If I can help at all.

[Anonymous]

I was at that assembly.  Charles Cates did not tell the students not to tell their parents.  He told them not to tell their parents a faulty version of the story.  That was the whole point of making the announcement.  He wanted to dispell rumors before everyone got on the phone to tell their parents "locals are coming onto campus raping girls".  You may not like Charles Cates, but he is not stupid.  He is not going to tell the student body not to tell their parents.

If you were at that assembly, you would remember very specifically Mandy Evans, who was a counselor there at the time saying not to go tell our parents about what had happened in attempts for us to get pulled. Anyone who was there would remember that.

[Anonymous]

So it was Mandy that told the student body not to tell?  I thought you said it was Charles Cates.

In either case...the point is that if you are telling your parents for the sole purpose of getting pulled, then you would in fact be manipulating.  If you were telling them simply because it is something very significant that happened at your school then that would be a different thing.  Either way, I bet your counselors had told the parents before most of the kids could anyway.  That is basic damage control.  Get the information out to the parents first, so they are not surprised when their children bring it up.

Mandy was saying don't use this as a means to get pulled.  She didn't mean don't tell your parents at all.  That is completely unrealistic.  Again, the point of the meeting was to get the true story out to the student body so that a bunch of false rumors didn't get to the parents.

[Anonymous]

So it was Mandy that told the student body not to tell?  I thought you said it was Charles Cates.

In either case...the point is that if you are telling your parents for the sole purpose of getting pulled, then you would in fact be manipulating.  If you were telling them simply because it is something very significant that happened at your school then that would be a different thing.  Either way, I bet your counselors had told the parents before most of the kids could anyway.  That is basic damage control.  Get the information out to the parents first, so they are not surprised when their children bring it up.

Mandy was saying don't use this as a means to get pulled.  She didn't mean don't tell your parents at all.  That is completely unrealistic.  Again, the point of the meeting was to get the true story out to the student body so that a bunch of false rumors didn't get to the parents.

I'm a parent and I was NEVER informed about this incident!

[Anonymous]

How long has your child been there?  This happened around a year ago if I remember correctly.

[RobertBruce]

Whomever said it apparently Cates was there and didnt offer up any dissent, so obviously it was something agreed upon earlier.

This practice is no different than the parent handbook indoctrinating parents with; "your child will lie to you, will tell this is an awful place, don't listen to him."

I have no doubt that the counselors frantically called every parent to tell them some make believe fairy tale about what really happened, they probably also told them "There's a bunch of rumors(aka "the truth") going around about this event, if your child tells you anything don't believe him and please report it to us."

Manipulation down to a science.

I'm going to guess but I wonder if the counselors bothered to mention that the girl who actually performed the rape stayed on campus for another month.

Sure sounds safe.

[RobertBruce]

I'm a parent and I was NEVER informed about this incident!

Oh even better. The inmates are indirectly threatened not to tell their parents about what had happened, and on top of that the counselors never tell the parents either.

Silence is a new form of therapy.....er umm I mean academics.

[Anonymous]

I am sure they did not tell them that she was there for another month.

[Thumper]

Again, the point of the meeting was to get the true story out to the student body so that a bunch of false rumors didn't get to the parents.

They didn't dispell any false rumors because nobody even knew about it until they told us about it, all we knew was that Ana and Christy had run away. And what they told us in the end wasn't the truth regardless. They never mentioned the rape or the severe damage done to Christy. All they told us was that it was not something we needed to tell our parents about.

[RobertBruce]

Did they make the same admonishment for all the other runaways?

[Thumper]

Did they make the same admonishment for all the other runaways?

Pretty much. Early on in the program, these two girls in my peer group ran away and they were picked up by these guys who took them to a party and gave them drugs and then raped them. When I was on the phone telling my parents about it, the counselor who was listening immediatedly jumped in and demanded I stop telling my parents "stories."

[RobertBruce]

Stories huh? Its funny how the truth is called anything but that at hla. When I was there I don't recall being any specific admonishments not to tell parents about runaways or rapes, however most runaways while I was there were caught within a day or two, and we generally didnt rape or try and murder each other back then. I guess that was before hla raised the admissions policy and stopped admitting all those dangerous kids.

[Anonymous]

:lol:      :wink:  

[Anonymous]

How long has your child been there?  This happened around a year ago if I remember correctly.

My child was there when this happened. Trust me: We were never told about this incident.

[RobertBruce]

Well gosh, they didnt tell the parents themselves and they threatened the inmates not to tell either. It almost sounds like they were trying to cover it up.

I wonder why?

[Anonymous]

How much do the Georgia state officials know about this?