Will answer questions about Summit Nyack

[WildAndrogynous]

As an 18-year-old who recently left after serving two years there, I think I'm uniquely equipped to resolve any curiosities about this, ermmmm... exalted gem of the Hudson Valley. No question you could ask me about the place would be too irrelevant... so, fire away.  ::evil::

[Ursus]

My guess is that this is their website? http://www.summitnyack.com/

Is it the same place that is discussed in the following thread:

Death at Summit School in NY
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=905[/list]

[WildAndrogynous]

My guess is that this is their website? http://www.summitnyack.com/

Is it the same place that is discussed in the following thread:

Death at Summit School in NY
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=905[/list]

It most certainly is. The Sinovoi incident is common knowledge amongst the student body as well.

[Ursus]

• What would you describe as the basic "philosophy" behind Summit's treatment program? Do you know anything about where it was derived from?

• Approximately what proportion of your day was spent on education vs. "therapy?"

• Summit's website has no staff listed, e.g., as in brief bios which might include training, previous experience, etc. Is there high staff turnover?

[WildAndrogynous]

• What would you describe as the basic "philosophy" behind Summit's treatment program? Do you know anything about where it was derived from?

• Approximately what proportion of your day was spent on education vs. "therapy?"

• Summit's website has no staff listed, e.g., as in brief bios which might include training, previous experience, etc. Is there high staff turnover?

•Helping teenagers cope with their issues via various therapeutic and non-therapeutic methods. It's a completely voluntary placement. The milieu is in no way punitive compared to some of the horror stories I've read on other parts of this forum. Harm reduction plays a large part in their treatment of drug/alcohol (ab)users.

• Education (in the form of a full 9 - 3 school day) is the main focus of life at Summit, much like more conventional schools.  After school activities (in the forms of various clubs and on-site facilities) are more or less mandatory. Therapy is administered in the form of twice-weekly appointments with one of about 10 social workers/therapists, although individual students may be placed in group therapy sessions if it's deemed appropriate (i.e. substance counseling, social skills, adoption, "girls group").

• Staff turnover is extremely low, and a large proportion of those working there have been doing so for 5 years or more. The paucity of solid information on the website is more indicative of a lazy webmaster than anything else.

[psy]

What you claim sounds fantastic. But sounds fantastic is what got me sent to a hellhole.  The proof is in the pudding.  You are anonymous.  You could be anybody, including a program representative.  You're very well spoken.  So well spoken I find it hard to believe you are 18.  I mean what 18 year old says "milieu"!?1?!  What 18 year old knows what Harm Reduction is?  Your claims sound so fantastic that it's hard to believe such a place could operate and stay afloat given the level of service you claim to provide.  You must be extremely expensive.  A good program?  My god what a claim. We've never heard that here before and had it turn out to be false, now have we?  Forgive me if I sound skeptical.  I'm just naturally that way.

The only thing I like is your claim that it's totally voluntary.  If that's true, and your marketing is accurate (meaning infomed consent) and kids choose to go there and can leave at any time, then I wouldn't care about the rest.

Are there any ex-students that can confirm your claims?

[Oscar]

The Fornits Wiki has a datasheet about this place. While it was checked this week we noticed some parents reviews. They are mixed unlike the normal marketing statements fabricated by most programs as parents testimonies:

My son liked the school. However after being a day student.. they tried to push the amttter of him being a resident there. I assume it is so they could obtain more money. I did not like the tactics they used to do this. It is a special ed school which was sutied for him but he really has no job skills upon graduatiing and received very little training to transition. I heard other students who graduated didn't that well. he wil be getting into a transitional program upon graduation but he is not college ready. The staff is okay and it is a very sheltered environment.

summit school is a great school

the summit school has alovely campus. but we found it not serious enough about helping young people change their lives. As an example of this is their smoling policy. They let the kids smoke. How can they show that they can really help the kids change if they dod not enforce no smolking. They do not have a student government. showing a lack of student empowerment. On the positive side, they wer thoughtfaul about training students in social skills they were lacking.

Summit has an excellent staff that has supported my 15-year-old daughter well. They work hard to promote improved behavior in their challenging students. Those who are capable of following rules and resisting the impulse to cut classes, etc. do best in this open campus. Children are not escorted to class; it is up to them to attend or not. I have the utmost respect for all staff members. But the school is not for every student. Look carefully to see if this is a good fit for your child. The campus is beautiful, and art classes are offered. Very limited sports activities, which I feel is the biggest gap. My daughter would love to play team sports, but it is not available and the peer attitude is that it is not cool. I hope something can be done about this in the future. Parent involvement: conferences are all I've done.

I was sending my child to The Summit School. The School is unsafe and drugs are common upon most students. In my reguards I think this school is about making it seft money.

I think this school is terrible and did not meet my childs needs. My child has been there for the past 3 and a half years. A resident for 3 years and a day-student for the past 6 months. The program is not strict enough and did not set enough bounderies for my child. Summit in my opinion is trying to take the money out of the whoever is paying for the child to be there, such as the school district, the courts, or the parents themselves. All in all I would not recomend the Summit School to anyone and I regret sending my child there.

I believe that it is an open campus. If you use Google Street View you can see a group of student sit on the lawn in front of the school with no fence out to the street in a populated area.

It will need more investigation to clearify how the program really is. It is a shame that ISAC is down at the moment. They had a lot of information about this program.

[WildAndrogynous]

What you claim sounds fantastic. But sounds fantastic is what got me sent to a hellhole.  The proof is in the pudding.  You are anonymous.  You could be anybody, including a program representative.  You're very well spoken.  So well spoken I find it hard to believe you are 18.  I mean what 18 year old says "milieu"!?1?!  What 18 year old knows what Harm Reduction is?  Your claims sound so fantastic that it's hard to believe such a place could operate and stay afloat given the level of service you claim to provide.  You must be extremely expensive.  A good program?  My god what a claim. We've never heard that here before and had it turn out to be false, now have we?  Forgive me if I sound skeptical.  I'm just naturally that way.

The only thing I like is your claim that it's totally voluntary.  If that's true, and your marketing is accurate (meaning infomed consent) and kids choose to go there and can leave at any time, then I wouldn't care about the rest.

Are there any ex-students that can confirm your claims?

I'm well-spoken and knowledgeable  because I actually, y'know... read books, as opposed to letting my intellect atrophy as so many of my peers do. My use of clinical language (i.e. milieu) is the product of an adolescence spent in and out of mental hospitals and places similar to Summit; if you have more than half a brain, eventually the psych-speak will rub off on you.

I'm not claiming Summit is fantastic by any stretch of the imagination; I could list the multitude of fucked-up things about the place for you too.

The Department of Education paid for my time there, although I recall hearing once that tuition was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30K a year.

I can prove my age and the fact that I was at Summit for that stretch of time. Message me if you genuinely want proof.

Yes, it's a completely voluntary placement, and I chose to leave of my own accord. I do recall one student who came back after dropping out for a while; he said he was in some sort of legal trouble and that he returned to stay out of jail.

i could get you in touch with some other former Summit students if you so desire.

[WildAndrogynous]

The Fornits Wiki has a datasheet about this place. While it was checked this week we noticed some parents reviews. They are mixed unlike the normal marketing statements fabricated by most programs as parents testimonies:

My son liked the school. However after being a day student.. they tried to push the amttter of him being a resident there. I assume it is so they could obtain more money. I did not like the tactics they used to do this. It is a special ed school which was sutied for him but he really has no job skills upon graduatiing and received very little training to transition. I heard other students who graduated didn't that well. he wil be getting into a transitional program upon graduation but he is not college ready. The staff is okay and it is a very sheltered environment.

summit school is a great school

the summit school has alovely campus. but we found it not serious enough about helping young people change their lives. As an example of this is their smoling policy. They let the kids smoke. How can they show that they can really help the kids change if they dod not enforce no smolking. They do not have a student government. showing a lack of student empowerment. On the positive side, they wer thoughtfaul about training students in social skills they were lacking.

Summit has an excellent staff that has supported my 15-year-old daughter well. They work hard to promote improved behavior in their challenging students. Those who are capable of following rules and resisting the impulse to cut classes, etc. do best in this open campus. Children are not escorted to class; it is up to them to attend or not. I have the utmost respect for all staff members. But the school is not for every student. Look carefully to see if this is a good fit for your child. The campus is beautiful, and art classes are offered. Very limited sports activities, which I feel is the biggest gap. My daughter would love to play team sports, but it is not available and the peer attitude is that it is not cool. I hope something can be done about this in the future. Parent involvement: conferences are all I've done.

I was sending my child to The Summit School. The School is unsafe and drugs are common upon most students. In my reguards I think this school is about making it seft money.

I think this school is terrible and did not meet my childs needs. My child has been there for the past 3 and a half years. A resident for 3 years and a day-student for the past 6 months. The program is not strict enough and did not set enough bounderies for my child. Summit in my opinion is trying to take the money out of the whoever is paying for the child to be there, such as the school district, the courts, or the parents themselves. All in all I would not recomend the Summit School to anyone and I regret sending my child there.

I believe that it is an open campus. If you use Google Street View you can see a group of student sit on the lawn in front of the school with no fence out to the street in a populated area.

It will need more investigation to clearify how the program really is. It is a shame that ISAC is down at the moment. They had a lot of information about this program.

First quote: completely accurate. Many of the "special ed" students there remain there into their twenties
Second quote: hahaha, oh wow.
Third quote: Completely accurate.
Fourth quote: Accurate as well, although there are multiple sports teams now.
Fifth quote: Accurate. Drug dealing/usage is common in several dorms and there are a lot of outside spots where students surreptitiously toke.
Sixth quote: Accurate, their lax attitude towards issues of discipline can often create more problems than it prevents. From what I've observed, they do have a tendency to wring money out of whoever foots the bill.


It's an open campus, and students are free to AWOL any time they desire (although they're generally put on relatively severe restrictions when they decide to return).

[psy]

OK.  Nevermind.  You might actually be the genuine deal. We'll see.  No program rep would dare admit there was drug usage going on at their campus.  No fences and kids in the open according to Oscar is also a good sign, I admit...  Though even that is not proof of a good program and it's just your word at this point.

Does summit have secret seminars (marathon type LGAT seminars)?  If you've ever heard of LifeSpring or est you'll know what i'm talking about.

How confrontational are the group therapy sessions?

Is a licensed, qualified, therapist present?  Can I check into this and verify their licenses?

[WildAndrogynous]

OK.  Nevermind.  You might actually be the genuine deal. We'll see.  No program rep would dare admit there was drug usage going on at their campus.  No fences and kids in the open according to Oscar is also a good sign, I admit...  Though even that is not proof of a good program and it's just your word at this point.

Does summit have secret seminars (marathon type LGAT seminars)?  If you've ever heard of LifeSpring or est you'll know what i'm talking about.

How confrontational are the group therapy sessions?

Is a licensed, qualified, therapist present?  Can I check into this and verify their licenses?

There were no secret seminars or anything remotely like that.

I've never been to one of the group therapy sessions, as none of the established ones dealt with my particular issues. From what I've heard from the attendees, they tend to be more boring than anything else.

As far as I know, every therapist/social worker working there has the proper qualifications. I could message you the names of some of these people if you wish to investigate this on your own.

[psy]

So was it your choice to go to Summit?

[WildAndrogynous]

So was it your choice to go to Summit?

My dad threatened to kick me out if I didn't get involved with some school, and due to certain events in my past, I was supremely ill-equipped for education in a less specialized setting. An administrator at the previous school I was enrolled in recommended it along with a handful of other places.

[Ursus]

I'm not claiming Summit is fantastic by any stretch of the imagination; I could list the multitude of fucked-up things about the place for you too.

What might some of those things be?

[psy]

So was it your choice to go to Summit?

My dad threatened to kick me out if I didn't get involved with some school, and due to certain events in my past, I was supremely ill-equipped for education in a less specialized setting. An administrator at the previous school I was enrolled in recommended it along with a handful of other places.

Do you think it turned out well for you?

Others?

When did you get out?


.... and thanks for answering these questions.