Author Topic: Cascade Closing-DECREASED ENROLLMENT  (Read 43755 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #150 on: November 19, 2005, 03:40:00 PM »
Hi. I was at Cascade for two months when I was thirteen. Carl took me under his wing and was very kind to me. He most certainly did not molest me or touch me inappropriately. He was a touchy-feely type but never went out of bounds with it. Obviously, this is only my own experience. If anyone had a different experience with Carl, please say so.  Carl, if you're reading this, I'm married and have two children. Hope all is well.
-Susie
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #151 on: January 03, 2006, 02:26:00 PM »
this is laver again...well I got sent away again...and I think boarding schools are one hundred percent evil and wrong... I want to kill my parents now (because by law I don't have to go to boarding school I'm 17 and in texas and that means I don't have to go) but they're willing to deny me college education if I don't go.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #152 on: January 04, 2006, 11:09:00 AM »
Quote
On 2006-01-03 11:26:00, Anonymous wrote:

"this is laver again...well I got sent away again...and I think boarding schools are one hundred percent evil and wrong... I want to kill my parents now (because by law I don't have to go to boarding school I'm 17 and in texas and that means I don't have to go) but they're willing to deny me college education if I don't go."


They can't.  I used to work in college admissions, and financial aid was in the same department (enrollment services).  Since I did tech support for the whole building, I know a bit about financial aid.

Even if your parents are rich as the Rockefellers, you can get guaranteed student loans for your full school expenses from the financial aid office of whatever school will accept you.  You just don't qualify for grants--giveaways of education money.

You have two hard choices.  The best choice is not to go to the RTC and to take the debt from the student loans and live with it.

Try to find a school with a cooperative program---that's where you go to school for a term, then work for a term, then go to school for a term, etc.  It will keep your debt down and mean you graduate with good job experience on your resume.

You can also use a student job to get money for better living expenses and maybe even save some to make a big payment on your student loan and knock a chunk off the principle when you graduate.

Consult the financial aid departments of the colleges where you apply and have them counsel you.  Apply several places.  Pick the place that accepts you that has the most helpful financial aid department.

Anyone who tells you you won't qualify because of how rich your parents are is mistaken or lying.  

If your parents won't let you keep your money from a McDonalds kind of job to pay your application fees, move out and move in with a friend while you put in your applications and use a McJob for the application fees.

If they're depriving you of the ability to continue high school, move out, move in with a friend, drop out if you have to to make enough money to pay enough rent to keep your friend or their parents happy.  Study for your GED in your time off from work.  A community college will accept you with just a GED, and will have a financial aid department that will get you loans to pay your tuition, books, dorm room fees or rent, and food.

The campus will have health services, including mental health at their student counseling center.  Find out about all of this before you pick which community college you want.  Don't be afraid to move to get to the best community college (in state, of course) for you.  Once you're in, student counseling can also help you learn how to deal with the practical life problems of any adult, like job, food, rent.

Even at 17, cutting the apron strings will be hard, but it is better than letting your parents stick you in an RTC again.

I don't know you, but just from what you posted it sounds like you're old enough to make the jump to cutting the apron strings and jumping out of the parental nest.

At least some of your parents' friends probably disapprove like hell of your parents.  If you have to move out now, or if the law makes you wait until your 18th birthday, there will probably be a friend whose parents will take you in.  As long as you get a job (even a minimum wage one) and work on your GED, work on applying to college or vo/tech or something, and are willing to pay whatever rent you can afford from your minimum wage job.

In private, your friends' parents are probably ranting about how fucked up *your* parents are, not ranting about you.

Unless you really are a bad apple, which you don't sound like, in which case the solution is *still* to grow up and cut the apron strings and just *be* a responsible adult.

Don't let your parents scare you about the adult world.  If you're 17, it's doable for you---it's just hard.

At 18, if it's not going too well, you might *try* to see if the armed forces will accept you.  They help you grow up right and the GI bill isn't a half-bad deal.  A lot of people on this board will disagree with me, and maybe it's not your thing.  It's just one more of the positive options you have other than letting your parents pack you off to some institution run by a bunch of control-freak quacks.

Julie
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #153 on: January 04, 2006, 03:34:00 PM »
I am really glad you are back on the board, Julie. Your posts are always informational, well written and extremely insightful.  :smile:
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #154 on: February 11, 2006, 07:50:00 PM »
I have to say I was overjoyed when I heard The Cascade School imploded.  That place destroyed my life in many different ways for many years.  I don?t know about a lot of the accusations here, but if the way I was treated by the school is any indicator, I have to assume a lot of it must be true.  It also confirms that as an employee of The Cascade School, you weren?t much better off?and just as likely to get chewed up and spit out by "the founders? if they deemed it necessary.

I was hired to teach at Cascade in the mid-90s, leaving my graduate program and my entire life behind to move to Redding.  I visited Cascade and bought into what I saw?I really felt like teaching and working directly with kids would be a great experience.   They really needed a teacher for this subject, so I was heavily courted by the academics director.   There were a lot of drawbacks--the salary was minimal, it was in the middle of nowhere, and having to miles every day back and forth from Redding made me hesitant.    Cascade also did not offer teaching contracts, and would initially hire me as a long-term sub for the first six months.     This made me nervous, but the academic director assured me that this was a mere formality, and short of me being totally incapable, after six months, if I were doing a good job, I would be hired on.  I was like a lamb being led to slaughter.

I spent the next six months kicking my ass, establishing a non-existent curriculum, textbook, a rapport with kids and staff, going to forums, and spending personal time doing activities with kids, etc.  I enjoyed working with many of the students, but admit that it was physically, mentally and emotionally draining.  Having to drive up and back to Whitmore every day was often a challenge, especially with the weather concerns.  Also, having to participate in forums after teaching for 8 hours a day was especially taxing.  However, I liked what Cascade seemed to be doing for kids, teaching them about integrity, ethics, respect, responsibility, etc.     So I trudged on, thinking this was all going to pay off.  I also set up my life in Redding, anticipating this would be a permanent thing for awhile. I set up an apartment, purchased furniture, etc.  It seemed like things were going well.

Then, at the six months point, I made an appointment with the director of academics to discuss my being hired full time.  But somehow the meeting was always delayed, and I started to get nervous.  At the same time, another teacher had suddenly ?disappeared? and was replaced.  This person had been doing a good job teaching at Cascade for years, but apparently this person was deemed obsolete by one or all of "the founders?.  So the Cascade trap door opened up under her----and was immediately replaced as if this person had had never existed.  Students and staff were forbidden to talk about the former teacher.   I should have seen the writing on the wall.

I finally had a meeting with the academic director, and I discussed all of the things I had established at Cascade.  He agreed, and also said he had been to my classroom and I was doing a good job with students?and recognized that I was liked by students, and had a good rapport with them.  However, he informed me that ?the founders weren?t ready to commit to me at this time?.  I was in shock, and asked why this was, since I had done an outstanding job.  His response was that this was a corporation, and that they had to make academic choices carefully---or something to that effect.  I was at a loss, and reminded him of what he had told me initially about the long-term sub being a mere formality, and that I would have never have left my life behind and gambled so much if I had known that my being hired was to be subjectively determined by other issues besides my overall performance..  I told him I felt like he had misled me.  He basically told me that he had never made such a claim, and then said something I still remember?talking to me as if I were some deluded child:  ?sometimes when we want something really bad, we let ourselves believe things that really aren?t true.?  Suddenly my eyes were opened, and I realized that all of the values promoted at Cascade: integrity, ethics, responsibility, honesty, etc. were things they preached?but didn?t necessarily practice.  Obviously they knew they had me where they wanted me, and given that I had given up everything to move there?and had gone into debt as a result of setting up my life there?there was no way I could walk away.  I also destroyed the transmission of my car carpooling four adults up that mountain, so was also in debt for another 2000 as well.  The plan was obvious?string me along until the end of the year, see if anything that made the school look better on paper came along?and if so, fire me?and if not?hire me.  I felt totally demoralized, angry and trapped.  However, I was a lot less naïve, and began to recognize so truths that I had been unwilling to acknowledge before.

In my opinion, although the program was ideal for some, a lot of the kids at Cascade didn?t belong there.   I was not privy to all the information, but it seemed like the biggest problem for a lot of kids was simply absentee/inept parenting?and Cascade offered itself as a quick fix for scared parents with lots of money.    It also seemed to me that a lot of accomplished, overachieving parents put unreasonable expectations on their kids?which caused the kids  to opt out and embrace alternative lifestyles where they could OK about themselves.   I think many students would have been better served by alternatives that included more parental involvement and change, instead of the drastic measure of banishing your child to a therapeutic boarding school.   Don?t get me wrong?there were definitely students who needed  drastic intervention?but it seems like a lot of kids (and parents) were done a real disservice, possibly making them believe that Cascade was the place to be.  This also makes me question whether or not intensive therapy (i.e. forums, etc) was necesary or healthy for all students.  But unfortunately, the professionally-trained counseling staff were just employees, and so I think a lot of the determinations on whether a student ?needed? Cascade fell on founders?which Ifeel was a blatant conflict of intere$t.

I really don?t know how good the educational program was at Cascade, but they were accredited, so it had to have been at least acceptable.  I do know there were a lot of amazing teachers there.  Unfortunately, the professional administrator involved (the academic director) was just a façade and puppet for the founders---people who really had the  final say in the important decisions about the school?but who had absolutely no training in education or educational administration.  Obviously their bottom line was what looked good on paper?not what was working?or the commitment to professionals that had invested themselves in the school and their students.  That is why they made no commitment to staff, and made it very clear that you could disappear just like that if you didn?t tow the founders? line.   I also know founders used students to get info on staff members and used it as a way of keeping things under the fascist oligarchy-like state they had created at Cascade.  

In any case, the reality check about Cascade and my situation really broke my spirit.  I kept doing a good job, and liked working with the kids, but it was hard to continue working in a place and for people who I felt had betrayed me.  I had traded the life I knew and my education for a long term sub position in a school in the middle of nowhere?and had nothing to show for it but debt.

Not long afterwards some guy showed up who was interviewing to teach the subject I taught for the following school year.  They made it seem like it was for another position, but having a crystal clear understanding of ?the founders? criteria?and seeing that this guy had more credentials and looked better on paper than I did?it was obvious what they were doing.   To parade this guy in front of me was not only demoralizing, but completely offensive.  Not long  before the end of the school year I went to meet with the academic director, and as I suspected, he told me they were going to ?go another way? with this teaching position.  At this point I was angry and depressed, and at this point felt like I needed to at least get a letter of recommendation out of this year.  I obligingly finished the school year and unceremoniously left Cascade with nothing but the letter in my hand?and my tail between my legs.  Ironically, it was many of the students who came to say goodbye and were sad to see me go?I was touched by that, especially since I didn?t get even so much as a handshake from the ?founders?.  But then again, I had never been anything more than a long-term substitute all along.

I left Cascade virtually broke, in debt, and stranded in a place that would provide me no equal job opportunity.  I had to survive on unemployment, and eventually was forced to file bankruptcy.   I finally recovered both financially and professionally, but it took years.

I have now been teaching for many years at a public school where I know my knowledge, skill and performance are valued and appreciated?and where I can count on benefits and job security that can?t be taken away on the whim of a handful of individuals who have no training in the field.   I learned a lot about the realities of the world at Cascade, but unfortunately they were costly lessons.  

I can?t really comment on a lot of the individual founders, but I will say I feel like they dug their own grave by running Cascade without any kind of objective rules or checks and balances that made sure people didn?t run the place on a whim?or exploit the school for their own personal/selfish agendas.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I think given the combo of power, money, and location, they started to believe they were beyond reproach when it came to what they did or didn?t do at Cascade.   The mantra when it came to my situation was that it was a corporation, and that whatever was in the corporation?s best interest was what mattered most.    Hopefully that wasn?t the case when it came to students, but I guess I will never know.    I just hope that the accusations of molestation posted here are lies?I would hate to think any of the students at Cascade were victimized there.  Many of those kids had already gone through a pretty hellish existence, so to think about someone abusing that trust and taking advantage of their position can be called nothing but evil.

Michael A. I only saw on occasion?eating with certain teachers, and snuggled up in the main hall with certain male students who I am sure went on to have lucrative modeling careers.  During the time I was there he only made guest appearances, and the few times I was in the same room with him I don?t even think he knew who I was or acknowledged my presence.  He seemed to foster this Wizard of Oz-like presence over the school.  He was more present after when the school went through a mini-rebellion, and so he stepped into supposedly bring things to order.   He seemed like a self-absorbed prick to me, so my anonymity seemed more of a blessing than anything.   A few years ago I saw him and his friend at a bar (I am sure you can assume what kind).  I was tempted to go over and tell him off, but I stopped myself, because I realized I would?ve just been wasting my time.    I think there is only one person in this world that really matters to him, so I figured I?d let sleeping dogs lie and let karma continue kicking his ass.  I am glad to see that is exactly what is happening.

I still think about a lot of the great kids I worked with and wonder what became of them.  I can only hope that they were also able to transcend anything negative about their experience at that school, and that they went on to be happy and successful.  I think of them often when dealing with my students on a daily basis, since my experience at Cascade allowed me to learn to be not only a teacher to my students, but a person who genuinely cares about them and their well-being on a personal level as well.  That goes a long way in this field, and allows me to make a real difference in young people?s lives?which is really the only thing that matters.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #155 on: February 11, 2006, 08:48:00 PM »
His response was that this was a corporation, and that they had to make academic choices carefully---or something to that effect. I was at a loss, and reminded him of what he had told me initially about the long-term sub being a mere formality, and that I would have never have left my life behind and gambled so much if I had known that my being hired was to be subjectively determined by other issues besides my overall performance.. I told him I felt like he had misled me. He basically told me that he had never made such a claim, and then said something I still remember?talking to me as if I were some deluded child: ?sometimes when we want something really bad, we let ourselves believe things that really aren?t true.?>>>>

Ah, the program mind fuck. ::shudder::  Kids, parents, staff. Guess no one's exempt.
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Offline barbs

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« Reply #156 on: February 14, 2006, 01:05:00 AM »
just seeing what's up with people, are you okay...hope so, email let me know, Barbara Perry
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« Reply #157 on: February 14, 2006, 01:06:00 AM »
here's an address...b :wave: jperry219@juno.com
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« Reply #158 on: February 14, 2006, 01:07:00 AM »
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Offline barbs

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« Reply #159 on: February 14, 2006, 01:51:00 AM »
Oh, the bachelor is giving his final rose, I hope it's the teacher and it is!!!  Anyways, just seeing who contacted me a while back, hope you're doing well... let me know!! Bye
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #160 on: February 17, 2006, 08:58:00 AM »
WTF---are you for real? :roll:
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« Reply #161 on: February 23, 2006, 03:11:00 AM »
Somone wrote me on this forum awhhhhile ago and I notice I never responded, whoever it was I was trying to be kind...I'm sure if our paths cross it was meant to be.  It's not necessary for someone else to be rude.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #162 on: March 07, 2006, 09:40:00 PM »
"professional assassination is the highest form of public service" :skull:


anyone know michael allgoods address or what town hes living in?
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #163 on: March 23, 2006, 07:46:00 PM »
Does anyone remember my son Gabe George 95-96
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #164 on: April 18, 2006, 10:09:00 PM »
Woah...  I just skimmed this thread and I can't believe how many people are still bitter about Cascade.

I am really glad to see that some people I knew from Cascade are doing well though.  I am Mike Owens by the way.

I still keep in touch with Rob Odden and Rob Close.  
Rob Odden is doing well at DePaul.  

Rob Close is living in Florida and all things considering -- doing well.

Saw Wiley Horde who is rooming with Rob Odden in Chicago.  Also doing very well as a "starving artist."  Was glad to see him.

I am also doing well. I wish I had kept in better touch with a lot of you.  I can't believe how long it's been since I've been to that place.  But then again, it feels like it's becoming a distant memory.

Walter you should send me an e-mail at mike31785 at gmail dot com.  Last time I talked to you my mom told me that she got a call from your dad and he wanted me to never talk to you again.  Haha, I really dont know what that was all about but I'm glad to see that youre doing well.
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