Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy => Topic started by: Anonymous on October 11, 2007, 12:06:15 PM
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Below is the link to the hearings held before Congress yesterday pertaining to therapeutic schools and programs. Read it well, Len. The times, they are a changin'.
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/fc101007.shtml (http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/fc101007.shtml)
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The GAO would like to hear your stories of abuse, fraud, deception. Please take a moment and send them.
Also, they would be very interested in receiving any emails or other correspondence you may have re: inquiries to NATSAP and/or JCAHO or other accrediting agencies that went unanswered. They need concrete evidence that NATSAP doesn't conduct investigations and specific instances of programs that do not follow NATSAPs Self-regulating Code of Ethics.
They would be interested also in the fiasco surrounding getting HLA licensed. Particulars re interactions with state officials, etc.
A more comprehensive report is due out early 08.
If you haven't watched the hearing (at the link above), please do. NATSAP was ripped apart by the committee. Kildee asked Moss how many programs had ever had their membership revoked. Two, and only after their licenses had been revoked by the state. He told Moss to send documents of investigations, etc. She said, "she'd try". He told her "try" wasn't good enough. Either send the docs or they'd subpoena them.
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Families who are still awaiting refunds from HLA, and there are hundreds of you, should include that in your correspondence, giving the amount owed to you and how long you have been waiting.
Further, I strongly urge you to send that specific information to the Dahlonega Nugget. Practically every business in Lumpkin County is owed money by Len, but business debts don't make much of a news story. Your situation, however, is personal. You put your trust in Len Buccellato and you paid him your money. You have a legally enforcible contract which he repeatedly and continually violates, causing you personal financial damage and emotional anguish. Tell your story to The Nugget. If enough of you will do this, your letters will be printed and your story will be told. Then, we will have something to send to other Committees and other Agencies. Include the name of your ed consultant , if you had one, in your letter. Ed consultants, and the IECA, should be held at least as responsible as NATSAP in their totally unethical behaviors.
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Be sure to send a copy of your contract with your story of how HLA owes you money. That way an impartial party can decide for themselves whether or not HLA actually owes you the money.
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Press Releases
Posted: Nov 5, 2007
09:42
U.S. Rep. George Miller
Washington, DC
Cong. Miller Asks FTC To
Investigate Private Programs
Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853
October 16, 2007
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate allegations of deceptive marketing practices by residential treatment programs for troubled children.
Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office testified before the Education and Labor Committee that such programs – often called “boot camps,â€
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I totally agree that Ed Consultants need to be held just as reponsible as people like Len Buccellato of deceptive practices and taking advantage of people in desperate situations.
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This question is for DEE. How many students is HLA down to these days?
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This question is for DEE. How many students is HLA down to these days?
Well under 50, who are paying. The December grads quit paying several months ago.
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how can HLA keep operating if they have under 50 paying students and how many graduate in December?
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how can HLA keep operating if they have under 50 paying students and how many graduate in December?
Good question. Payroll checks have been bouncing with regularity for over a month. Under no circumstances will he let the paychecks be distributed before 5 p.m. on payday, so as to avoid for another day the run on the bank. Hardly anyone deposits their check anymore. They take it to HLA's bank and cash it because they know tomorrow it may be worthless. Several employees checks have bounced 3 times, and if you don't believe it, I don't blame you. But it's true. It's become a joke among staff. A counselor said to the girl handing out the checks "Just bounce mine over here." Of course, none of this is said when the gestopo (Hollowhead, Sap, etc) is around.
It's a sad damn place for people who have a conscience and really need a job. For many, like Corky Prow, their conscience has won out and they have chosen to be unemployed rather than work for a souless bastard who uses people as he does toilet paper and cares not a whit for the kids in his school.
Everyone here hates you, Len. Even those you think you own like Hollowhead and Sap. When the money from your "family" finally runs out, you'll get a good dose of reality, except you're so gone in your paranoid delusions that it may not register.
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It's impossible to believe that people will continue working for "free" as that seems to be what's happening. Not knowing if your paycheck will actually bounce and yet staying in the same workplace is like a form of insanity.
HLA is beginning to resemble Jonestown! The remaining staff seem brainwashed or brain dead. It seems like they refuse to "jump ship" out of some misguided sense of loyalty....or just plain stubborness.
It's also hard to imagine that some Ed. Cons. are still referring to HLA.
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My Ed Con was Martha Kolbe and she was old and clueless as they come. If I were an Ed Con, I would care about my reputation more than to refer anyone to HLA..BUT, ED CONNING is the name of the game for lots of Ed Cons that just see $$$ signs. I agree that it is unreal to think that staff would continue to stay at HLA if they were having payroll checks bounce. That makes no sense at all! Why in the world would people like Kristen Bell come back to a place like HLA when she had gotten out? Talk about CRAZY!!
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maybe there afraid that if they leave, someone worse will only replace them. so maybe as corrupt as the place is, many of the staff choose to stay there to make sure the kids dont have that hard of a time and arnt seriously abused. if they leave, len would only replace them with someone else who gets paid less and is less qualified, and is likely a methhead lumpkin bumpkin with sadistic tendencies.
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maybe there afraid that if they leave, someone worse will only replace them. so maybe as corrupt as the place is, many of the staff choose to stay there to make sure the kids dont have that hard of a time and arnt seriously abused. if they leave, len would only replace them with someone else who gets paid less and is less qualified, and is likely a methhead lumpkin bumpkin with sadistic tendencies.
Unfortunately, this assumes far too much benevolence on the part of most of the remaining staff, most of whom remain because their qualifications, or lack thereof, could not get them a job anywhere else except Wal-Mart. Others stay simply because of fear of the unknown... the old syndrome of remaining in an untentable situation simply because it is the situation they know. Change is scary, especially for those who have essentially become institutionalized through their association with Len and HLA. Lee Parham, Kristen Bell, David Riefenberger are excellent examples.
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What about Anna Jones? She actually lives and breathes HLA and her good buddy Len B. She makes me want to throw up calling him Len B!!! YUCK!!! She is either one fake B or a brainwashed B!!! Probably both is my guess. What is behind John M. and Joe Stapp's loyalty to HLA? They have families to take care of so I cannot imagine why they would stay at a place with such a horrible reputation. HLA is full of lies and deceit and parents that live in denial of the reality of HLA.
What a horrible experience to get into where you lose all your money and for what? HLA is such a JOKE!!!
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It's impossible to believe that people will continue working for "free" as that seems to be what's happening. Not knowing if your paycheck will actually bounce and yet staying in the same workplace is like a form of insanity.
HLA is beginning to resemble Jonestown! The remaining staff seem brainwashed or brain dead. It seems like they refuse to "jump ship" out of some misguided sense of loyalty....or just plain stubborness.
It's also hard to imagine that some Ed. Cons. are still referring to HLA.
The Ed. Cons that are still referring to HLA are doing so because of MONEY. It is just that simple. They had the choice to stop when the truth came out, but they did not. They chose to get angry at the sources because their wallets would be smaller. However, if they were smart, they should have supported the "truth", they made a huge error. They should have supported Clarke Poole. Now they shall have to deal with the FTC, Congress and everyone else that shall be knocking on their door.
Huge mistake.
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Believe me, the Ed Cons deserve any and everything that is coming their way!! They have ended up wrecking the financial lives of many by referring people's children to these horrible schools where education and therapy are a total joke! How can any parent still have their child at HLA knowing what they know. With their children's education being a joke, and the school in financial ruin, along with deceitful administration, how could they continue in denial this way!
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It has occurred to me that many of Len's loyal henchmen DESERVE to be at HLA. Many of those mentioned are mean-spirited, sanctimonious idiots. Let them stay there and get what's coming to them.
They're all members of the "Perfect Parents Club" - right?!
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Oh, I can tell you that Anna Jones thinks she is the worlds best MOM. She thinks so much of herself as does Joe Stapp. They are sickening to me.
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They're all members of the "Perfect Parents Club" - right?!
if i was one of their kids i would most definitely be smoking crack to escape from them.
thankfully they are mostly sterile or gay....and the the ones who do have kids will learn a hard lesson when their kids get to high school. and what are they going to do, send their kids to HLA too? lol.
i do have to admit it would be funny and awsome if god took away their ability to have children. they'll try and try and they'll never get kids because they fucked with other people's kids.
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The Miller Bill, now H.R. 911 has passed in Congress and is now on to the Senate. Below is NATSAP"S position regarding the Bill. One can bet their bippy NATSAP shall be lobbying the Senate to see that this bill is buried. Please call your Senator's and ask them to pass this bill.
States are better staffed and equipped to enforce existing abuse and neglect prevention statutes. This statement regarding States being better equipped is ridiculous. Florida didn't know what hit them with these schools and certainly did not know what to do when faced with the death of a child. Georgia did nothing regarding Hidden Lake Academy for near a decade, although the ORS repeatedly received complaints from parents and caved in when they received a letter from Quirk and Quirk. The ORS kept denying HLA was indeed a TBS to parents, even when the parents had a child enrolled at Hidden Lake as a so-called "Therapeutic Boarding School". Utah, you would like to leave it to Utah? Nevada? I don't think so.
The only positive reply I got when seeking help: A representative from the Department of Education said to "stay away from NATSAP Schools". I didn't even know what NATSAP was, until I found out that my child was at a NATSAP school, Hidden Lake Academy and the founder of NATSAP was Leonard Buccellato.
When one industry needs to invent an organization to 'police' itself, look the Hell out.
Call your Senator - please.
NATSAP Position on Miller Bill
While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of this Bill – to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs – NATSAP believes the Bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient in fulfilling this intent. The Bill fails to protect children in all residential programs. This Bill also creates an entirely new federal bureaucracy that will duplicate current state-led child abuse and neglect enforcement programs and state licensing programs. The Bill sponsors litigation against programs because it has no limits on attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards, and creates strict liability for standards that have not yet been drafted.
• The Bill excludes programs operated by government entities and should be amended to afford this protection to all children served in residential programs.
• States are better staffed and equipped to enforce existing abuse and neglect prevention statutes.
• The Bill proposes an entirely new federal bureaucracy to enforce the statute. This new bureaucracy will duplicate existing state efforts and will be extremely expensive and inefficient to create and staff in all 50 states.
• The Bill allows new access to federal courts and unlimited attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards. Parties already have the right to access state and federal courts. These provisions may make liability insurance for member programs unobtainable or prohibitively expensive.
NATSAP has worked since our founding to establish ethical and operational principles for member programs. To this end NATSAP requires by January 1, 2009 that all member programs be state licensed or externally accredited by an approved accreditation organization. All 50 states have existing programs to investigate and enforce laws that prohibit child abuse and neglect.
NATSAP
(928) 443-9505 – Phone
info@natsap.org
126 N. Marina St., Ste. 2
Prescott, AZ 86301
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To this end NATSAP requires by January 1, 2009 that all member programs be state licensed or externally accredited by an approved accreditation organization.
LOL... I was wondering why benchmark got "accredited" just recently.
Benchmark Young Adult School announces that they have been designated a Class VII Fully Accredited Academic Institution by the National Private Schools Accreditation Alliance (NPSAA), with all rights and privileges therein.
So I googled NPSAA which offers a "fast track" to "accredit" schools....
http://www.npsag.com/ (http://www.npsag.com/) <- LOL
Not impressed with NATSAP's standards of what is an "approved accreditation organization"... but what the hell else do you expect from an organization owned and run by industry members. Good luck in getting a college to accept those credits!
NATSAP still pushes Benchmark as a program, though, despite the fact it is not licensed as one.
http://www.natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=11 (http://www.natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=11)
What is it. Is it a program or a school? They can't seem to decide, and not even the judge in Benchmark v. Crawford could figure that out.
Industry schools want this mystical middleground between funny farm and boarding school with the benefits of both and the drawback of none (such as regulation, requirements for licensed counselors, etc...).
My opinion is that you can pass all the legislation you want and they're just going to claim it doesn't apply to them or that they are already licensed as something else. IMO, education and media is the key... but if people want to waste their time and hope on government intervention... by all means go ahead. I haven't seen the government get anything right in a long time but... who knows.. you might get lucky.