Ridge Creek "School" - Unpaid Staff and Resident Riot

[Dysfunction Junction]

RCS appears to be in severe financial trouble and losing control of the population at the facility.  See below a letter reportedly from Chris Grimwood to RCS parents that was sent last week:

Dear Parents,



It is important that we take a minute this afternoon to update you on a situation that occurred this weekend.



We went into the weekend with an unfortunate position, where as a company we needed to delay providing our staff pay checks. We currently have over $150,000 in uncollected tuition, which in combination with the economy has placed us in a difficult situation. There are plans in place for staff to receive these checks this Thursday, the 20th. We continue to have a core staff dedicated to the work being done with your children and the execution of the mission and vision of Ridge Creek School. The students, through whatever means, became aware of this situation and orchestrated a plan to create chaos and disruption on campus at lunch on Sunday the 17th. 16 students, simply stated to staff, “F-you, there are 45 of us and 7 of you,” and proceeded to walk out of the lodge. Our shift leader notified me, who called in an additional 7 staff to campus. We are blessed at Ridge Creek School to have the number of staff who live on campus and locally as we do.



What originally started as a student walk out ended with four students being charged by the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office after having broken windows on campus. Many of the students involved quickly settled back into the program upon the arrival of additional staff and were found to be in more of a follower role. A staff meeting was held this morning in which the incident was reviewed an each student staffed. The students behind orchestrating the event are being dismissed from Ridge Creek School due to the severity of their actions, most of which were new students into Ridge Creek. Student safety continues to be our number one priority, and we will continue to make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure that your children remain safe and are provided the opportunity to be surrounded by positive students and given the ability to make good decisions.



On that note, I want to take a moment to recognize the 29 students who had no involvement in this incident. These students truly showed their true character in a time of need, during which they followed staff directions, were supportive of peers and worked to provide a calm in an otherwise chaotic situation. One tearful conversation that truly sticks out was between members of our basketball team, in which they were worried they would have to forfeit the season due to the actions of some of their players, during which other students volunteered to join the team “even though I am not that great,” to ensure that they are able to complete the season that they have worked so hard in. It is this character that is the true character of a Ridge Creek School student.



I am sure by this point all parents are wondering where their child fits into this incident. Those parents of involved students were all notified yesterday of their child’s involvement. For the remaining parents, however, I am certain that you will hear all about it from your child via email and during your call this week. The students were in the dormitory while this happened, and only have limited information as to the actual details. It is understandable that they will want to discuss the “excitement”, however it would be more beneficial to discuss what characteristic they used when faced with the decision to join in or not, and how they were supportive while this was occurring.



If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, and I will do my best to respond within a timely manner.



Take care,



Chris Grimwood, MSW

Executive Director

Ridge Creek, Inc.

706-864-4730 x2206

This place appears to be coming apart at the seams.

[Jill Ryan]

This letter/email is not dated. The closing line is familiar using the term "excitement," along with the previous wording to that term. A form letter?  The last Sunday, the 17th, was in October 2010.

[Dysfunction Junction]

Well, there was a weekend on 1/15 and 1/16 this year and the letter says it is referencing the "past weekend" and that checks would go out on the 20th, so it looks to be written and sent on or about Monday 1/17/11.  Maybe "Sunday the 17th" was a typo and he meant Sunday the 16th?  Dunno.  Don't have any more info yet.

It is possible that this is the "near riot" reported late last year by the local residents.  

Record requests have been made to the LCSO, so hopefully this will be clarified if it can be matched to any incident reports from the police.

[Dysfunction Junction]

This was posted in the Nugget on 12/10/10 and references a "near riot" at Ridge Creek, so it's possible this letter refers to that and that it happened in October, 2010.  I'd definitely like to see the original letter.  I do know that recently RCS has been having trouble paying employees, so that part makes sense.  We can give ol' Chris Grimwood a call and ask I guess.

James Jordan wrote on Dec 10, 2010 10:43 AM:

I long for the "old days," back when Larry Burkett and his strong community values occupied that part of our county. In recent years it seems we've seen that property go from a problem-ridden "boarding school" for teens to a state-monitored quasi "reform school" housing kids with serious delinquency problems. And, while we all want to help kids, what about our community safety? What about the safety of those deputies - who thought they were just responding to a stolen car report, since the aggravated assault was not initially reported? What about the near-riot that was reported in our paper a few months ago? How much more is going on out there that we don't ever hear about?

Yes, I miss those "good ole days," when a hike around that area might result in a warm and caring conversation with Larry, as opposed to having to be fearful for our safety.

Good questions, James.  I also wonder how much more is going on at RCS than we hear about.  Obviously the staff do not report crimes against children there and only report crimes against staff if there's no way to sweep it under the rug, like a crumpled stolen car sitting in a pool of LP gas after being crashed into a local business.

We know kids have been raped and beaten from the DHS reports, but we all wonder what's continuing to be hidden at RCS.

[Dysfunction Junction]

The person who sent me this has not come forward to clarify the details.  Meanwhile...kids are at extreme risk at RCS.

[seamus]

RCS should just fold its tents before somebody gets hurt or killed. :nods:

[Dysfunction Junction]

Ok. I'm told this letter was sent last week and the incident occurred on the 16th, but still need the original doc.

[goose]

You are correct,

I got the same e-mail. I called the papers to let them know and there should be an artical out tommorow. Grimwoods and idiot. Did you catch the part about the problem is that parents have not paid and they are 150k in the rears. Sounds like they need a new business manager and not blame the parents.

Oh, and there is more out there that I am working on getting released.

[goose]

Also,
Why do you think I have been saying that staff has been walking out and that the postings for job are not grow for this school After this last little incident enrollment is down from about 50-55 to right at 30.

[browneyes]

Goose is correct on the numbers of staff leaving and the decrease in "students".

[Jill Ryan]

As DJ stated, verification is important regarding the "Grimwood email."  DJ asked for verification. Do you have a "dated" email?

[goose]

There is no date in the body of the e-mail. The date is on the address line, time and date the e-mail was sent. Can anybody tell me how to attach the e-mail, not just the body of the e-mail. I will post it, now that it has been made public.

[browneyes]

cc   Chris Grimwood <[email protected]>
date   Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 1:50 PM
subject   Ridge Creek School
   
hide details Jan 17 (9 days ago)
   

Dear Parents,

[Jill Ryan]

Just copy the entire page Copy : Right click ... hit select all, then hit paste... black out your email address.

[browneyes]

Goose...go back to your email and in the right hand corner open it up where it says "show details"