Hearings before Congress re: schools, rtc's.

[Anonymous]

Below is the link to the hearings held before Congress yesterday pertaining to therapeutic schools and programs.  Read it well, Len.  The times, they are a changin'.

http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/fc101007.shtml

[Deborah]

The GAO would like to hear your stories of abuse, fraud, deception. Please take a moment and send them.

Also, they would be very interested in receiving any emails or other correspondence you may have re: inquiries to NATSAP and/or JCAHO or other accrediting agencies that went unanswered. They need concrete evidence that NATSAP doesn't conduct investigations and specific instances of programs that do not follow NATSAPs Self-regulating Code of Ethics.
They would be interested also in the fiasco surrounding getting HLA licensed. Particulars re interactions with state officials, etc.

A more comprehensive report is due out early 08.

If you haven't watched the hearing (at the link above), please do. NATSAP was ripped apart by the committee.  Kildee asked Moss how many programs had ever had their membership revoked. Two, and only after their licenses had been revoked by the state. He told Moss to send documents of investigations, etc. She said, "she'd try". He told her "try" wasn't good enough. Either send the docs or they'd subpoena them.

[Anonymous]

Families who are still awaiting refunds from HLA, and there are hundreds of you, should include that in your correspondence, giving the amount owed to you and how long you have been waiting.  

Further, I strongly urge you to send that specific information to the Dahlonega Nugget.  Practically every business in Lumpkin County is owed money by Len, but business debts don't make much of a news story.  Your situation, however, is personal.  You put your trust in Len Buccellato and you paid him your money.  You have a legally enforcible contract which he repeatedly and continually violates, causing you personal financial damage and emotional anguish.  Tell your story to The Nugget.  If enough of you will do this, your letters will be printed and your story will be told.  Then, we will have something to send to other Committees and other Agencies.  Include the name of your ed consultant , if you had one, in your letter.  Ed consultants, and the IECA, should be held at least as responsible as NATSAP in their totally unethical behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Be sure to send a copy of your contract with your story of how HLA owes you money.  That way an impartial party can decide for themselves whether or not HLA actually owes you the money.

[Anonymous]

Press Releases
   
Posted: Nov 5, 2007
09:42  
 
 U.S. Rep. George Miller
Washington, DC

Cong. Miller Asks FTC To
Investigate Private Programs

Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853

October 16, 2007

U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate allegations of deceptive marketing practices by residential treatment programs for troubled children.

Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office testified before the Education and Labor Committee that such programs – often called “boot camps,â€

[Anonymous]

I totally agree that Ed Consultants need to be held just as reponsible as people like Len Buccellato of deceptive practices and taking advantage of people in desperate situations.

[Anonymous]

This question is for DEE. How many students is HLA down to these days?

[Anonymous]

This question is for DEE. How many students is HLA down to these days?

Well under 50, who are paying.  The December grads quit paying several months ago.

[Anonymous]

how can HLA keep operating if they have under 50 paying students and how many graduate in December?

[Anonymous]

how can HLA keep operating if they have under 50 paying students and how many graduate in December?

Good question.  Payroll checks have been bouncing with regularity for over a month.  Under no  circumstances will he let the paychecks be distributed before 5 p.m. on payday, so as to avoid for another day the run on the bank.  Hardly anyone deposits their check anymore.  They take it to HLA's bank and cash it because they know tomorrow it may be worthless.  Several employees checks have bounced 3 times, and if you don't believe it, I don't blame you.  But it's true.  It's become a joke among staff.  A counselor said to the girl handing out the checks "Just bounce mine over here."  Of course, none of this is said when the gestopo (Hollowhead, Sap, etc) is around.

It's a sad damn place for people who have a conscience and really need a job.  For many, like Corky Prow, their conscience has won out and they have chosen to be unemployed rather than work for a souless bastard who uses people as he does toilet paper and cares not a whit for the kids in his school.  

Everyone here hates you, Len.  Even those you think you own like Hollowhead and Sap.  When the money from your "family" finally runs out, you'll get a good dose of reality, except you're so gone in your paranoid delusions that it may not register.

[timeandlove]

It's impossible to believe that people will continue working for "free" as that seems to be what's happening.  Not knowing if your paycheck will actually bounce and yet staying in the same workplace is like a form of insanity.
HLA is beginning to resemble Jonestown!  The remaining staff seem brainwashed or brain dead. It seems like they refuse to "jump ship" out of some misguided sense of loyalty....or just plain stubborness.  
It's also hard to imagine that some Ed. Cons. are still referring to HLA.

[Anonymous]

My Ed Con was Martha Kolbe and she was old and clueless as they come. If I were an Ed Con, I would care about my reputation more than to refer anyone to HLA..BUT, ED CONNING is the name of the game for lots of Ed Cons that just see $$$ signs. I agree that it is unreal to think that staff would continue to stay at HLA if they were having payroll checks bounce. That makes no sense at all! Why in the world would people like Kristen Bell come back to a place like HLA when she had gotten out? Talk about CRAZY!!

[Anonymous]

maybe there afraid that if they leave, someone worse will only replace them. so maybe as corrupt as the place is, many of the staff choose to stay there to make sure the kids dont have that hard of a time and arnt seriously abused. if they leave, len would only replace them with someone else who gets paid less and is less qualified, and is likely a methhead lumpkin bumpkin with sadistic tendencies.

[Anonymous]

maybe there afraid that if they leave, someone worse will only replace them. so maybe as corrupt as the place is, many of the staff choose to stay there to make sure the kids dont have that hard of a time and arnt seriously abused. if they leave, len would only replace them with someone else who gets paid less and is less qualified, and is likely a methhead lumpkin bumpkin with sadistic tendencies.

Unfortunately, this assumes far too much benevolence on the part of most of the remaining staff, most of whom remain because their qualifications, or lack thereof, could not get them a job anywhere else except Wal-Mart.  Others stay simply because of fear of the unknown... the old syndrome of remaining in an untentable situation simply because it is the situation they know.  Change is scary, especially for those who have essentially become institutionalized through their association with Len and HLA.  Lee Parham, Kristen Bell, David Riefenberger are excellent examples.

[Anonymous]

What about Anna Jones? She actually lives and breathes HLA and her good buddy Len B. She makes me want to throw up calling him Len B!!! YUCK!!! She is either one fake B or a brainwashed B!!! Probably both is my guess. What is behind John M. and Joe Stapp's loyalty to HLA? They have families to take care of so I cannot imagine why they would stay at a place with such a horrible reputation. HLA is full of lies and deceit and parents that live in denial of the reality of HLA.  

What a horrible experience to get into where you lose all your money and for what? HLA is such a JOKE!!!