the mountain. I physically worked on campus and Keith saw the kids at CEDU but in many instances saw kids and CEDU staff individually as their primary care physician.

"I have worked at CEDU for the last 14 years," Simpson continued, "and what has happened is a huge shock. How do you run a 38-year-old company worth $88 million into the ground in about four years?"

A FORMER STUDENT SPEAKS OUT

A former CEDU student, Hannah Hoffman, 30, "graduated" from the facility in December 1993 and is currently studying anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

"It is a great relief to hear of the closing of CEDU schools," Hoffman said. "Although the concept of helping troubled youth seems honorable, the execution of such a concept was disastrous in this setting. Many of us can now move forward knowing that no other adolescents will have to go through such a traumatic experience."

Not all children and parents share Hoffman's feeling about CEDU and a fund has been established to assist CEDU staff members who are now unemployed. Details of that fund have not been announced.

WHAT CAUSED THE DOWNFALL?

Several CEDU employees pointed to pending litigation against CEDU Education and citations received by the schools as probable contributors to the company's downfall.

In mid-February the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, issued several citations at the two Running Springs campuses. At a non-compliance conference on March 10, CEDU reportedly admitted it had systematically violated the rights of children under its care. However, a copy of that document was not made available at press time.

Two lawsuits are currently pending in San Bernardino Superior Court against CEDU. The first involves a New York father and his daughter alleging CEDU interfered with their right to speak, write and visit.

George Locker from New York, who filed his suit in September of last year, explained "there are a number of lawsuits pending in San Bernardino County, and also in Idaho. In Idaho, a group of parents and children allege a pattern of neglect and abuse at two CEDU facilities, one of which closed soon after that lawsuit was commenced.

"As the truth has emerged about CEDU," Locker stated, "it simply became unviable."

The family of Daniel Yuen filed the second suit. Yuen, 17, was last seen leaving CEDU on Feb. 8, 2004, just two weeks after he arrived in Running Springs. He was 16 at the time of his disappearance.

"My son was last seen in the San Diego area," the boy's father, Wayne Yuen stated. "I wished I never sent my son over there and he does not have to run away. He still is missing and we wish he is safe and coming home soon."

"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.

=============

RUNNING SPRINGS - The father of a girl who attended a private school is suing its operators, alleging false imprisonment of his daughter, violation of her rights to liberty and privacy, and false advertisement among other complaints.

In the lawsuit served on CEDU School on Thursday (February 23, 2005) , George Locker of New York says his and his 14-year-old daughter's rights were violated when school officials blocked contact between them.

The girl, then 13, attended Cedu's middle school program and lived on the campus near Lake Arrowhead from August 2003 to January 2004.

Monetary damages were not specified in the civil lawsuit, filed Sept. 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"Cedu deceives parents,' Locker said during a telephone interview from his home. "It holds itself up as this wonderful place and it's not. It's a despicable place.'

Locker said his daughter's mail was read by Cedu employees, his weekly phone calls to his daughter were screened by school officials and he was not allowed to visit his daughter often.

School policy allows for one monthly parental visit but parents cannot visit the school unannounced, Locker said.

He added that his daughter was treated like a prisoner because her every move was controlled by school officials.

"She still has nightmares and becomes extremely sad when she remembers her time there," Locker said.

He said his daughter was placed at the school without his consent by his former wife.

George Condas, vice president of operations for Cedu, declined to comment, saying school officials cannot comment on ongoing lawsuits.

Cedu has campuses throughout the country. Its Web site advertises it as being an "emotional growth school.'

The school houses teenagers with problems, ranging from drug and alcohol addiction to depression. A year's tuition at Cedu can run up to $60,000. High-profile students have included Paris Hilton, who attended a Cedu school for two months in 1997.

Cedu received media attention last year when student Wayne Yuen ran away from the local campus. He is still missing and has been spotted in the San Diego area.

In addition, a girl told sheriff's detectives that two students repeatedly raped her during a six-month period while at the school. The case is being investigated.

Locker said Cedu School officials kept him from talking to his daughter.

"It's a horrible feeling,' Locker said, "It's like when you go down to the mall and you realize your child isn't there by your side, and you get that gut feeling, and all you want to do is find your child. That's how I felt for four and a half months.'

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

Comments

[Abigail Prather]

I am very sad that CEDU closed. I came to CEDU in December of 2002 and graduated successfully in December 2004. I feel that CEDU has helped me through many of my stuggles and has transformed me into an honest young women. I feel that teenagers and parents need a place such as CEDU to turn to. Lives of staff and children were changed the day it closed. I was blessed to be there the weekend it closed. I was visiting and came to see my friends. I am so thankful i was able to be there for my friends during this hard time. I miss you all and love you!
Abigail

[Lauren]

I am not suprised. This was inevitable. If my classsmates and I had been attending Cedu at the time of the announcement of the closing, there would have been tears of JOY.
I am not kidding. We were miserable because we were there, not for the reasons we were placed there for, whatever they might be or have been. It was only a matter of time. We were not naive. There was always something that didn't feel quite right about that place. Things weren't handled properly. Some of the staff were really immature among other things I will not mention here.
I have NO fond memories. I know for a fact there are many out there that empathize with what I am writing at this moment. True freedom at last.

[Laura]

I am overjoyed to hear that the CEDU schools are closing. My parents still believe that the school was a positive in my life, when in truth it left me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an abundant knowledge of drugs and a manipulative nature when it came to therapy and authority. The school is a disaster that mentally abuses teenagers and actually sets them on the wrong path. The school had the ability to teach unbelieveable positive tools for life but did so in such a poor environment I am surprised more students were not injured/ killed or even emotionally scared for life. I know that even though the school helped me appreciate the things I have (because I had to work as a teenager to put disgusting cholesterol filled extremely unhealthy food on the table at RMA), it destroyed my idea of love, and the ability to trust, especially my parents ever again. It also sent me on a even worse drug relapse than I had been sent away for in the first place. The school physically and emotionally hurt me during my attendance and have emotionally scared me for life.

[Tracy]

So glad this hell hole finally closed. I attended school there in 1980. The only education I received was basket weaving and art.

It also pleases me that John Padgett and Carmen Earle lost their fight with cancer. They were both horribly cruel.

CEDU was nothing more than a dumping ground for parents that didn't give a damn.

[Kelly]

edited to redact names & language I don't allow on this blog
D-n --rl-, who was head counselor, screwed one of the students by the name of J-nn-f0r P--ls-n. Yes, she was indeed a slut, but D-n should of kept his pants zipped.

Most of the counselors had NO EDUCATION what-so-ever in the field of child psychology. They had no right being there in the first place.

They were liars and cons, swindling parents out of their money. Most of the kids are far worse off then they were before they step foot on the property.

F-CK YOU CEDU......so glad you closed! Now maybe your "counselors" can go back to washing dishes or whatever the f-ck they were doing before being hired on by the cult you called a school.

[wes]

As much as i would love to sit here and talk all sorts of shit about the 4 goddamn years i lost between the different cedu schools and programs, i must say i have some of the best friends i could ask for because of that place. but i've spent way too much of my life cursing that place and wishing it had never happened when the fact is it did and its over now lets move on.

[gina funk]

edited for language I don't allow on this blogim glad your f*cked up school finally closed lol that school messed up my life you suck cedu i everyone and i got no education there. i got credits for making my bed and hiking. any public school would be better then cedu. no joke gina

[Charlie S]

Cedu is an awful place. I should know. My parents were not only manipulated into sending me there, I was sent to Ascent twice! Cedu Middle, Cedu Highschool, and Northwest Academy back in Idaho. I saw some of the most terrible things in my life at all these places, and it scared me for life. I am an extremely strong person because of it, but it should not have happend the way it did. Being dragged from my house in handcuffs at 12! I wasn't that bad of kid, Cedu just lied to my parents and made them believe that if i didn't get help i would die. It was all just lies, so they could milk my family for 100 of thousands, which included my college tuition. I hate what that place did to me, and i know there are plenty others that feel the same way. I'm sorry to all who have been harmed and emotionally torn. And to all those who had a positive experience I truly envy you.

[Cheryl]

I will feel tremendous guilt for the rest of my life for having sent my son to Cedu. I thank God that the brainwashing has been stopped!!!

[ALIS0N]

I L0VED CEDU... IM UP RIGHT N0W AT 5 AM REMINISCING WITH A PEER 0F MINE F0RM THERE FR0M 2000... EVERY PLACE HAS BAD EXPERIENCES... BUT I L0VED IT AND I W0ULD G0 BACK IN A HEART BEAT... EVEN WITH SUCHA GREAT LIFE THAT I LIVE N0W....

[Survivor 1980]

Oh, the kool-aid drinking continues. Amazing! So pleased your "Cedu experience" was wonderful. Puke.........

Untrained/uncaring professionals. Most of the worse ones are now dead, thankfully.

I learned basket weaving. I learned to use the F-word at a drop of a hat. I learned about perverted sexual things that no 17 year-old should be privy to.

Thank God Cedu is now nothing but a dysfunctional horrible nightmare that comes to me only once in a while.

Alison, what in God's name is wrong with you girl?

Bad experiences? NO, it was HELL.

[mike]

I think that whatever 'idea' is behind cedu, slash whatever 'emotional growth school' means, is actually good.

Unfortunately, CEDU as a business really, really (really) sucks. I completely agree with many here that the schools were manipulative, deceitful, etc, etc.

The flip side is, however, that one way or another going there did really help me figure my sh!t out. I didn't like myself before going, feel (~8 years and college after leaving) that it did help me.

I guess in coming to that conclusion I intentionally block out the memories of manipulating staff, blocked communication with my family and (good) friends from home, etc, etc - but lots of things in life can suck, and I do believe that its more about what you make of it.

The few really truly caring staff (that's an opinion, of course) that I trusted while there did help me learn to get what I have going for me.

And more importantly, the friends I made while there had a huge, lasting impact on me. I really enjoy my life now, but the same part of me that likes being a kid definitely is nostalgic about the fun I had hanging out with the people I care about there.

And I guess that's my rambling point, without the forced experience of being stranded in that place, I wouldn't have pulled my head out of my a$$ to (start to) understand myself and figure out what about love is important to me.

[Kyle Stong]

For all of those negative comments about CEDU closing, shame on you. I was one of the original CEDU classmates way back in 1972/73. You probably hated it because you were already f*cked up when you arrived and didn't like (or want) to face that reality. Yes, it was hard, and yes, it DID suck a lot. I am now 54, and often reflect about my time at CEDU...and realize that CEDU probably saved my life. Hopefully when all of you nay-sayers decide to grow up, you will fee the same.

[John Adams]

I know CEDU helped me get off the streets and in a safe place. I was there from April 1975-1978 I finished on the Los Angeles fundraising. Looking back, I had some of the best times of my life up on that hill. Sure it was hard for a 16 year old guy, I did a Dishpan and had my head shaved 5 times. One time Eddie Austin forgot to put the attachment on the clippers and I got a good old bald head. But all in all I am almost 52 years old and Still alive and Well. So thank you Cedu... John Adams

[shanna hoops]

Thank you Cedu and all the staff. The life leasons and skills I learned from attending Cedu will be forever in my heart. The letting go of thinking the world was out to get me changed into the world is here to let me love it. That shy, scared, braty, and nieve 13 year little girl needed that place called Cedu. Having my own children now I would have had no problem placing one or both of them there if that what was needed.I guess I am truly blessed I was there before it had to have a sad end. I still think about the wild cats I would solitude myself with behind the dinning hall. I will have memories of rock climbing with Guy throwing rocks at me and coming in first Girl on a 14 mile run in the mountains. Thank you again Cedu.
Shanna Hoops
Shannon Mendelson 87-89

[Susan Oliver]

I was dropped off by my mom in 1978 and picked up by her in 1980!!! Even though I had some very rough times in CEDU, I will be forever grateful for the lessons and tools I use in my everyday living!! I got yelled out by staff and by students...I had a rough time in the raps, i hated running to the elementary school and back and jumping into the pool after they broke the ice for us to get in, but all in all, it was really no BIG deal! I will be forever and eternally grateful for CEDU. I made and still have some very special friendships from that school. I am sorry for those of you who felt it was a horrible experience....it was just what you made it! I am very sorry they have closed down. I used to love going to visit the kids there. One year, a bunch of alumni members and myself brought 3 car loads of Marie Calendar pies to the students at Thanksgiving to the Cascade School...what a blast of fun that trip was!
Susan Jervis 1978-1980

[barbara Hope]

NO kidding i ran away and stayed in the mtn range just so i did get beat...Barbara hope stickles ..they kept us up for 24 hrs at a time to do things to us and make us do things to each other .Make use stay awake you had noo choice..i was there around the 80's

[barbara Hope]

I so funny i was the only kids Girl that was on probation..and the last after how i ran wawy for a week in the woods and took another boy because they didnt tell me my grandmother died aand i miss her being burried and my mom tried to call but they said its was not a good time to tell me .. my mother was pissed off.so i ran away after finding out they kept it from me for 2 months..i miss my grand mother because of them .i didnt get to see her before she died..B,H.Stickles

[Dominic Caparaz]

My name is Dominic Polchies formerly Dominic Caparaz. I was sent to Cedu I believe in 1973. I was a bad kid on my way to prison or the grave. Even though I didnt like the way I was treated I did learn to servive in todays world without being a menice. My young life has very few memories that were any good, but Cedu did help me dispite the Horror.