HLA is unethichal and feeds on parent's desparation and vulnerability

[concerned4youth]

The investigation of HLA needs to continue.  I am aware that over 14 people have left HLA since September 2007 due to their integrity and unwillingness to comply with administrative decisions to provide false information, falsify records, admit students who were not suited to the school and raise money for unneeded items.  A former parent took a position at the school in January of 2008, believing that the school had been wronged by the lawsuit and petition.  He resigned this week due to the fact that he realized that the school was basically robbing parents and misrepresenting the program.  The school has covered up a recent sexual abuse situation in which a male counselor encouraged a male student to run from the school one week before his graduation and picked up the youth in his car.  The parents did find out and he was returned home and the counselor resigned; but the school has done nothing to investigate the allegations, bring charges against the counselor, or make changes that would prevent such abuse in the future.  They allowed the counselor to resign without question to hide their own complicity in the matter.  Apparently the counselor was allowed in the past to take the individual student off campus on "field trips" with no staff members in attendance.  The director of counseling was not replaced when he resigned in March of 08, the librarian was fired and not replaced, there are not enough textbooks, materials, equipment or teaching supplies but the school hired a development person to raise money for cost inflated big ticket items that have no intrinsic benefit for the students.  Staff is threatened, demeaned and disrespected if they either challenge the president, headmaster, or director of admissions; or if they display competence on the administrative level.  Parents are being mislead about the schools credentials. Money is being channeled into schemes which are poorly planned and failing miserably.  Many of the DHR requirements are ignored and dismissed with a cavalier attitude and the response that the situation can be cleaned up right before inspection.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest that this be sent to : hodakievicc@gao.gov   She is WELL AWARE of the goings on at HLA. If you would like her number ask for it, it would be a pleasure.  She can give you some direction.

[Anonymous]

amazing! sounds like business as usual.
it's unfortunate that the majority of parents don't get to see HLA up close
as this former parent did.
i hope s/he will write of her/his experience.
and report any relevant details to GAO.
if justice is ever to prevail, it will do so when people speak up and report
what they know.

[Anonymous]

If anyone knows the parent who worked for HLA, urge him/her to write a letter to The Nugget, the local Dahlonega newspaper, detailing his/her experiences and why he/she resigned.  Publication, even in a small newspaper, carries with it some credibility.  I don't know how effective GAO and other government oversight organizations will prove to be.  So far, they haven't shown me much at all, other than an expressed concern, which is toothless unless they follow up.  Bad publicity is something Len hates, since it cast a shadow on his God-like self perceived image.  A letter to the editor, once published, can be forwarded to other publications, who may pick it up.  It can also be forwarded to organizations like IECA, for the few ethical consultants who actually give a damn.  But it can also turn up in a Google search, for parents who do research on their own.  Mainly, it will embarrass Len and cause him a little more consternation, and that in itself will make it worth the effort.

[Anonymous]

  "unethical" is an understatement...  yet this "parent" that quit didn't contact anyone at ORS, GAO, or
anyone familiar with the case against HLA?  How about the FTC?  IRS?  Justice department?

[Anonymous]

Daryl Beard, the lead counselor, has finally, finally resigned from HLA.

[Anonymous]

thats funny, D Beard was never lead counselor when i was there. He was not lead counselor material. HLA is really going down the drain if they appointed him.  lemme guess, jonny lott was his assistant?


One time i was reading a thing about weed legalization efforts in time magazine, and was like "finnally, some progress!!", while at HLA. D Beard saw and ripped the mag out of my hands. Then i was like...if weed was legal, it would solve alot of problems, blah blah that whole spiel. then he was like "NO, weed will never be legal becouse it's "socially unacceptable"". what's socially unacceptable is being a nigger. I'm no racist, but i see a profound difference between black people and niggers. my neighbor is black. will smith is black. most of the NBA and NFL is black. Flava flav is a nigger, the crackhead on the corner is a nigger, and darryl beard is a nigger.

[Anonymous]

I have been reading through all of the forum's on this website about HLA and I agree with most of what I have seen. I am a recent employee, and only lasted a month. In the beginning and throughout the interview process, the management/administration portrayed the school as an amazing place to work with great opportunities. At the time I began, the school was trying to go through some new therapeutic changes. Unfortunately, they were not very good therapeutic changes. Within the first two weeks, they had fired the one peer counselor that had been working with one of the peer groups for about a month, and threw the group and individual work on my shoulders (only being their about 2 weeks). They had very disgruntled parents because student were acting up due to all of the sudden changes, and their words were "you deal with the parents and kids, they are your responsibility, and smother the parents with attention." Every time I tried to make decisions therapeutically which I felt were appropriate, the administration were constantly made decisions over top of me without even knowing the children or how they had been progressing through the program.

Their was many other issues that I had felt were on the fence of being unethical. When monitoring student phone calls, we had to watch for what they called "manipulation." They always believed that when children told the parents negative things or about when negative things were happening at the school that the parents should be told the kids were lying. So it was always the responsibility of someone to call the parents back to tell those parents that their children were lying about what they had just told their parents and the school is great. The children were just lying to try and come home, which is normal; when in actuality 50 to more percent of what they told their parents was true. Also, the school has many of the counselors in dual-roles, which crosses a therapeutic line. When providing group and individual therapy, many of these students are working on and talking about difficult and emotional issues. They would have counselors many times work in different departments, most usually recreation department. One responsibility of the rec. dept. when student come back from breaks is to strip search the students, which I found highly unethical. It would be hard to imagine any student being searched by their therapist in that way, then coming into their office to talk openly about difficult subjects knowing that therapist saw them naked. There is much more I could talk about, but for now this is what I am posting. I am going back and forth in my head about what I can do to report some of what I feel are ethical violations and violations against the students. Also, when the parents of the students I had been working with knew I left, they asked why and inquired about if their was something they needed to know about HLA to pull their son. I am wondering if I have the authority to tell them. Any advice would help.

[psy]

Thank you for the fascinating and frank staff perspective.  You just confirmed what I always suspected about what was going on behind the scenes with staff (not necessarily at HLA, but at many similar facilities across the country).  Speifically, this bit facinates me:

They always believed that when children told the parents negative things or about when negative things were happening at the school that the parents should be told the kids were lying. So it was always the responsibility of someone to call the parents back to tell those parents that their children were lying about what they had just told their parents and the school is great. The children were just lying to try and come home, which is normal; when in actuality 50 to more percent of what they told their parents was true.

As staff how do you feel many of your coworkers justified this misrepresentation to parents?  I'm not judging you, btw.  I'm just trying to understand what is going on in the minds of staff members so I can put more of the pieces of the program big picture puzzle together.  Was it "an ends justifies the means" line of thinking, self preservation (career wise), or what?  I can't imagine most of the staff would naturally misrepresent things to parents if not instructed to do so.  Were there definite higher up instructions to do so, or was it implied?  In writing?

I am going back and forth in my head about what I can do to report some of what I feel are ethical violations and violations against the students. Also, when the parents of the students I had been working with knew I left, they asked why and inquired about if their was something they needed to know about HLA to pull their son. I am wondering if I have the authority to tell them. Any advice would help.

Now this is a difficult question.  If you talk to parents, who then withdrawl their kids, HLA finds out about it, and you become a thorn in their side...  Worse case scenario: HLA could potentially sue you for any number of things, from defamation to interference with a contract (doesn't matter if they have a case... programs sometimes slapp sue critics to shut them up)...  You could wind up in a long, stressful court case that you'll probably win, but will take a lot out of you.  That being said, if you don't say anything about what HLA has been doing... and I hate to be blunt, you're participating it in by silence: letting it happen...  Kinda like being an accessory to a crime.  Think long and hard about what the kids have to endure, and know that you have it in your power to help stop it.  It's really a question you have to look to your own conscience to answer.  Do what you feel is right, which isn't always easy.  I can't promise it'll turn out in the long run, but I can promise that you'll feel a lot better about yourself, and those you help will be forever thankful.  That's priceless.

Oh.  and at the very least, as mentioned above, contact Christine Hodakievic: hodakievicc@gao.gov .   She's one of the few members of the government I can honestly say actually gives a shit (probably because she's looked so closely at the "program" issue).

[Anonymous]

In reply to psy...

I really think that the staff goes along with the programming and the rules because some of them cannot afford to lose their jobs... And while reading your response to my blog, I kept thinking more about the past and how only back in the day soldiers would obey harsh leaders commands regardless of how they felt morally. The majority of what goes on by the way of punishments/consequences is controlled by the administration. It a staff disagrees with the administration it takes a lot to talk them out of their decision and more toward yours. The main reason why I left only after 4 weeks, was because I choose to be a therapist to try and help individuals get better and work through their issues and I felt in a way the administration was constantly going over my head and that can not make me work therapeutically to the level I was taught in school was appropriate.

Thank you for the advice about what to do at this point. I think I am in the process of talking to one of my ethics professors, and looking into more resources. I know how shady this school can be already from just being there 4 weeks, and I think it would take a lot to get it to a point that is healthy and therapeutic to the point that advertise and sell to the parents.

[Anonymous]

You don't need "the authority" to speak the truth, Ham.  In this country, you still have the Constitutional right to do so.  You also have a moral and ethical obligation.  You've already taken the first step.  Don't stop now.  Others in your same situation have spoken out, some quite publicly including a former admissions person who wrote a letter to the Dahlonega Nugget.  He and some of the others were threatened by Bucchi with lawsuits, but no suits were ever filed.  It's a little difficult to sue someone, and win, over their telling the truth.  Bucchi and his ilk are all bark and no bite.  History shows that if someone stands up to him, he will wither and slink back into the nearest public toilet.

I commend you on your decision to leave that sorry place.  Keep speaking your truth and don't be afraid.

[psy]

In reply to psy...

I really think that the staff goes along with the programming and the rules because some of them cannot afford to lose their jobs... And while reading your response to my blog, I kept thinking more about the past and how only back in the day soldiers would obey harsh leaders commands regardless of how they felt morally.

It's human nature, sadly.  Ever read anything by Stanley Milgram?  Check this article out (i figure you might enjoy it).  It's sort of depressing to read, but it does have a ray of hope, which is: when one protests, it tends to start a chain reaction.

Also on the bright side, it's good to see you were one of the few (read the above article).  Most, as you noted with the other staff, would probably have just kept the job.

The majority of what goes on by the way of punishments/consequences is controlled by the administration. It a staff disagrees with the administration it takes a lot to talk them out of their decision and more toward yours. The main reason why I left only after 4 weeks, was because I choose to be a therapist to try and help individuals get better and work through their issues and I felt in a way the administration was constantly going over my head and that can not make me work therapeutically to the level I was taught in school was appropriate.

Trust me, you'll be much happier off in another situation where you actually have an opportunity to help people.

Thank you for the advice about what to do at this point. I think I am in the process of talking to one of my ethics professors, and looking into more resources. I know how shady this school can be already from just being there 4 weeks, and I think it would take a lot to get it to a point that is healthy and therapeutic to the point that advertise and sell to the parents.

I hear that... but would the program be willing to change if things are profitable as they are?  Just something to think about.

[psy]

It's a little difficult to sue someone, and win, over their telling the truth.

Very true, and especially in the United States where teh onus is on the plaintiff to prove statements false.  But not all lawsuits are about winning.  Some are filed for the sole purpose of silencing a critic. I suppose it's not all that likely, as you point, out (the benefits of shutting a person up would have to outweigh the costs of the litigation), but i figure it's still something that somebody who speaks out should be aware of.

[along comes mary]

Ham,

Thank you for your candor! It seems most staff who leave HLA try and forget what they witnessed there. There are a lot of people out there trying to discredit those of us who speak the truth, I believe that your story would benefit conflicted parents who don't know who to trust.

I really appreciate your integrity. The fact you've bothered to post at all tells me that you're a compassionate person with a sense of social responsibility. I hope other staff browsing these pages anonymously will be inspired by you and encouraged to finally act!

Don't let anyone demean or marginalize you. You are admirable, and have the respect and gratitude of we, the survivors.

Namaste

[Anonymous]

Psy - I have read the Milgram article and very familiar with it, I was definitely thinking along the same lines as I was writing my last post.

As for speaking up some more, I know Buccio, is not to thrilled with me, or the headmaster. When I sent my resignation letter, in am Email all Bucci said was "unprofessional." And all I wanted to say back was unprofessional, I could name 10 ways you are being unprofessional. Not to mention I am on the shit list of the headmaster, and apparently he has his own sit of the story to why I quit. I went to turn over my keys to my office and was asked my side of the story. I was baffled because there is only one side I said, and that is mine the person who is quitting and any others are lies. It was ridiculous, they were apparently "trying to make sure the door hit me on the ass" on my way out. But unfortunately they did not get that.