Excel Academy Loses Accreditation?

Excel Academy in Conroe, Texas, became part of the Aspen Educational Group (AEG) in 1991.  It was not accredited as a secondary school by SACSCASI (the regional accrediting group) until 2005.    (Oddly, for a therapeutic boarding school, it is accredited as an academic school, not a special-purpose program.)  Nevertheless, the AEG website reads:

"Excel Academy combines academic intensity with a strong culture of personal responsibility to serve emotionally or behaviorally challenged teenagers. Located in a 25-acre rural setting one hour north of Houston, the majority of the academy's graduating seniors have produced first-rate SAT scores and English percentiles in the 90's. Excel's academic curriculum offers a wide selection of classes that include honors and college preparatory courses. Excel Academy has a compelling history of success with students who have had previous treatment failures."

Nowhere on the website are the qualifications of faculty and staff listed.

According to a source, Exel Academy has lost accreditation.  This has implications for students intending to enroll in college.  It also has implications for parents, in that financial institutions may not write educational loans for unaccredited schools.

Comments

[Jeff Thompson]

I was looking in to schools for my child and found this posting. After researching it, I found that it is inaccurate. After calling SACS-CASI itself and reviewing the saccasi.org web site, I found that Excel Academy is still fully accreditated and was actually honored with a new certificate at the SAC-CASI National Convention in Atlanta Georgia in 2006. I request better fact checking before future posts.

[katie]

excel academy and its associates are simply trying to cover their "behinds." Anyone who can type and use google can find out what this abusive school is really about,

[Duncan]

EXCEL Academy was accredited by SACS-CASI in 2006 and received an Exemplary rating in the initial accrediting review. Further EXCEL received accreditation by CITA (Commission on International and Transregional Accreditation) in 2008. Unfortunately, on November 21, 2008, after a year and a half of re-building EXCEL Academy of Texas will close its doors for good, due to the economic and credit crisis.

[diZZLE kOoP]

good! i went there its hell on earth!!!!

[annonamous for alot of reasons]

i went to excel and it was horrible. we were orange jump suits and flip flops. we were worked physically hard and were verbally put down on a daily basis. they had me and 23 other guys living in a double wide trailer. they were abusive in every way!never send any1 there-not even your worse enemy!

[Natalie]

Excel Academy DID help in SOME ways. Duncan McGinnis was the ONLY teacher there that gave me any guidance.
It IS unfortunate that it couldn't stay open. But the way that the teenagers were treated at this school is horrendous.

[Anonymous]

The entire Risner family took a part in the abuse of students. Students were abused physically, verbally, and emotionally. The most shocking abuses were related to 1) force-feeding, 2) lack of medical attention for attempted suicides and self injury and 3) hair mutilation and other physical abuses. In relation to Force-feeding: Students were forced to eat appauling amounts of food which resulted in extreme weight gain (20-100 pounds), bulimia, and depression/anxiety. A typical meal consisted of meat loaf the size of a book, two pieces of buttered bread and a small amount of vegetables. Fruit was not served. In relation to lack of medical attention one student cut his wrist and was denied medical attention. Instead of being sent to the hospital his wounds were covered in salt by Risner family members and mocked for not “cutting deep enough.” Another former student drank Comet toilet cleaner in an attempt to contact hospital authorities. The former student was never admitted to the hospital and suffered severe vomiting/stomach related issues for weeks without medical support. In relation to hair mutilation and other physical abuses former female students had their hair shorn or shaven for “looking in the mirror too much” or “putting on airs of vanity.” Many students suffered bruises and other ails due to physical abuses such as the following: standing in a corner for longer than one week, digging holes beyond physical capacity, stomach engorgement and distention due to force-feeding, hypothermia from cold water emersion, etc.

[Anonymous]

God help those who were abused and those who lied for years.

[Andrey Capelson]

I went to that shithole, and I'll never be same because of it. All they do there is instill fear and abuse while preaching love and tolerance. I tried running away twice, and both times was unsuccessful. The amount of shit I had to deal with on a daily basis made me want to commit suicide each morning I woke up and found myself there. I hope Jamie, Sally, and the rest of that white trash family get what they deserve.

[Robert Matthews]

Excel Academy was the worst school I have every been to. I was forced to wear a jump suit, and put down on a daily basis. After I left it was not long before I went back to using drugs. The school was a scam. It did not work. I now am sober and married, but no thanks to that horrible place. The program brainwashed the students, and people only acted good in order to leave. What a joke. I only hope Jamie can one day suffer the way she made all of us suffer for those long two years.

[Elizabeth Gill]

I went to excel academy for 22 months and i absolutly hated it.all the abuse that they are speaking about happened.i had major surgury on both my legs and couldn't run a lot cause the pain AND METAL in my legs ...JJ Risner didn't believe i had a medical condition.she forced me to run and do physical activity that my body couldn't handel and i could have seriously hurt myself.she thought i was faking it .i had to stand in the corner till my legs gave out from under me,exercise till i threw up, i had to eat raw tuna fish on stale bread.i am gay and i thought i would be safe there but all i got was crititzed and put down by jj (who is a dyke i might add).she got in my face and told me how much of a piece of crap i was.i gained sooooo much weight while i was there because of the crappy food that was all greasy and fattening.thank god i lost it all when i left.....i had to wear that horrible orange jumpsuit ...i felt like a prisoner.i couldn't tell my parents what really happened because if i did i would be punished by jj...or my visits would be taken away and i couldn't see my family.i still am emotionally fucked up, mentally by what i expirenced there.there was only a few GOOOOD teachers there that made a difference.(((mrs evelyn,mr.art.duncan.mrs tandy...)))))thoes are only a few and there is many more .each day i prayed that i would wake up and be in my room, my house, but i woke up each morning wanting to vomit because i was still at excel.....ive been out about 4 or 5 years and its still clear as day the abuse i witnessed and expirenced for 22 months of my life.......

[jessica b]

LIZ!!! God, I remember that shit. I remember this one time where we were meant to run something like 32 laps around the pond. I said something along the lines that i'd rather die than run that much. this was not meant to be a suicide threat. my shadow told nana and we immediately had a life skills. i felt kind of like a hero for saving everyone else a heart attack from running that much. but then i was made fun of and asked how i tried to kill myself before. i was laughed at by staff members for not cutting deep enough. i was then put on hold... where four girls sat around me and held on to my jumpsuit. it was a painful memory where i felt that i was treated unfairly.
this kind of stuff happened on a daily basis, not just to me, to every child there. i dont know if it made the staff feel powerful or something but they most certainly had hundreds of opportunities daily to hurt struggling children. and they took full advantage of it. now i am not talking about all the staff. primarily the ones related to jj.

[walker]

I went there too. Eventually I cleaned up, but no thanks to the torture inflicted there. Jamie Risner has scarred alot of people. I hope she is aware now, and feels something like guilt.

[Angry Mother]

I will never forgive them , it was JJ who should be blamed for everything , she should be sued for destroying the student's lives. my son became worse when he came back they used to lie on me on everything , they were crooks and bad and Aspen group should sue JJ for ruining our children.my son is suffering till now after all these years.

[Furious Mother]

I'm horrified to admit I sent my child there. Just two nights ago she finally broke down after 6 years and told me so much about the abuse - including sexual abuse - specifically sodomy. I want to believe she's making it all up or exaggerating - but my worst fear is that she is telling the truth. I am so angry and sick. If anyone knows who to contact about this place please post the information. The children who were abused there are now getting old enough to perhaps start telling the whole truth.