Thanks for believing me... unfortunately, I am for real. Unfortunately, we have tried the residential treatment facility already and, like many other short term programs, it worked for a while, but now (6 mos later) we're right back where we started. The irony is that he's just bad enough to be in the "not normal adolescent misbehavior" but he does not have a clear psychiatric diagnosis--and we have seen three shrinks about this and at least 4 psychologists, I'm not even exagerating.
When he was at the residential treatment program, most of the kids there were violent and dangerous, they were a much bigger threat to him and the staff than the other way around (his report). He has trouble with school work although he has a superiour intelligence, has trouble dealing with stress although he has lots of friends... it's just a huge mystery. A lock down treatment facility is not what he needs, he needs to be somewhere, away from the distractions of life, with people who can help him figure out what the HELL is going on.
We are working very closely with an educational consultant who is a clinical psychologist herself, our family therapist, and all of the professionals who have worked with him to identify the best course of action. I understand the point about telling the police, but having a criminal record that starts at the age of 15 in the state of Texas is a *really* bad idea and if there is no proof, the police can't do anything anyway--we've investigated it.
There are no easy answers with all of this--I've dealt with some shit in my life, and this is by far the hardest. You all (y'all) might want to consider cutting some of the parents some slack. Information (real information) about the pros, cons, and choices available is the way to prevent kids from being hurt in these type of places...
Thanks again for the responses.