Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy => Topic started by: Anonymous on February 03, 2006, 09:29:00 AM
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On 2006-02-03 06:16:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:
How do you reconcile providing treatment plans with being a "traditional boarding school"? Georgia ORS prohibits traditional boarding schools from providing treatment plans.
I guess it's time to fire off another letter and make a few calls. Apparently, these folks have been holding out to ORS that they don't provide treatment plans, but do provide IEP's. It looks like they got it backwards.
On 2006-01-14 11:05:00, Anonymous wrote:
How is physical restraint used?
Who is allowed to restrain kids?
Teachers, ex-military 'restriction' personel, peer group counselors?
What holds are allowed?
How are staff trained in the use of restraint?
What outside entity confirms that training is conducted for all personel?
What constitutes a 'threat' to self, others, property that would require a restraint?
Have there ever been any injuries caused by restraint?
If you aren't a principal at HLA don't bother answering.
If you are an ex particpant, why were you restrained? Describe the hold and the circumstances.
On 2006-01-26 22:25:00, juniper2 wrote:
Why does HLA still continue to insist that they do not have 'court -ordered children? And, please
don't play semantics..
Did they get rid of the 'Fall-out' book?
Did they stop having the children carry
boulders around on restrictions? THe front landscaping has been complete for ages...
Have they cleaned up the lower left field?
Is a frightened child's word still 'manipulation?
Oh, and by the way, Academia..Have you all figured out whether you have a Science Lab yet?
Has HLA gotten rid of every teacher, nurse and counselor that got too close to the children
and were honest with the parents..?
Any answers, respectfully of-course....Oh, and if anyone wants to know who "Truth' is...Private
message me...I have a strong feeling. 'Could be
wrong, but I doubt it...
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These questions also, please. Also, please state your affiliation with HLA. I don't want to know your name or anything, and I have no intention of harassing you. I just want to know your frame of reference when you are answering questions. Thank you.
The HLA website states, "most of our students struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder." From what I have heard, this is not even a recognized diagnosis anymore. Do they have on-site professionals who evaluate and diagnose every child? Or do they just rely on the psychological profile that they are supposed to receive from the parents? What are the qualifications of these professionals, and of the consulting psychiatrist who visits weekly?
HLA seems to offer a lot of group counseling. Does anyone know the qualifications of the counselors? The website claims that they all have Masters degrees or higher, are clinically trained, and receive weekly supervision by Doctoral and licensed staff.
Does anyone know who developed the "elements of life" and on what they are based?
The website claims that all teachers hold degrees from the Bachelor to Doctorate level, and are state certified. Can this be confirmed? Are the special education teachers certified as such, and do they work with the parents and professionals who have diagnosed the learning disability to form an appropriate academic program?
"All of your child's incoming and outgoing mail will be read for appropriateness and content." Does this include e-mail? If so, how is a child supposed to report abuses? If this school is like others I have heard about, the people monitoring the mail will not allow derogatory information about the school to go out.
"Our students are not court-ordered to HLA and do not include violent or severely disturbed children." True?
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Eudora and Dysfunction kindly corrected me - ODD is still considered a valid disorder. I thought I had read somewhere that it was not. Please disregard that sentence in the previous post.
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290-2-5-.05 Licenses and Exemptions.
No person, partnership, association, corporation or entity shall operate a child caring
institution in the state without first obtaining a license to operate the institution by
demonstrating compliance with the necessary requirements set forth in these rules.
Institutions operated as a part of a local church ministry or religious nonprofit school or a
nonprofit religious charitable organization may request to be commissioned in lieu of
licensed. All provisions of these rules shall apply to institutions that request to be
commissioned, and for the purposes of these rules, the term license shall have the same
meaning as commission.*
(e) Exemptions. Anyone operating or desiring to provide a service believed to be exempt
from licensure shall apply to the department for exemption. The exemptions granted by
the department are exemptions from licensure, and do not affect the authority of local,
regional or state health department officials, the state fire marshal or local fire prevention
officials to inspect facilities. These rules shall not apply to the following kinds of
programs providing care to children:*
1. Child welfare agencies and other facilities and institutions wherein children and youths
are detained which are operated by any department or agency of state, county, or municipal government.*
2. Any bona fide boarding school whose PRIMARY PURPOSE of admission is EDUCATION, provided that such facility in order to claim exemption shall operate under a published academic educational curriculum which meets the requirements of the State Department of Education, shall have classroom facilities which are not used for residential living, shall not have been granted nor have assumed legal custody of children attending the facility, and SHALL NOT PROVIDE SERVICE PLANNING AND CASEWORK SERVICES as described in these rules.*
Can you explain why your facility is in active violation of this rule, "Truth"?
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Think we'll ever get any answers? :???:
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Maybe he's answering privately. He's been PMing people all morning and hanging out in the HLA forum. Funny how he's (or she) got the time for that but not to answer the questions.
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Maybe these are the questions he/she has been instructed not to answer.
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I only PM'd one person two times. I took all of five minutes.
It is not about the time.
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On 2006-02-03 13:56:00, HLA Truth wrote:
"I only PM'd one person two times. I took all of five minutes.
It is not about the time. "
I think nobody can be bullied into answering any questions they don't want to answer.
I also think that, from a PR standpoint or marketing standpoint, the lack of answers leads the reader to assume that the person being asked repeatedly is trying to avoid giving what will be either false or damaging answers.
I believe this avoidance tarnishes the "shine" of the program option and leads the reader to conclude that there is something to hide. Whether there is or is not in this paticular case (I happen to believe there is a LOT to hide here, from improper licensing to the failure of the BM program), it has been shown countless times that the vast majority of programs do indeed have much to hide and HLA by extension appears that way as well.
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Amen.
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On 2006-02-03 14:36:00, RobertBruce wrote:
"Amen. "
Word up home boy.
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On 2006-02-03 14:05:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:
"
On 2006-02-03 13:56:00, HLA Truth wrote:
"I only PM'd one person two times. I took all of five minutes.
It is not about the time. "
I think nobody can be bullied into answering any questions they don't want to answer.
I also think that, from a PR standpoint or marketing standpoint, the lack of answers leads the reader to assume that the person being asked repeatedly is trying to avoid giving what will be either false or damaging answers.
I believe this avoidance tarnishes the "shine" of the program option and leads the reader to conclude that there is something to hide. Whether there is or is not in this paticular case (I happen to believe there is a LOT to hide here, from improper licensing to the failure of the BM program), it has been shown countless times that the vast majority of programs do indeed have much to hide and HLA by extension appears that way as well.
"
:wstupid: :tup: :tup:
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LMJ630 wrote:
"These questions also, please. Also, please state your affiliation with HLA. I don't want to know your name or anything, and I have no intention of harassing you. I just want to know your frame of reference when you are answering questions. Thank you."
I can say with certainty that HLA Truth posesses the proper education and credentials to engage in meaningful dialogue about HLA's program. Hopefully that puts to rest everyone's concerns regarding this matter.
"Truth" has already stated that they don't work in the business office and are not privy to information normally handled by that office (lawsuits, scholarships, etc).
I'm satisfied with that information.
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There are court ordered children at HLA, that was a lie. And what would they consider "seriously disturbed"? because I happen to think kids breaking the bathroom mirrors and cutting themselves up with it shows some signs of being disturbed. Yes kids still carry rocks, boulders, and broken up pieces of cement. One of my good friends was on restrictions w/ me one day and him and 2 other guys were carrying a boulder and it dropped on his foot, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. They continued to have us move the boulders, and pieces of cement,which scratched up everyones arms. The question about the lower left field being cleaned up, when I was there it wasn't and it was full of crap. Restrictions was out in the pouring rain in the fieces trying to pull a big log attatched to a rope around the field, every time the log stopped we had to get down in the crap and do push ups. I think the lying to parents will never end.
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I think the lying to parents will never end.
I think you're right. They can't afford to stop lying.
Can I ask you some questions?
Sexual relations between staff and students:
-What do you know about this?
-Which staff (names/positions) were "getting with" patients?
-How old were the victims? Under 16?
-How did HLA deal with employees who were brought to their attention for innapropriate relationships with patients?
-What about kids having sex with eachother?
Restrictions:
-What kind of work did you do?
-Did you ever do any maintenance work (repairing buildings/filling potholes/landscaping)?
-How long were you on restrictions each time?
-What did your diet consist of while on restrictions?
-Did you do meaningless work like moving rockpiles?
-Did you ever perform services that directly enriched staff (cutting wood for their homes, etc)
-How was your schooling handled while on restrictions? (HLA claims academics to be its primary purpose)
-What about forced exercise? What kind/how much?
Your education:
-Did you earn a high school diploma while at HLA?
-How many hours each day did you attend classes?
-Were you ever removed from class and forced to exercise during school time?
-What was the quality of HLA's study program?
-What percentage is "self-study"?
The program:
-Describe "realizations."
-Were you ever forced to confess any "misdeeds" under the threat of punishment?
-Were you ever punished as a group for the mistake of an individual?
-Talk about the seminars. Were you sleep deprived? Exercised to exhaustion? Deprived of regular meals and hydration?
-Were you ever told you needed to be "broken down and rebuilt"?
-Did counselors ever curse at you or demean you by calling you vulgar names? Did they do this to all the kids (slut/whore/asshole, etc)?
Any answers you can give to these questions will help shed light on the business being run down there in Dahlonega. Please take some time to address these points so that parents who are considering sending their child into the care of HLA can see what really happens there.
Obviously their employees troll this board relentlessly with mis- and disinformation designed to steer everyone away from the important questions posed above.
Thank you for doing your part to educate prospective customers of these scam artists.
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::bump::
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I'm really bored today so I been spending some time going over the HLA web site and came up with a few questions. I'll start with this one and if it gets answered I'll continue. The staff listing says there are 120 staff there. I was like damn, this is only one facility. How many kids are there?
Fresh beauty opens one's eyes wherever it is really seen, but the very abundance and completeness of the common beauty that besets our steps prevents its being absorbed and appreciated. It is a good thing, therefore, to make short excursions now and then to the bottom of the sea among dulse and coral, or up among the clouds on mountain-tops, or in balloons, or even to creep like worms into dark holes and caverns underground, not only to learn something of what is going on in those out-of-the-way places, but to see better what the sun sees on our return to common everyday beauty.
-- John Muir
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On 2006-02-06 12:10:00, odie wrote:
"I'm really bored today so I been spending some time going over the HLA web site and came up with a few questions. I'll start with this one and if it gets answered I'll continue. The staff listing says there are 120 staff there. I was like damn, this is only one facility. How many kids are there?Fresh beauty opens one's eyes wherever it is really seen, but the very abundance and completeness of the common beauty that besets our steps prevents its being absorbed and appreciated. It is a good thing, therefore, to make short excursions now and then to the bottom of the sea among dulse and coral, or up among the clouds on mountain-tops, or in balloons, or even to creep like worms into dark holes and caverns underground, not only to learn something of what is going on in those out-of-the-way places, but to see better what the sun sees on our return to common everyday beauty.
-- John Muir
"
Oh, around 130.
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OK so thats almost 1 staff per kid, which is utterly amazing. My next question is how this place is funded and how much per day do they get for each kid?
There is so much in the bible against which every insinct of my being rebels, so much so that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end. I do not think that the knowledge I have gained of its history and sources compensates me for the unpleasant details it has forced upon my attention.
--Helen Keller, American lecturer
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At last check it was $5700.00 per month plus $1300.00 for uniforms. All tuition is paid by the parents who often get educational loans to cover the costs.
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Also,
Insurance will sometimes cover the therapy.
Local school systems are also picking up the tab in some states now.
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This is where its starting to get to be fun for me . Is HLA non profit or for profit. :idea:
At present there is not a single credible established religion in the world.
--George Bernard Shaw, Irish-born English playwright
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FOR PROFIT.
There is also controversy surrounding insurance payments for HLA, as it is an unlicensed RTC and registered as a "traditional boarding school."
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I'll answer some questions. I was in peer group 37.
Restrictions:
-What kind of work did you do? Shoveling gravel, moving gravel to pave the road around the lake, moving logs, moving bricks from one place to another and then back, PT, Running Hills (if you've been there you know the one).. PT before lunch, diggin, planting flowers/trees, misc work.
-Did you ever do any maintenance work (repairing buildings/filling potholes/landscaping)? Yes see above, landscaping mostly. Oh and I have pictures of us shoveling the gravel around the road.
-How long were you on restrictions each time? Hmm I'd have to look but ranging from 3 days to a week or more. I tried to answer with what i knew i was supposed to.
-What did your diet consist of while on restrictions? in the AM: Small package of cereal, two small milk containers, one fruit (apple, banana maybe orange), at lunch if you were a meat eater you got 3 sandwiches( piece of bread and maybe two pieces of meat and a piece of bread) water, and soup. If you did not eat meat you got chese sandwiches. Dinner is the same as lunch. There might have been some fruit at dinner.
-Did you do meaningless work like moving rockpiles? Yes moving them from place to place.
-Did you ever perform services that directly enriched staff (cutting wood for their homes, etc) No
-How was your schooling handled while on restrictions? (HLA claims academics to be its primary purpose) That can not be true. I was ahead in all of my classes when I arrived. There was one math teacher and one science teacher who tried to teach but my other classes were like study hall but with very little direction. Furthermore I left the "program" before it was over because I turned 18 and did not receive full credits for the "classes" I took and had to repeat a year of scool.
-What about forced exercise? What kind/how much? In the morning if your shir was not tucked in or no belt or not uniformed correctly you either had to run or do push ups. Before lunch maybe 10-20 minutes, running, jumping jacks, flutter kicks, push ups. After school PT or work activites. PT is similar to lunch but extended maybe 1 hour or more. All times depending on student particiaption, attitued, and staff mood.
* Back then Ort ran Restrictions and we did have Fall-Out..
Your education:
-Did you earn a high school diploma while at HLA? No did not receive full credits for "classes"
-How many hours each day did you attend classes? hmm.. maybe start 8:30-9:00 untill lunch which was like 45 min or so and then school was untill 3 or 4
-Were you ever removed from class and forced to exercise during school time? No but forced to stand in the hall facing the wall
-What was the quality of HLA's study program? Way below my prior and school and the schoo i graduated from
-What percentage is "self-study"? Depends on what you are trying to study. I had fun "learning" french self-study
* We had six classes - I had study hall and independant study French 2 -the teacher was qualified to teach spanish 1 &2. My requirement for the class was to read a book by a french author (book is in english)
The program:
-Describe "realizations." If I am remembering realizations were what you did before your peer group moved up a level? This was like a long group therapy session.. very cheesy..
-Were you ever forced to confess any "misdeeds" under the threat of punishment? It sure felt that way. I was on restriction and as a requirement for getting off restrictions there were "writing assignments" I was required to answer.
-Were you ever punished as a group for the mistake of an individual? Yes, this was the typical practice especially on restrictions if one person refused to do the push ups (or whatever) everyone else would do them untill the person who refused agreed to do them. This would also happen if there was something they wanted to confess to, the group would be punished to get the individual to confess.
-Talk about the seminars. Were you sleep deprived? Exercised to exhaustion? Deprived of regular meals and hydration? There were times on restriction when we were not permitted to get water (and sometimes we needed it)
-Were you ever told you needed to be "broken down and rebuilt"? not in that way
-Did counselors ever curse at you or demean you by calling you vulgar names? Did they do this to all the kids (slut/whore/asshole, etc)? not in my personal experience
* When I arrived I my peer group was not complete. I had to wait untill my group was complete to have my "time count" towards my home visits. When "forming" you can't check books out of the library, go off campus and have other restrictions.
Any answers you can give to these questions will help shed light on the business being run down there in Dahlonega. Please take some time to address these points so that parents who are considering sending their child into the care of HLA can see what really happens there.
Obviously their employees troll this board relentlessly with mis- and disinformation designed to steer everyone away from the important questions posed above.
* To the people who might try to say it is not so: I kept a journal every day I was there and kept everything I could (although have not yet been able to get my writing assignments back). It is true.
Thank you for doing your part to educate prospective customers of these scam artists.
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How enlightening.
Im sure the puppets will jump at the chance to call you a liar.
Bullfrog would you like the first dance?
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5950 tuiton and 1400 uniform, 600 computer
testing 1750
medical trips 94
hla does NOT accept insurance payments from Insurance companies, Those are paid directly to the parents and HLA does not have information as to who is getting what insurance checks
HLA is a non profit, look them up 501 c 3 corporation listed with IRS , thier 990 is public documents that can not be denied if you request a copy, many sites on net will display this form for public veiwing
:eek:
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Robbing Peter to pay Paul...same thing. HLA lets parents know they can go this route and will be happy to accept that money as tuition. Now what kind of traditional boarding school tuition can be written off under medical insurance?
Also are you sure you want to claim HLA is a non for profit entity?
Be sure first before you get schooled.
Also are you a current employee there? If so maybe while youre here you can answer a few questions for us.
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On 2006-04-01 05:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
"5950 tuiton and 1400 uniform, 600 computer
testing 1750
medical trips 94
hla does NOT accept insurance payments from Insurance companies, Those are paid directly to the parents and HLA does not have information as to who is getting what insurance checks
HLA is a non profit, look them up 501 c 3 corporation listed with IRS , thier 990 is public documents that can not be denied if you request a copy, many sites on net will display this form for public veiwing
:eek: "
This is not true. HLA is registered as two separate corporate entities. One is called "HLA, Inc." and the other is called "Hidden Lake Academy, Inc." I'm not completely sure, but this may be illegal.
See this exerpt fron their "Dun & Bradstreet"
BUSINESS BACKGROUND
HISTORY
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE AND BUSINESS REGISTRATIONS REPORTED BY THE SECRETARY
OF STATE OR OTHER OFFICIAL SOURCE AS OF 02/07/2006:
BUSINESS TYPE: CORPORATION - DATE INCORPORATED: 08/03/1994
PROFIT STATE OF INCORP: GEORGIA
04/11/05
LEONARD A BUCCELLATO, PRES
DIRECTOR(S): THE OFFICER(S)
Business started Aug 1994 by officers. 100% of capital stock is
owned by president.
LEONARD A BUCCELLATO. 1994 to present active here.
OPERATIONS
04/11/05 Operates as a boarding school for ages 13-18 (100%).
Revenue is derived from tuition. Sells to the general public.
So, you can plainly see that HLA is a for profit company with no shareholders and a single controlling entity, the little general.
Whichever staff person posted the previous information is lying intentionally to cover up the fact that HLA is a money-making cash cow.
What I don't understand is why the lap dogs continue trying to hide things for their boss when they don't even get a share of the profits. Instead they get reduced benefits, cuts in vacation time and "promised" future one percent raises.
Maybe instead of putting up all this misleading, untruthful junk, you should start looking for an honest job where you aren't required to be unethical as a condition of continuing employment.
_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."
-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-04-01 06:54 ]
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Will never happen.
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The "non-profit" HLA is owned by the boyfriend. It makes no claims to work with, treat, or educate children. It looks like a "phony" to throw people off the money trail.
HLA, INC.
A DOMESTIC NON-PROFIT COMPANY
ADDRESS:
2964 PEACHTREE RD NW STE 450
ATLANTA , GA 303054927
CEO:
KENNETH SPOONER CFO:
KENNETH SPOONER
SEC:
KENNETH SPOONER REGISTERED AGENT & OFFICE:
MARTIN G. QUIRK
2964 PEACHTREE RD., STE. 450
ATLANTA , GA 30305
Date of last annual registration
Status
Status Date : 01/26/2005
: ACTIVE/OWES CURRENT YEAR AR
: 06/14/2003
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HLA, Inc. also has its fingers in some other pies...
HLA INC - details
d/b/a HIDDEN LAKE ACADEMY
DAHLONEGA, GA
Now, how can a non-profit be "doing business as" a for-profit corporation?
Very fishy...
_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."
-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-04-01 08:42 ]
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And the generals other school is set up the same way...
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On 2006-04-01 05:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
"5950 tuiton and 1400 uniform, 600 computer
testing 1750
medical trips 94
hla does NOT accept insurance payments from Insurance companies, Those are paid directly to the parents and HLA does not have information as to who is getting what insurance checks
HLA is a non profit, look them up 501 c 3 corporation listed with IRS , thier 990 is public documents that can not be denied if you request a copy, many sites on net will display this form for public veiwing
:eek: "
I warned you you'd get schooled.
People this is why they are afraid to sue people. Do this and all this shit comes to light.
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On 2006-04-01 08:44:00, Anonymous wrote:
"And the generals other school is set up the same way..."
Is it legal? It doesn't make much sense to me.
What do you know about this type of arrangement?
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St. Francis Academy is listed as 'Non-Profit' and his boyfriend is listed as CFO and Secretary..Martin Quirk is the registered agent for St. Francis and all other businesses.Andrew Buccellato is shown as the headmaster.Hidden Lake Academy Inc, Domestic For-profit, Buccellato is listed as CEO CFO and SEC. Hidden Lake Foundation, Inc. shows K. Spooner as CEO CFO and SEC. Non-profit. Then there is HLA,Inc.
non-profit which lists Spooner as CEO CFO and SEC. Ridge Creek, Inc domestic 'profit', Buccellato is listed as CEo Cfo and Sec..and there are more businesses set up relatively the same way.
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I wonder just how qualified Spoonie is to hold such positions.
Does he reguarly meet with parents?
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No, he does not meet with parents...They have been together about 20 years and this is how they have set up their businesses...homes, etc..
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Land aquisitions, also.
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And of course there is nothing suspect about this arrangement.
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It is 'interesting'....