Confessions of a former HAPA (Hyde School) parent

[Anonymous]

I recently heard about this website and have now read many of the messages.  I cannot begin to tell you (and any parent who is considering sending their  child to Hyde) how thrilled I am that information about Hyde is getting out.  So much of what I have read on this website is true.  It took our family a long time to figure it out, but we've now figured it out.  We started at Hyde with enthusiasm.  We participated in every required meeting and seminar.  We've donated money. By the way, our child is surviving Hyde; our kid is not one of the chronically "off track" Hyde students.

We now feel absolutely disgusted with Hyde.  During our time with Hyde we've become more and more disheartened and resentful.  So many of the comments on this website are right on the mark (some are not).  It's true that Hyde takes in lots of students with major mental health and behavior problems and seems to have NO FULL-TIME STAFF trained to deal with these issues.  Joe Gauld's influence is all over the school.  Many of the staff behave like Gauld robots.  There are so many Hyde "scripts" that after you've been there awhile you can finish each other's sentences.  Our family now knows how destructive Hyde is, how many families leave in disgust, how many kids are emotionally abused by their staff.  Sure, some people like Hyde.  But take a close look at their lives.  Most of these parents seem to be desperate for someone to tell them how to live; they've had a hard time doing it on their own.  Hyde is perfect for someone who wants to hand their life over to Joe Gauld and his crew.

Keep up the good work.  I'm very happy you're spreading the word.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-11-19 06:05:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I recently heard about this website and have now read many of the messages.  I cannot begin to tell you (and any parent who is considering sending their  child to Hyde) how thrilled I am that information about Hyde is getting out.  So much of what I have read on this website is true.  It took our family a long time to figure it out, but we've now figured it out.  We started at Hyde with enthusiasm.  We participated in every required meeting and seminar.  We've donated money. By the way, our child is surviving Hyde; our kid is not one of the chronically "off track" Hyde students.



We now feel absolutely disgusted with Hyde.  During our time with Hyde we've become more and more disheartened and resentful.  So many of the comments on this website are right on the mark (some are not).  It's true that Hyde takes in lots of students with major mental health and behavior problems and seems to have NO FULL-TIME STAFF trained to deal with these issues.  Joe Gauld's influence is all over the school.  Many of the staff behave like Gauld robots.  There are so many Hyde "scripts" that after you've been there awhile you can finish each other's sentences.  Our family now knows how destructive Hyde is, how many families leave in disgust, how many kids are emotionally abused by their staff.  Sure, some people like Hyde.  But take a close look at their lives.  Most of these parents seem to be desperate for someone to tell them how to live; they've had a hard time doing it on their own.  Hyde is perfect for someone who wants to hand their life over to Joe Gauld and his crew.



Keep up the good work.  I'm very happy you're spreading the word. "

I am glad to see that there are others who experienced the same thing my husband and I did at Hyde.  You put it so well when you said that Hyde is perfect for someone who wants to turn their life over to Joe Gauld.  I can't understand why the people at Hyde refuse to admit that this school operates like a Cult!  You other comment about everyone speaking the same was also apparent to us.  They all use the same "cliches" like people who are programmed.

Thanks for validating how we feel!  We too are happy about this website!

[Anonymous]

Your words are easy to relate to. From my experience also, it seemed that the only people who were at Hyde and HONESTLY embraced the Hyde philosophy, were the ones who wanted to be controlled by it. These people probably felt that they were lost before they came to Hyde, because they had no self-intuition or assurance in themselves that they could make something of themselves on their own. When they came to Hyde they probably felt that they belonged there because people were telling them what to do, how to act, and they probably thought that they were getting some attention and guidance (in a very distorted way). Thank you for your post, and the best of luck to you and your family.

[Anonymous]

On 2006-01-21 15:38:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Your words are easy to relate to. From my experience also, it seemed that the only people who were at Hyde and HONESTLY embraced the Hyde philosophy, were the ones who wanted to be controlled by it. These people probably felt that they were lost before they came to Hyde, because they had no self-intuition or assurance in themselves that they could make something of themselves on their own. When they came to Hyde they probably felt that they belonged there because people were telling them what to do, how to act, and they probably thought that they were getting some attention and guidance (in a very distorted way). Thank you for your post, and the best of luck to you and your family. "

You've said it beautifully.  So many of the people I see at Hyde who throw themselves into the school and use all the Hyde cliches are people who are absolutely desperate for direction in their lives and are very susceptible to the Gauld cult influence.

[StephenLong]

Why are you all afraid to tell us who you are? How can we believe what you say, if you are not willing to identify yourselves?

Stephen Long

[Anonymous]

On 2006-01-25 09:55:00, StephenLong wrote:

"Why are you all afraid to tell us who you are? How can we believe what you say, if you are not willing to identify yourselves?



Stephen Long"

For me there's a simple explanation:  I've heard too many stories about kids at Hyde being harrassed when their parents speak out against Hyde or challenge the school's administrators.  That's not a risk I'm willing to take at this point; I have lots of reasons not to trust Hyde.  I have to balance my concerns about possible mistreatment with my strong belief that people who are considering Hyde need to see these postings.  I understand full disclosure would be preferable; I may do that later, but I can't take that risk now.  In the meantime, I would encourage anyone who reads these posts to ask hard questions of Hyde staff, talk with parents of current/former students, assess the parents' credibility, and decide whether Hyde makes sense for their child.  In my humble opinion, sending a child to Hyde is a serious risk in many, if not most, instances.  I have little confidence in the school's ability to meet the needs of significant numbers of its students.

[Anonymous]

So pull your kid out and tell us who you are!

[Anonymous]

On 2006-01-25 11:05:00, Anonymous wrote:

"So pull your kid out and tell us who you are!"

Easy for you to say, "pull your kid out."  How would you feel being 18 years old and all of a sudden being thrown back into public school in your hometown after being at Hyde for a couple of years.  First of all it is unlikely that you can get back into the same grade you were in at Hyde because the education is so different and the public schools do not accept many credits from Hyde.  Secondly it is not easy psychologically to all of a sudden be able to fit into 12th grade at a new school when everyone has already made their friends for years!  You try it if if is so easy!!  You will end up doing like many of the kids have to do from Hyde.  Get a GED!!  Great going Hyde!  How many lives have you ruined?

[Anonymous]

Who said public school...call your insurance company...set up your third party billing and put him in the therapy school he should have been in the first place!!

[Anonymous]

A GED sounds a whole lot better than being F...ed over at this place.  Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

On 2006-01-27 06:31:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Who said public school...call your insurance company...set up your third party billing and put him in the therapy school he should have been in the first place!!  "

Where do you get your information that the above person needs a therapeutic school? You are quite judgemental aren't you?

In my case I did not need a therapeutic school.  My family needed to learn how to communicate with one another, which we learned through family counseling.  I think what the other person was trying to say is that it is very hard to fit into a new school at that age so unfortunately some people who might not want to stay at Hyde feel forced to.