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MT BACHELOR LAWSUIT

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Ursus:
A slightly updated version of the above article follows:

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The Oregonian
Nine former students sue over alleged abuse at defunct 'tough love' Mount Bachelor Academy near Prineville

Published: Wednesday, July 06, 2011, 8:06 PM
Updated: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 5:55 AM
By  Helen Jung

For one teenager who had been sexually abused as a young girl, schooling at the the Mount Bachelor Academy meant allegedly being forced into provocative role-playing that involved propositioning 15 male students and staff members, one by one.
 
Another student, an asthmatic, had to sleep outdoors in below-freezing temperatures, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Staff members also denied him food, sleep and use of a restroom and withheld his asthma inhaler despite asthma attacks brought on by their tactics, the suit says.

This kind of treatment, according to Portland attorney Kelly Clark, wasn't the exception for the troubled teens enrolled at the now-defunct boarding school that operated east of Prineville for more than 20 years.
 
The school regularly used humiliation, isolation and other "traumatizing tactics" as part of its therapy to rehabilitate teens, Clark said at a news conference announcing the suit.
 
The complaint, on behalf of nine former students, seeks nearly $14.3 million from the school and its parent companies, California-based Aspen Education Group and CRC Health Group, for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, battery and negligence.
 
The school shut down in December 2009, about a month after receiving an emergency suspension order from the state's Department of Human Services, which had investigated abuse allegations over seven months.
 
The school's parent company on Wednesday issued a statement saying that it has not yet reviewed the lawsuit's claims.
 
But a lawyer for the company said the state only had one side of the story when it took action against the academy two years ago. Attorney Greg Chaimov said the school later presented evidence that showed the allegations were unfounded, although he conceded the state itself has never issued such a determination.
 
The settlement shows that the state withdrew its emergency suspension order because the school had already closed.

VIDEO: Former students of Mount Bachelor Academy, a defunct Oregon "tough love" camp, sue for $14 million
Teens who attended the Mount Bachelor Academy in the late 1990s, said they were systematically abused and humiliated by school counselors.[/list]
 
The school has its fans, including former students who credit the academy for rescuing them from the lives they were leading and putting them on a more productive, successful path.
 
But successes like those don't negate the harm done to other students who were forced to engage in programs that lacked any apparent therapeutic benefits, Clark said.
 
The private school, which catered to troubled teens 14 to 171/2 years old, charged $6,400 a month in tuition.
 
Aspen Education runs several schools for troubled teens around the country. It used to also run the Redmond-based SageWalk Wilderness School, which closed after a 16-year-old Portland boy died of heat stroke during a wilderness hike in August 2009. The state Department of Human Services found that Sagewalk staff had failed to provide proper medical care.
 
The plaintiffs in the Mount Bachelor lawsuit all attended the school in the late 1990s and had issues including drug and alcohol abuse and criminal behavior. They are now in their mid-20s to early 30s.
 
Clark and his law firm have pressed hundreds of claims against the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America. Clark last year won a nearly $20 million judgment from the Boy Scouts of America on behalf of a sex-abuse victim last year.
 
But Clark said this lawsuit is different from others he has filed against pedophile priests and scout leaders, because in those cases, "everyone knew this was not supposed to happen," he said.

-- Helen Jung


© 2011 Oregon Live LLC.

Ursus:
Comments left for the above article, "Nine former students sue over alleged abuse at defunct 'tough love' Mount Bachelor Academy near Prineville" (By Helen Jung; July 07, 2011; The Oregonian):


kingmike81 · July 06, 2011 at 8:50PM
hmmmmm.....probably some truths in this that need to be settled out of court....14 million because we "broken teens" still have an external locus of control wherein its everybody else's fault we have issues or no jobs......I've put up with a lot of crap in my life...why am I not suing ODE for all the swats I got in middle school years ago....plenty of emotional distress not to mention the "physical abuse" maybe I should start a class action lawsuit, I have nothing to lose.....like these brats.....give me a break....PCFIDE · July 06, 2011 at 8:55PM
Hands are totally tied as parents and families.Young adults are being lost by the thousands.Private sector is locked out of solutions by litigation expenses.The attack on families from our Democrat nanny state-rs has devastated decades of our young.drliberty · July 06, 2011 at 9:25PM
Hey! We are finally starting to get all the government we have been paying for all these years!blitzbeer · July 06, 2011 at 10:44PM
"The private school"............which means the parents sent them there for this treatment. Why aren't the parents being sued? Oh wait, that would make sense and this isn't about making sense. Never mind.Kelly_Matthews_775 · July 07, 2011 at 6:33AM
There are thousands of abusive schools, camps and rehabs. This has been going on for well over 50 years. You can join the cause to get these places shut down by visiting http://www.troubledteenindustry.com Please visit today!

Also check out the trailer to our upcoming documentary about Straight Inc. An abusive rehab that started back in 1976 and ran for 17 years. http://www.survivingstraightincthemovie.com[/list]
Tod_01 · July 07, 2011 at 8:30AM
Amazing. Kids that can't be responsible for their own behavior (it's everyone else's fault they act that way right? LOL!!). The kids burn out their parents and leave them with no option but to send them to some spendy private school that likes to hold the kids accountable for their behaviors. Some kids actually came out better than when they went in, but then some kids were resisting the help they were given and punished. So now they see some $$ in the consequences for their bad behavior while at the program. 'Liberalism Run Wild' should be an upcoming documentary released soon.imoksosume · July 07, 2011 at 2:11PM
These kind of outfits are usually ran by Conservative, Christian, Republican misfits, that resemble con artist and couldn't make it anywhere else in life. You know the type: Blackwater Rambo Militants. Really successful conservatives that are always on the look-out for some way to profit fron human misery. We usually find out these type are into really kinky stuff like having their diapers changed by prostitutes in seedy motel rooms or playing footsie with Larry Craig at the airport.[/list]
momofhouston · July 08, 2011 at 6:15AM
Let me assure you, there are plenty of parents who should be sued for sending their children there. There are also parents like me who had no choice. My child, whose only serious crime was not getting along with the live in girlfriend of his father was hijacked, (kidnapped) and whisked half way over the country. It took nine months and tens of thousands of dollars spent on attorney fees trying to save my son. We were lucky. He could easily have been among those Mr. Kelly has told you have died. I believe there are many more deaths than are even reported. When I first saw him he weighed 100 pounds and looked as if black circles had been drawn around his eyes with paint. The exact image of a holocaust survivor.
My son was born with neurological problems, including hydrocephalus and could very well have died while being forced to participate in boot camp conditions and jungle marches in extreme hot and cold. Aspen first sent him to a wilderness survival camp in Montana during the month of November and I didn't even know where he was. He was then sent on to Mt. Bachelor Academy where all the torture and abuse you have read about is oh so true.
For those of you who are thinking well what about the "bad" kids, they deserve it. Really???? To be treated with less rights than the Geneva Convention provides for POW's who are terrorists, rapists and murderers? To have fewer rights than a death row prisoner in any maximum security prison in America? To be sexually, physically and mentally abused by people who are supposed to be "saving" them. Subjected to strip searches after a visitor leaves? Are you a parent reading this? Can you imagine picking up your ninth grader after school and being told by the way we are now going to have strip searches every day but don't worry, there shouldn't be much abuse because it is a group thing and there are witnesses. We get naked and grab our ankles; Really? What do you think your local school board would do? Oh, and after gym class there are no showers without two other people witnessing the shower your child takes. They will be checked daily for any shaving. Shaving is not permitted. Yes, including private parts. Oh, and no using the potty without leaving the door open so someone can watch. No telling what that kid might do if given a moment to poop in private.
And here mom, a note from Ms. Bitz, it says you should ignore it but report to them if I claim any abuse happens to me because we all know I am a lying little bastard who should never have been born.

Girls who have been sexually molested are considered dirty and are forced to strip to bra and panties and roll in mud puddles and stay muddy all evening to "live" with their filth. They are forced to strip while giving lap dances to staff and students and encouraged to be dirtier than they ever have been before. So what kind of "therapy" is this? They claim if we can feel as dirty as we imagine we are then we can get over it. HELLO
Yes this is hard on the girls but it is also hard on the boys. They are so ashamed and repulsed by having to witness such a performance that they feel as if they have molested someone. They cry inside for the poor fellow prisoner who is being so degraded and they are being degraded by watching. Some abuses were re-enacted with the whole group watching. The victim portraying the victim and another student being forced to perform the abuse. They were actually instructed not to talk to DHS about these "sessions". DHS would not understand. Well guess what, they didn't understand when it was finally believed.
This program existed on the "Stockholm Syndrome" theory. Check it out, it is very interesting and will give you some idea of what this is. Some of the children are put in the position of "authority", really, snitches, and they are rewarded for reporting their peers for crying or trying to talk to a doctor.
When they are shut down they move some place else. They try to stay in remote areas and try to fly under the radar, they try to make a small community feel as if they are receiving finanical gain by allowing the school to exist. Most of the existing staff remains with them. They even have locations outside of the country and those are really difficult to penetrate.
I hope this site stays active.AAWO9 · July 12, 2011 at 9:47PM
Certainly you post valid arguments and relevant points.
However, it seems like you're exaggerating. I've looked into this topic several years ago and have since then refreshed my knowledge on the matter; Mount Bachelor Academy in particular.

All those allegations you mentioned, some are true some seem a bit fictional.
However, I'm not here to debate any of that as just one of those allegations is enough to shut down any institution, especially one meant for "saving" them.

I'm just wondering what your relevance is in regards to the article.
Just to refresh your memory, it is about a lawsuit about MBA (which has since been shut down)

Shouldn't our concern be with the parenting program "Aspen Educational Group" which owned and operated the facility?
Your final comments come from such a dark place, alleging the staff to relocate and recommit these crimes when in reality some of the staff are there for good and pure motives.

Helping a child in need is no easy task, MBA simply took it to the extreme end of the spectrum.
What they did was unethical , immoral and borderline criminal. That doesn't mean the staff/faculty are evil sinners with ulterior motives.
It may seem like I'm trying to justify this but from an unbiased stand point, I hope your anger and hatred will be vented in an appropriate fashion and that your family has since moved on.[/list]


© 2011 Oregon Live LLC.

Ursus:
Podcast available at the below title link.

In case it isn't clear from the text, the italicized portion at the end of the article is a statement from Mount Bachelor Academy's attorney Greg Chaimov.

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OPB News
Nine Former Students File Suit Against 'Tough Love' School

Kristian Foden-Vencil | July 6, 2011 | Portland, OR

Nine former students of a boarding school near Prineville, filed suit in Multnomah County Wednesday.

They claim physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their teachers.

Mt. Bachelor Academy was a school for teenagers who had either tangled with the law or had behavior problems at home.

Parents paid more than $6000 a month to give their kids a 'tough love' education.

But the school was closed by the state in 2009 -- after the Department of Human Services found what it called "nine substantiated claims of abuse."

The school quickly fired back with a lawsuit.

That case was settled last year. The state withdrew its findings, but still claimed it had a "reasonable cause" to investigate.

The school has not reopened.

Now Kelly Clark, a lawyer for nine students, is going to court for $14 million dollars in damages. The lawsuit lists numerous abuses.

"Unnecessary physical restraint, denial of meals, sleep deprivation, light deprivation, sound torture. They would play the same song, over and over again. Strip searches, forced marches. Forcing the plaintiffs to beat on inanimate objects until their hands bled," Clark said.

Clark concedes that the military may use some similar techniques to break down and then build up new soldiers.

But he argues, these were children, not adults.

"There's no 15-year-old marines. You at least theoretically signed your own name on the dotted line. And you're there of your own volition. And I would suggest that even the most aggressive boot camp out there does not have some of the things that we're alleging here," Clark said.

Clark says he doesn't plan to rely on the state's investigation for his lawsuit. He says he'll build his own case, using the testimony of the students who are now in their 20s and 30s. The state chose not to comment on Wednesday’s lawsuit.

Mt. Bachelor Academy's attorney issued a statement (see the complete statement below) saying the school never condoned or participated in the mistreatment or deprivation of any students.

It also says the program was specifically designed for troubled students who had failed to progress in other settings. The statement says the program aimed to help kids confront the worst of their behaviors and take ownership of them. The school says its approach proved successful at producing positive, life-changing -- and, in some cases, life-saving -- results.

While we have not yet had the opportunity to evaluate the allegations in the complaint filed today, we would like to go on record that Mount Bachelor Academy was successful in resolving the dispute with the Oregon Department of Human Services last fall after abundant evidence was collected that showed the allegations of abuse made to the Department were unfounded. DHS initially took action based on students’ allegations, but withdrew its orders, including the suspension of Mount Bachelor Academy’s license, after further information became available. Given the favorable terms of the settlement agreement, we agreed to dismiss our various legal proceedings against the state. We also independently decided to leave Mount Bachelor Academy closed due to the fact that the sudden and erroneous closure of the campus effectively shut the program down the year prior.

For over two decades, Mount Bachelor Academy (MBA) positively changed the lives of over 1,000 troubled young people. MBA was a program specifically designed for troubled students who had failed to progress in other settings. It was designed to help kids confront the worst of their behaviors and take ownership of them, whether that be substance abuse, sexual acting out or other issues. This approach proved successful at producing positive, life-changing – and, in some cases, life-saving – results. The numerous positive testimonials provided by families and students over the years further attest to the success of MBA.

MBA and its parent companies never condoned or participated in the mistreatment or deprivation of any students. As we understand, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit attended MBA prior to its acquisition by a nationally recognized network of therapeutic schools and programs that espouse comprehensive best practices and safety protocols. While we cannot comment on specific allegations from individual students due to HIPAA privacy regulations, we vigorously deny any and all charges of mistreatment. - Greg Chaimov


© 2011 Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Ursus:
KGW.com
Ex-students charge abuse at Ore. boarding school

Associated Press
Posted on July 7, 2011 at 7:46 AM
Updated today at 11:08 AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Nine former students of a shuttered boarding school in Central Oregon charge in a lawsuit that they were deprived of sleep, water, food and medical care at a place where parents paid more than $6,000 a month to straighten out troubled teenagers.

The $14 million suit filed Wednesday in state court says one girl was forced to disclose to her classmates that her father sexually abused her and to act out sexual propositions with classmates and adult staff members.

The allegations are similar to those that led the state of Oregon to order the Mount Bachelor Academy closed in 2009. A year later the state reached a settlement that withdrew the suspension but maintained the investigation was justified.

The school's lawyer said it denied charges of mistreatment.


© 2009-2011 King Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Belo Corp.

Ursus:
The Oregonian
Mount Bachelor Academy issues statement denying former students' claims of abuse

Published: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 5:40 PM
Updated: Thursday, July 07, 2011, 5:42 PM
By Helen Jung

An attorney for a now-defunct Central Oregon school for troubled teens issued a statement today denying claims of abuse detailed in a $14.3 million lawsuit filed by nine former students on Wednesday.

"We have reviewed the complaint and are confident that the allegations will be proven to be untrue," said the statement from Mount Bachelor Academy, sent by lawyer Gregory Chaimov. "The events that (plaintiffs' attorney Kelly) Clark and his clients allege happened at Mount Bachelor Academy simply did not. We regret that, of the many hundreds of students who attended the program, there are these nine who consider themselves to have been mistreated."

The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges that the boarding school used humiliation, isolation, deprivation of food and water and other abusive tactics in their schooling of troubled teens. The school shut down in December 2009 after a state investigation into abuse and neglect allegations.
 
But Mount Bachelor Academy maintained that the school "provided a nurturing and caring environment for over 1,000 young people over the course of its history" which spanned more than 20 years.

"The strongest refutation of the claims comes from the many hundreds of families who have thanked MBA for saving their children when all else had failed," the statement said.

It also notes that the alleged incidents, which occurred in the late 1990s according to the complaint, happened before the school was acquired by  Aspen Education Group.


© 2011 Oregon Live LLC.

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