Academy at Swift River - Split from TTI

[hanzomon4]

Many of the violations in this citation still existed during the time "What it takes to pull me through" was wrote. And we have information from an ASR student who attended in 200(0-3?) that matches the violations noted in the news report.

[Anonymous]

Finally the newspaper article.. we were waiting for. So 10 or 15 years ago (when they first opened) the school was cited for allegations made by an employee who was not happy

He was unhappy about the kids being abused, yes that's correct.

After further investigation the allegations were determined to be unfounded.

Who are you even going to read the article? Obviously you haven't, because if you had you would have never made this blatently stupid comment.

The allegations were accurate by ASR staff members own addmission. Take a closer look.

Academy administrators told Lieberman it was true that students were denied sleep for 19 or 20 hours during the first Life
Step session, called "The Truth."

.The Office of Child Care Services' investigators found that the school had not been remiss in getting medical treatment
for the student with the broken collarbone, but it did substantiate mostof Kent's other concerns.

Pay close attention to that last part Who. "it did substantiate" translating to, they believed him, not the school.

OCCS also cited the school for monitoring students' telephone calls and mail.

Clearly Who, youre mistaken. Pay closer attention next time. Ha ha ha, just kidding.

If the investigation as a result of the citation found ASR to be in violation there would have been a public record.... but there is none.

You continue to miss the fact that ASR is not regulated by the OCCS, not yet anyway. As such they would not be listed among those under their perview. Please see Deborah's comments regarding the similar situation at HLA if youre still confused.

But unless I can prove what I have alleged (that there is an ongoing problem) the charges get dropped and there is no public record….. Harvard shouldn’t suffer because of this man and the law sees that they don’t.

But as was proven the law did see it the man's way. He did prove it. Don't get angry because you can't rewrite history.

[Deborah]

No who, in the article it says that ASR used it's licensing to avoid state oversight and that the matter resulted in legal fights that were unresolved at the time this article was published.

Strike "licensing" and insert "lawyers".
Could also correctly insert "their claim to be a traditional boarding school".

[RobertBruce]

Except for some reason they keep advertising as a theraputic one. Why is that?

[TheWho]

Link to the article

No who, in the article it says that ASR used it's licensing to avoid state oversight and that the matter resulted in legal fights that were unresolved at the time this article was published.

The citation struck at another bone of contention between the state and ASR. A few months ago OCCS found itself at odds with ASR over whether the school needs to be licensed in Massachusetts as a treatment center, something College Health Enterprises had not done. ASR officials seemed to be having it both ways by enforcing rules usually associated with treatment programs for people with emotional or behavioral disorders, but refusing to have the school licensed as a treatment center, which would give OCCS the right to oversee its operations.The disagreement is still unresolved, and has turned into a battle between lawyers for the state and the school.

The article was written in the previous century,  old news, nothing was found.......

[TheWho]

Copied from ASR thread:

"okay this is why people here lose credibility. this article came out in 1999. none of the same staff work for ASR and none of the practices, such as LifeSteps, still exist. seems like people hold this up as the golden goose which should spell the end of ASR yet it holds no water considering the changes that have occured inthe last few years. you also keep bringing up old staff like Rudy Benz, who has been gone for 4 years. so if you have something recent to complain about show it here and maybe others will listen to you. the whole emotional growth model has been scrapped for a more clinical approach.

hey Deb find something written in the last 3-4 years!!!"

[Troll Control]

Copied from ASR thread:

"okay this is why people here lose credibility. this article came out in 1999. none of the same staff work for ASR and none of the practices, such as LifeSteps, still exist. seems like people hold this up as the golden goose which should spell the end of ASR yet it holds no water considering the changes that have occured inthe last few years. you also keep bringing up old staff like Rudy Benz, who has been gone for 4 years. so if you have something recent to complain about show it here and maybe others will listen to you. the whole emotional growth model has been scrapped for a more clinical approach.

hey Deb find something written in the last 3-4 years!!!"

AnonymousWho - so now you no longer dispute that ASR was in fact cited by the state for violating childrens' rights?  Good.

So, this is wher we're at, after dragging TheWho along for a couple of days:

We are now in universal agreement that ASR was cited by the state for breaking laws governing the treatment of children.  They were cited for degrading and humiliating treatment, physical punishment and restricing communications of juveniles - all clearly violations which they continue to perpetrate.

Ha,Ha,Ha...  It took a while, but TheWho finally came around to the point.  I knew you could do it, even if you had to do it anonymously...Ha,Ha,Ha...just kidding!

Let's move on.  This issue has been settled and the most boisterous denier is now on board with everyone's conclusion that ASR violated kids rights and was given multiple citations by the state for it.  I'm glad that's settled!

[TheWho]

I agree, it is settled.......  There is still no evidence any of these so called citations had any validity.  If they did they would the results would become public record.  If they were thrown out they were unfounded.

[hanzomon4]

I agree, it is settled.......  There is still no evidence any of these so called citations had any validity.  If they did they would the results would become public record.  If they were thrown out they were unfounded.

No re-read the article and take note of the licensing issue between ASR and OCCS(eec)

The citation struck at another bone of contention between the state and ASR. A few months ago OCCS found itself at odds with ASR over whether the school needs to be licensed in Massachusetts as a treatment center, something College Health Enterprises had not done. ASR officials seemed to be having it both ways by enforcing rules usually associated with treatment programs for people with emotional or behavioral disorders, but refusing to have the school licensed as a treatment center, which would give OCCS the right to oversee its operations.The disagreement is still unresolved, and has turned into a battle between lawyers for the state and the school.

[TheWho]

I agree, it is settled.......  There is still no evidence any of these so called citations had any validity.  If they did they would the results would become public record.  If they were thrown out they were unfounded.

No re-read the article and take note of the licensing issue between ASR and OCCS(eec)

The citation struck at another bone of contention between the state and ASR. A few months ago OCCS found itself at odds with ASR over whether the school needs to be licensed in Massachusetts as a treatment center, something College Health Enterprises had not done. ASR officials seemed to be having it both ways by enforcing rules usually associated with treatment programs for people with emotional or behavioral disorders, but refusing to have the school licensed as a treatment center, which would give OCCS the right to oversee its operations.The disagreement is still unresolved, and has turned into a battle between lawyers for the state and the school.

That was settled 7 years ago.  They are not required to be overseen by OCCS.

[RobertBruce]

No, they weren't required seven years ago thanks to the 30% law. If however they currently have a student population where 30% or higher is special needs then they are required to be overseen by the OCCS. Since that time the definition of special needs has become much broader.

[Troll Control]

This is the most accurate information available.  Until someone offers proof that the events in the article didn't happen or that the reporter was lying, it's what we'll go with.

I know it gets TheWho bent out of shape to be proven wrong on this but I never thought he'd go off the deep end editing out key parts of the regs to hide them because ASR is in violation.  Ha,Ha,Ha...that's just too funny when he does things like that just to push an agenda.

But these facts won't go away.  ASR has been cited in violation of at least two laws.  I think we've established that beyond doubt and everyone is comfortable with it here.

It was an article writtem by Stepanie Kraft for the Valley Advocate.  It's archived on cafety.org.

So this is where we're at until someone can show otherwise:

Ha,Ha,Ha...  I'm not going to do your busy work.  If you have documents that show otherwise, post them.

We have already established these facts and I think everyone is comfortable with where we're at in this debate:

[/u]"OCCS also cited the school for monitoring students' telephone calls and mail. The agency said that the right to privacy incommunications, even for juveniles, can be restricted only by court order -- for example (editing note: this is exactly the argument TheWho used earlier in the thread and it's 100% illegal!), if a therapist believes that the teen's communication should be monitored, perhaps to support a young person through a crisis in relations with his orher family -- and then only temporarily."[/u]

Sorry, Who, but these are the facts.  I guess you can take it up with OCCS and investigator Lieberman and try to change the records Ha,Ha,Ha...

I know you get mad mad about this, Who, but you can't change history and the state's records to suit your agenda...Ha,Ha,Ha.  You'll have to take this up with the state if you don't like their ruling, not fornits!  Do your own work, I'm not going to do it for you.  Ha,Ha, Ha...

If someone was a convicted rapist, would you not believe rape was against the law unless someone posted the actual law that says it is?  That's absurd.  

The fact that ASR was cited by state officials for breaking the law is ipso facto proof that the law exists.

This is the most direct source we have stating the facts about the state's inspection of ASR resulting in at least two citations for violating the law.

I think we're all comfortable with the state's findings and the journalist's accurate reporting of it.  We all agree.

So this is where we're at until we see some proof that the journalist was lying about the state's two citations.

I know certain people would like to say that the reporter was lying in the article, but they'll have to take it up with her or the state.  We have established that these events took place and that the record is clear.

Let's move on...  As soon as Who talks with the reporter and establishes that she was lying about the content of the article we will revisit.  Time to move on to other items.

This has been fun, Ha,Ha,Ha...just kidding.[/quote]

I believe we have established that fact that ASR was cited for multiple violations.  We're all in agreement on this. There were allegations by an employee which were substantiated through an investigation by Mr. Lieberman from OCCS, and the resultant citations for violating the law.

See, that wasn't so hard.  Ha,Ha,Ha...  ASR has a "criminal record" and seems by all accounts to be recidivating.  If you don't agree with the state's findings, you'll have to take it up with the state, not a messageboard!

[hanzomon4]

Who, dude, the horse is dead, stop beatin it.
The issue of licensing and 'special needs' was hashed to death in this thread:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 666#248666

From that thread:
A Group Care Program is a program or facility that provides care and custody for one or more children by anyone other than a relative by blood, marriage or adoption on a regular 24-hour a day, residential basis.

Group care program includes private residential schools that provide to children with special needs in which children with special needs constitute 30% or more of the school?s population.

Special Services are any services provided to children with special needs by a private residential school that are special education services similar to those referred to at 603 CMR 18.05(3)(a)  and (b); or

I'd say that they do need to be licensed per the definition of special needs children.

[Deborah]

No, they weren't required seven years ago thanks to the 30% law. If however they currently have a student population where 30% or higher is special needs then they are required to be overseen by the OCCS. Since that time the definition of special needs has become much broader.

RB, he's attempting to distract with the 30% issue. Read the regs carefully.
Group care program includes but is not limited to:
*private residential schools that provide special services to children with special needs in which children with special needs constitute 30% or more of the school?s population; and
*group residences or group homes.

[RobertBruce]

Deb check your PM's.