Author Topic: Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o  (Read 1904 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Anonymous

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 164653
  • Karma: +3/-4
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« on: January 07, 2006, 05:43:00 PM »
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 244&EDATE=

    OGDENSBERG, N.Y., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy at Ivy Ridge (AIR), a
boarding school in upstate New York, today announced that it had concluded its
relationship with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs & Schools
(WWASPS).

    "On November 29th we received word from WWASPS that it had accepted our
letter of withdrawal," said Jason Finlinson, director of AIR, "therefore we
are officially no longer a member of the organization."

    While WWASPS has faced significant scrutiny over the years, Finlinson
cited his primary reason for leaving the organization as being one of "not
needing" the affiliation any longer.  "The Academy is now capable of providing
educational programs and seminars with its own staff or by contract," said
Finlinson.

    Finlinson also noted that when other WWASPS schools receive unfavorable
publicity, it affects AIR.  Says Finlinson: "It's time for us to stand on our
own as far as our program and our reputation is concerned.  Our program is
evolving and we feel it's unfair to have the alleged shortcomings of WWASPS
attributed to AIR."

    Finlinson noted that he and his attorneys are working closely with both
the New York State Education Department and the State Attorney General Office
to reestablish accreditation for the academic department of AIR.

    "We're looking forward to a solid and collaborative working relationship
with the state moving forward," says Finlinson.  "We're confident of
accreditation in early 2006."

    WWASPS is an affiliation of (now) five specialty boarding schools located
throughout the US and in Jamaica.  The organization is based in St. George,
Ut.



------------------


So, the question is: have they ended the affiliation because WWASP was an embarrassment to AIR or because AIR was an embarrassment to WWASP?  And does anyone really believe this is anything but window dressing?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Antigen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 12992
  • Karma: +3/-0
    • View Profile
    • http://wwf.Fornits.com/
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2006, 08:20:00 PM »
Well then! I guess this makes it unofficial!

There's no "I" in team.

There's no "U" in team, either.

So... if you're not on the team and I'm not on the team, then who's on the fucking team?

yea, the team sux...down with the team
http://bash.org/?484469' target='_new'>The Great Jack and King Rea

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
~ Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes

Offline BuzzKill

  • Posts: 1815
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2006, 09:22:00 PM »
This is just more of the same.

There have been plenty of wwasps programs that insisted they were not wwasps - but the students all come from other wwasps "schools"; they get their referrals from teen-help, or some other wwasps created entity (the parents) they transfer their problems to Tranquility Bay - They operate exactly the same program with exactly the same people - but they aren't wwasps.

I'm sure you'll have noticed it is WWASPS' own PR guy putting this story out.

I expect this is an early move in the eventual dissolution of wwasps. They are going to want to shed that shameful name - like a snake sheds its skin - and come out of it with a shinning new name that they can pretend has nothing to do with wwasps.

Much as the way Straight Inc is now Kids Helping Kids. Exact same program - but a new name - insisting they have nothing to do with Straight - but it is Straight in All but name.

I'm betting we'll soon see wwasps doing much the same.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 164653
  • Karma: +3/-4
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2006, 09:51:00 AM »
"So, the question is: have they ended the affiliation because WWASP was an embarrassment to AIR or because AIR was an embarrassment to WWASP?"

Gee, as I read it, it says Ivy Ridge no longer needed WWASPS.  It seems IR was concerned that unfavorable publicity about WWASPS hurt IR.  Clearly IR must be a wonderfully-oriented place -- even working to get accredited/reaccredited!  Golly, what more could you want?

And clearly this is good and important news.  The schol sent a letter of withdrawal to WWASPS.  The withdrawal was accepted November 29, and they rushed to tell the world by January 6.  

I turst y'all noted that according to the PR, WWASPS is now only 5 schools.  Anybody know what they call the "arrangements" with the rest of the places for which they run the marketing and manage the admissions process through central admissions?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Antigen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 12992
  • Karma: +3/-0
    • View Profile
    • http://wwf.Fornits.com/
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2006, 12:53:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-01-08 06:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

Anybody know what they call the "arrangements" with the rest of the places for which they run the marketing and manage the admissions process through central admissions?


Randal Hinton and the folks at http://fornits.com/wwf/search.php?term=kemper&addterms=phrase&forum=all&sortby=p.post_time+desc&searchboth=both&submit=Search'>Kemper in Boone, Missouri would know about that.

I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off.
--Billy Joel, American musician

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
~ Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes

Offline Anonymous

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 164653
  • Karma: +3/-4
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2006, 02:10:00 PM »
This is how it works: Teen Help (or whatever name they're calling it now) has a bunch of commissioned sales reps. The physical office for this building is located in St. George, UT, and they share that building with the WWASP billing department, newsletter editor, etc. Narvin Lichfield used to work in this building, which they built right next to Brightway Adolescent Hospital. Many of the reps are related to the Lichfields or other program employees. They pose as a neutral source of information for parents, when in fact their goal is to admit nearly every child whose parent comes in and they refer solely to WWASP programs unless the family is so incredibly broke that they can't convince them to refinance or take out a 30 year loan.

The benefit of starting a new program as a WWASP program is the funding issue. They usually pull the head staff from other WWASP facilities and hire locals as the low wage counselors who supervise the students. Why would AIR leave WWASP when Bob's sister and brother in law run it? Because they are preventing the WWASP empire from the threat of financial catastrophe posed by the eruption of lawsuits. This way, if they lose a major lawsuit, only one school needs to close. They seem to have learned their lesson after Sunrise Beach, Paradise Cove, Brightway Hospital, Dundee, etc. were shut down.

Randal Hinton and his friend, Justin Neilson,who is now starting the new program in Puerto Rico with him, began their careers as low-wage psych techs at Brightway. They were like bouncers who supervised and restrained patients throughout the day. Justin's profile says that he "studied psychology". If he graduated in it, he'd surely list his degree. Did he just take Psych 101? Does that qualify him to run a program? Randal is no more qualified. Jay Kay also started as a low-wage psych tech. He worked his way up to director at Brightway and hooked his father Ken up with a job.

WWASP seems to be on the defense since their secrets are being exposed and students have united in large numbers to prove their allegations.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Troll Control

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7391
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2006, 02:28:00 PM »
Yeah, that sounds about right.  Ivy Ridge was slammed here in NY last year for over a MILLION DOLLARS in restitution and fines totaling nearly a quarter million, if my memory serves correctly, for defrauding its clients by issuing diplomas to "graduates" without being accredited by NYS.  What a scam!

All those poor kids who were abused at Ivy Ridge soon found out that, although they had the financial means, they could not get into college because they NEVER COMPLETED HIGH SCHOOL.  Attorney General Eliott Spitzer declared Ivy Ridge's diplomas were "worthless" and ordered them to cease and desist issuing "bogus diplomas" to it's patients.

It's also worth noting that AIR's director, Jason Finlinson, was also the director of a notoriously abusive WWASP facility, Casa by the Sea (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) that was actually shut down by MEXICAN authorities for HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.  You can imagine what the Mexican government considers abusive.  We're not talking about your standard, run-of-the-mill WWASP abuses here in the U.S. for which several of their RTC's were shut down.

This is a clever case of public relations.  WWASP is cutting AIR loose to avoid getting hit with further lawsuits based on abuse and fraud at AIR.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
The Linchpin Link

Whooter - The Most Prolific Troll Fornits Has Ever Seen - The Definitive Links
**********************************************************************************************************
"Looks like a nasty aspentrolius sticci whooterensis infestation you got there, Ms. Fornits.  I\'ll get right to work."

- Troll Control

Offline BuzzKill

  • Posts: 1815
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2006, 03:41:00 PM »
///WWASP is cutting AIR loose to avoid getting hit with further lawsuits based on abuse and fraud at AIR. ///

Yeah - I've thought that too.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Nihilanthic

  • Posts: 3931
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2006, 02:17:00 AM »
I really honestly thinkg this is all smoke and mirrors.

Though, funny how WWASPS cant be fucked to just fix themselves and offer real treatment or bring in real teachers. I guess its more cost effective to do this bullshit instead of do it right and show us the kids arent being fucked up to shut us up, huh?

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
--Thomas Jefferson

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
DannyB on the internet:I CALLED A LAWYER TODAY TO SEE IF I COULD SUE YOUR ASSES FOR DOING THIS BUT THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

CCMGirl on program restraints: "DON\'T TAZ ME BRO!!!!!"

TheWho on program survivors: "From where I sit I see all the anit-program[sic] people doing all the complaining and crying."

Offline Anonymous

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 164653
  • Karma: +3/-4
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2006, 12:28:00 PM »
WWASP is cutting AIR :rofl:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline CCM girl 1989

  • Posts: 1308
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2006, 12:32:00 PM »
All you can do is continue to expose them. There is no doubt in my mind, that someone who is close to, or even a part of this family will end up telling all.

Once these people are fully exposed the government will make sure they don't operate ever again. Till then, this evil empire will try to be clever, and will try to out smart everyone including the government. But, in the end they will pay. The more they lie........the more deceptive they become, not only will they suffer financially, they will be faced with time in prison.

That's the way it goes.......it's too bad......but I can't be sympathetic to people who have made millions off of torturing children. I have a BIG heart, and would like to see these schools go through some changes to become what they should be. But, I just don't see it happening when the heart that runs them is so COLD!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
f you were never in a program, or a parent of a child in a program, then you have no business posting here.

Offline Antigen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 12992
  • Karma: +3/-0
    • View Profile
    • http://wwf.Fornits.com/
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2006, 06:25:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-01-09 09:32:00, CCM girl 1989 wrote:

"All you can do is continue to expose them. There is no doubt in my mind, that someone who is close to, or even a part of this family will end up telling all.

No doubt in my mind either. In fact, it happens all the time. Even happened within the Kay family.

"We could be leading these kids to long-term problems that we don't have a clue about because we're not going about it in the proper way," he said. "How in the hell can you call yourself a behavior-modification program ? and that's one of the ways it's marketed ? when nobody has the experience to determine: Is this good, is this bad?" Ken Kay - President WWASP


Quote
Once these people are fully exposed the government will make sure they don't operate ever again. Till then, this evil empire will try to be clever, and will try to out smart everyone including the government.

I view this a bit differently. Really, there are plenty and potent enough laws on the books already to prohibit many things people in this industry do. Unfortunately, the government is made up entirely of people. These people are just as flawed and easily scammed as the rest of us. And, for the past 30 years or so (since Nixon, NIDA's formal recomendation to propagate the Synanon method throughout the land on the public dime, whenever possible and such) these people have tacitly approved of the industry and refused to enforce these laws. Truth be told, our laws are so many and so layered anymore, it's a laviathan through which no honest person could possibly navigate w/o running afoul.

But we all know this. It's an open secret. We only pretend we're being rightous and consisten in those instances when we do invoke force of law. The actions of government always follow the will of the people, though they lag behind. Once that happens, then we change the letter of the law to bring it a little closer to back in sync w/ reality.

Right now, this entire industry thrives on a serious disconnect between most peoples beliefs about regulation how it works and how it really works.

Most Program parents assume that someone must be watching over them, their kids and the industry. They assume that, because the place is in business and hasn't been sued out of existance, why then it must be alright. It's the same mentality that has, over decades, compeled the manufacturors of ladders to cover every available surface of their product w/ stickers and labels stating the obvious. Ladders are no safer than they've ever been, just more expensive. And a whole lot of yuppies sleep better at night believing that all that frenetic activity and spending does make them safer. It's always a cruel thing to shatter other people's comfortable illusions. But sometimes, you just have to.

I'll build my own damned ladder or go ahead and pay for the expensive stickers. That's not a big problem in my world. But this? Sorry, folks. I won't let this one go. As Dariah says "Excuse me.... excuse me! You're standing on my neck!"


Quote
But, in the end they will pay. The more they lie........the more deceptive they become, not only will they suffer financially, they will be faced with time in prison.

Yeah, there are some who will probably go down hard; those who are extremely sadistic and have committed the worst offenses under cover of being in the helping fields. But most won't. How many doctors and other medical professionals went to prison behind those assembly line 'ice pick' lobodomies they used to do in the `50's? Not one. But they don't do them any more, do they?

Quote
That's the way it goes.......it's too bad......but I can't be sympathetic to people who have made millions off of torturing children. I have a BIG heart, and would like to see these schools go through some changes to become what they should be. But, I just don't see it happening when the heart that runs them is so COLD!

"


Well yeah, there's the cold heartedness of it all. But I don't see the industry ever becoming what it should be. Fact is, there's no significan't legitimate market for what they've got to sell. What they're selling doesn't exist. Not that there are no troubled people in the age bracket in which they traffic; there certainly are. But the 'fix' is exactly the opposite of coercion.

That's my theory and I'm stickin to it! :wink:

...and in all indictments for libels the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases.

(Jury nullification. It's not just a good idea, it's the law!)
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/creating/constitution.htm' target='_new'>Declaration of Rights, PA Constitution

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
~ Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes

Offline CCM girl 1989

  • Posts: 1308
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association o
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2006, 07:01:00 PM »
I've said it before, but I'll say it again............I don't agree with their way of handling "troubled teens". I think it is emotionally abusive, and physically abusive as well. That's just my opinion.

I just shake my head at all this........and go how the hell can someone sleep at night knowing they are hurting these children? I don't get it?

I can just hope, and pray that this will all come crashing down on them. I know the reasons behind this all, G-R-E-E-D. It's not to help the kids, it's for the money.

I haven't studied the law on all this, but I agree that there are laws that are on the books that are not being enforced.

What to do?

I found it quite alarming when someone brought up the fact, that at Spring Creek Lodge when you are spending the night inside the Hobbit (isolation room) that the houseparents stack mattresses up against the door to make sure you don't come out while they're sleeping? I'm pretty sure that's against the law. But, they have not been cited for it.

All the stories about the hobbit........it gets me freaked out. The minimal food and water. The water cup they give you, and later on you use that to urinate into? I mean this is crazy. The fact this stuff is being allowed it's just unfuckingbelivable! Then you sleep on the hard floor in a very thin sleeping bag to freeze. A floor that has human fecies on it. What the hell? It makes me sooooooo mad.

I just don't know what I can do to make it stop?!!   :???:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
f you were never in a program, or a parent of a child in a program, then you have no business posting here.