HLA Truth............

[Anonymous]

On 2006-02-03 06:16:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:


How do you reconcile providing treatment plans with being a "traditional boarding school"?  Georgia ORS prohibits traditional boarding schools from providing treatment plans.



I guess it's time to fire off another letter and make a few calls.  Apparently, these folks have been holding out to ORS that they don't provide treatment plans, but do provide IEP's.  It looks like they got it backwards.

On 2006-01-14 11:05:00, Anonymous wrote:



How is physical restraint used?

Who is allowed to restrain kids?

Teachers, ex-military 'restriction' personel, peer group counselors?

What holds are allowed?

How are staff trained in the use of restraint?

What outside entity confirms that training is conducted for all personel?

What constitutes a 'threat' to self, others, property that would require a restraint?

Have there ever been any injuries caused by restraint?



If you aren't a principal at HLA don't bother answering.



If you are an ex particpant, why were you restrained? Describe the hold and the circumstances.

On 2006-01-26 22:25:00, juniper2 wrote:




Why does HLA still continue to insist that they do not have 'court -ordered children? And, please


don't play semantics..



Did they get rid of the 'Fall-out' book?



Did they stop having the children carry



boulders around on restrictions?  THe front landscaping has been complete for ages...



Have they cleaned up the lower left field?



Is a frightened child's word still 'manipulation?



Oh, and by the way, Academia..Have you all figured out whether you have a Science Lab yet?



Has HLA gotten rid of every teacher, nurse and counselor that got too close to the children



and were honest with the parents..?



Any answers, respectfully of-course....Oh, and if anyone wants to know who "Truth' is...Private



message me...I have a strong feeling.  'Could be



wrong, but I doubt it...

[LMJ630]

These questions also, please.  Also, please state your affiliation with HLA.  I don't want to know your name or anything, and I have no intention of harassing you.  I just want to know your frame of reference when you are answering questions.  Thank you.

The HLA website states, "most of our students struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder." From what I have heard, this is not even a recognized diagnosis anymore. Do they have on-site professionals who evaluate and diagnose every child? Or do they just rely on the psychological profile that they are supposed to receive from the parents? What are the qualifications of these professionals, and of the consulting psychiatrist who visits weekly?

HLA seems to offer a lot of group counseling. Does anyone know the qualifications of the counselors? The website claims that they all have Masters degrees or higher, are clinically trained, and receive weekly supervision by Doctoral and licensed staff.

Does anyone know who developed the "elements of life" and on what they are based?

The website claims that all teachers hold degrees from the Bachelor to Doctorate level, and are state certified. Can this be confirmed? Are the special education teachers certified as such, and do they work with the parents and professionals who have diagnosed the learning disability to form an appropriate academic program?

"All of your child's incoming and outgoing mail will be read for appropriateness and content." Does this include e-mail? If so, how is a child supposed to report abuses? If this school is like others I have heard about, the people monitoring the mail will not allow derogatory information about the school to go out.

"Our students are not court-ordered to HLA and do not include violent or severely disturbed children." True?

[LMJ630]

Eudora and Dysfunction kindly corrected me - ODD is still considered a valid disorder.  I thought I had read somewhere that it was not.  Please disregard that sentence in the previous post.

[Troll Control]

290-2-5-.05 Licenses and Exemptions.
No person, partnership, association, corporation or entity shall operate a child caring
institution in the state without first obtaining a license to operate the institution by
demonstrating compliance with the necessary requirements set forth in these rules.
Institutions operated as a part of a local church ministry or religious nonprofit school or a
nonprofit religious charitable organization may request to be commissioned in lieu of
licensed. All provisions of these rules shall apply to institutions that request to be
commissioned, and for the purposes of these rules, the term license shall have the same
meaning as commission.*

(e) Exemptions. Anyone operating or desiring to provide a service believed to be exempt
from licensure shall apply to the department for exemption. The exemptions granted by
the department are exemptions from licensure, and do not affect the authority of local,
regional or state health department officials, the state fire marshal or local fire prevention
officials to inspect facilities. These rules shall not apply to the following kinds of
programs providing care to children:*

1. Child welfare agencies and other facilities and institutions wherein children and youths
are detained which are operated by any department or agency of state, county, or municipal government.*

2. Any bona fide boarding school whose PRIMARY PURPOSE of admission is EDUCATION, provided that such facility in order to claim exemption shall operate under a published academic educational curriculum which meets the requirements of the State Department of Education, shall have classroom facilities which are not used for residential living, shall not have been granted nor have assumed legal custody of children attending the facility, and SHALL NOT PROVIDE SERVICE PLANNING AND CASEWORK SERVICES as described in these rules.*


Can you explain why your facility is in active violation of this rule, "Truth"?

[Anonymous]

Think we'll ever get any answers?  ::

[Anonymous]

Maybe he's answering privately.  He's been PMing people all morning and hanging out in the HLA forum.  Funny how he's (or she) got the time for that but not to answer the questions.

[RobertBruce]

Maybe these are the questions he/she has been instructed not to answer.

[HLA Truth]

I only PM'd one person two times.  I took all of five minutes.  

It is not about the time.

[Troll Control]

On 2006-02-03 13:56:00, HLA Truth wrote:

"I only PM'd one person two times.  I took all of five minutes.  



It is not about the time.  "

I think nobody can be bullied into answering any questions they don't want to answer.  

I also think that, from a PR standpoint or marketing standpoint, the lack of answers leads the reader to assume that the person being asked repeatedly is trying to avoid giving what will be either false or damaging answers.  

I believe this avoidance tarnishes the "shine" of the program option and leads the reader to conclude that there is something to hide.  Whether there is or is not in this paticular case (I happen to believe there is a LOT to hide here, from improper licensing to the failure of the BM program), it has been shown countless times that the vast majority of programs do indeed have much to hide and HLA by extension appears that way as well.

[RobertBruce]

Amen.

[Short Bus]

On 2006-02-03 14:36:00, RobertBruce wrote:

"Amen. "

Word up home boy.

[Anonymous]

On 2006-02-03 14:05:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:

"

On 2006-02-03 13:56:00, HLA Truth wrote:


"I only PM'd one person two times.  I took all of five minutes.  





It is not about the time.  "

I think nobody can be bullied into answering any questions they don't want to answer.  



I also think that, from a PR standpoint or marketing standpoint, the lack of answers leads the reader to assume that the person being asked repeatedly is trying to avoid giving what will be either false or damaging answers.  



I believe this avoidance tarnishes the "shine" of the program option and leads the reader to conclude that there is something to hide.  Whether there is or is not in this paticular case (I happen to believe there is a LOT to hide here, from improper licensing to the failure of the BM program), it has been shown countless times that the vast majority of programs do indeed have much to hide and HLA by extension appears that way as well.
"

 :wstupid:  :tup:  :tup:

[Troll Control]

LMJ630 wrote:

"These questions also, please. Also, please state your affiliation with HLA. I don't want to know your name or anything, and I have no intention of harassing you. I just want to know your frame of reference when you are answering questions. Thank you."

I can say with certainty that HLA Truth posesses the proper education and credentials to engage in meaningful dialogue about HLA's program.  Hopefully that puts to rest everyone's concerns regarding this matter.  

"Truth" has already stated that they don't work in the business office and are not privy to information normally handled by that office (lawsuits, scholarships, etc).

I'm satisfied with that information.

[Anonymous]

There are court ordered children at HLA, that was a lie. And what would they consider "seriously disturbed"? because I happen to think kids breaking the bathroom mirrors and cutting themselves up with it shows some signs of being disturbed. Yes kids still carry rocks, boulders, and broken up pieces of cement. One of my good friends was on restrictions w/ me one day and him and 2 other guys were carrying a boulder and it dropped on his foot, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. They continued to have us move the boulders, and pieces of cement,which scratched up everyones arms. The question about the lower left field being cleaned up, when I was there it wasn't and it was full of crap.  Restrictions was out in the pouring rain in the fieces trying to pull a big log attatched to a rope around the field, every time the log stopped we had to get down in the crap and do push ups. I think the lying to parents will never end.

[Troll Control]

I think the lying to parents will never end.

I think you're right.  They can't afford to stop lying.

Can I ask you some questions?

Sexual relations between staff and students:
-What do you know about this?
-Which staff (names/positions) were "getting with" patients?
-How old were the victims? Under 16?
-How did HLA deal with employees who were brought to their attention for innapropriate relationships with patients?
-What about kids having sex with eachother?

Restrictions:
-What kind of work did you do?
-Did you ever do any maintenance work (repairing buildings/filling potholes/landscaping)?
-How long were you on restrictions each time?
-What did your diet consist of while on restrictions?
-Did you do meaningless work like moving rockpiles?
-Did you ever perform services that directly enriched staff (cutting wood for their homes, etc)
-How was your schooling handled while on restrictions? (HLA claims academics to be its primary purpose)
-What about forced exercise? What kind/how much?

Your education:
-Did you earn a high school diploma while at HLA?
-How many hours each day did you attend classes?
-Were you ever removed from class and forced to exercise during school time?
-What was the quality of HLA's study program?
-What percentage is "self-study"?

The program:
-Describe "realizations."
-Were you ever forced to confess any "misdeeds" under the threat of punishment?
-Were you ever punished as a group for the mistake of an individual?
-Talk about the seminars. Were you sleep deprived? Exercised to exhaustion? Deprived of regular meals and hydration?
-Were you ever told you needed to be "broken down and rebuilt"?
-Did counselors ever curse at you or demean you by calling you vulgar names? Did they do this to all the kids (slut/whore/asshole, etc)?

Any answers you can give to these questions will help shed light on the business being run down there in Dahlonega.  Please take some time to address these points so that parents who are considering sending their child into the care of HLA can see what really happens there.  

Obviously their employees troll this board relentlessly with mis- and disinformation designed to steer everyone away from the important questions posed above.

Thank you for doing your part to educate prospective customers of these scam artists.