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Carlbrook-CEDU connection?

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IDAHO SPOKESMAN REVIEW
Suits allege abuse at two schools
Private CEDU academies treat troubled teens
Kevin Taylor- Staff writer
October 29, 2004


More than two dozen parents and former students at Rocky Mountain Academy and Boulder Creek Academy - two expensive private schools for troubled teens - have filed four lawsuits claiming a pattern of neglect and abuse inflicted upon kids by staff or by other students running out of staffers' control.

The four lawsuits can be grouped into two categories, Todd Reed, attorney for the plaintiffs, said Thursday. Two of the suits recount allegations of misconduct and breach-of-contract issues from Boulder Creek Academy near Bonners Ferry in the mid- to late-1990s; the others concern students more recently enrolled at Rocky Mountain Academy, which is near Naples, Idaho. Boulder Creek typically houses 70 students. Rocky Mountain, which typically enrolls nearly 40 students, currently has 30.

Among the allegations listed in the lawsuits filed at the Bonner County Courthouse in Sandpoint:

One boy was forced to dig a grave, crawl into a coffin in the grave and have dirt thrown on it by staff.

A girl was called "fatty" by staff even as she was being counseled by other staffers for bulimia.

Another girl was called a "whore" and forced by staffers to wear a derisive sign advertising oral sex.

Another suit alleges a student at RMA was hazed, beaten and insulted constantly and with impunity by other students because staffers were not in the dormitories and didn't seem to care enough to stop the beatings when they did find out.

"We believe these allegations have no basis," Julia Andrick, marketing and communications director for CEDU Family of Services Inc., the parent company for both Rocky Mountain and Boulder Creek academies. "The charges are groundless and we are going to go ahead and litigate as appropriate."

Reed said the lawsuits focus on poor staffing levels, poorly trained staff and a lack of supervision that led to verbal and physical abuse.

"We are not asserting that all staff are bad at Rocky Mountain Academy - my impression is that fine people work there," Reed said. "We are asserting there is a struggle between two differing thought processes - the old CEDU and the new CEDU."

The old CEDU was verbally abusive, he said, while the newer approach "focuses more on the therapeutic process." The schism, Reed said, is problematic: "My concern is there is a lack of direction. From our perspective, the problem was RMA was going through school directors so quickly nothing has been consistent."

Andrick said Rocky Mountain Academy in September hired its third director in 10 months and fourth since 2001. She was unable to provide numbers on staff turnover, but did agree the approach at the schools has been changing in recent years because the students are changing.

Students at Rocky Mountain Academy today typically are dealing with drug or alcohol problems in addition to the types of behavioral or emotional issues - "school failure, low self-esteem, families in turmoil" - that drew students in the past, Andrick said.

More staffers are drug and alcohol counselors than in previous times when students were typically taken into the wilderness to either perform various tasks or suffer "natural consequences," Andrick said, citing the example of getting wet if a student re-fused to pitch a tent on a hiking trip.

"It's not a schism. It's been an evolution," she said. "We are changing with the times and changing with society's needs."

The lawsuits allege families typically pay $5,500 a month - sometimes up to $16,000 for special six-week programs - with promises from CEDU that their children are "cared for, taught and treated by high-quality staff."

The high price should not equate to students being forced to use scissors to cut large areas of lawn in July while dressed in winter clothing, be routinely told by staffers "your parents don't love you," or to suffer sexual assaults from other students while staffers, according to the court papers, did nothing.

CEDU is no stranger to such lawsuits. In November 2002, the company paid a $300,000 settlement to two former students who had alleged CEDU hired poorly trained, abusive staff. The students said the situation was what led to a student riot at Rocky Mountain Academy in 1997. Five students and staffers were injured in the riot.

Reed said a second lawsuit against CEDU in North Idaho also was settled, but the amount of the award has been sealed.

"You pay outrageous amounts of money and send your kid to a location where it is represented that your child is safe," Reed said, "And instead your child is exposed to alcohol and drugs and sex at that location, and couple that with abusive actions directed at children by staff," showing that the academy staffers were poorly trained and supervised, he said.

"We keep detailed records on students and their activities and therapy and counseling and academic records," Andrick said. "We do have information and we do feel these are groundless lawsuits. It's sad, but we will battle it out in court."

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Same names, same game, ain't a damn thing changed...

Troll Control:
CEDU settles personal injury, fraud claims

Company to pay

By KEITH KINNAIRD

SANDPOINT - CEDU Educational Services has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle claims that the company bilked parents and failed to protect students from harm.
The settlement was announced Monday, the day a jury trial was to start in Sandpoint.
"Our clients are very pleased that we obtained the results that we did," said Todd Reed, co-counsel for the parents who brought the suit. "They are very glad to have this emotional experience completed so that the healing can continue. They did not want to go to trial and reopen their wounds."
Michael Ramsden, a Coeur d'Alene attorney representing CEDU, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
The parents of former students Kevin Accomazzo and Stanton Lewis sued CEDU in 1997, claiming their sons were verbally and physically abused by CEDU staff. They also alleged the school was violating state and federal racketeering laws through deceptive billing practices.
CEDU, which has offices in Sandpoint, operates Northwest Academy, Rocky Mountain Academy, Boulder Creek Academy and Ascent. Located in Boundary County, the private boarding schools are geared toward students with academic or emotional difficulties.
The suit arose after a student uprising at Northwest Academy in January 1997. The riot left five people injured and brought to light claims by students that they were being mistreated by school staff.
A majority of the students at Northwest Academy felt their concerns were not being addressed and a grievance process for students was seen as ineffective, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, which investigated the riot.
An incident involving Accomazzo helped trigger the revolt, according to Steve Verby, who is co-counsel with Reed. Accomazzo, then 17, suffered a broken arm in September 1996 when he was tackled from behind by a school employee for walking out of a group counseling session, court records state.
"The fact that Kevin was taken down by one of the counselors and had his arm broken was one of the incidents that lead to the unhappiness of the students," said Verby, who is running against Jack Douglas in today's election for 1st District judge.
Other students said school staff had berated them and spit in their faces, concerns which Health and Welfare officials later deemed valid.
Lewis, the other student in the suit, claimed school officials failed to protect him when he was set upon by another student who hit him in the head with an object. The injury required hospitalization and surgery, according to a copy of the complaint.
Parents of both students also claimed CEDU were defrauding them of hundreds of dollars through its billing practices. The students' actual laundry and transportation costs were well below what their parents were being charged, the attorneys said.
"Parents were getting charged what we alleged was an unconscionable amount, and they were charged for services that weren't provided," said Verby.
Accomazzo's parents, for instance, were charged $1,800 to have their son stay at a Bonners Ferry home after the riot. But Accomazzo spent some of those days on a slush-covered deck in a sleeping bag and a pup tent, court records show.
CEDU took advantage of parents who have the ability to pay large sums of money for their kids' education, Verby said. Parents, most of whom live out of state, had no way of knowing whether the charges were legitimate.
"The parent gets the invoice, thinks that that's the charge and pays it," he said. "Why should a parent pay for something that they didn't agree to pay for?
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When will the Struggling Parents wake up to the games of the Teen Hurt industry?

Not only do they fuck your kids up even worse than they were, they rip you off at every turn, for both goods and "services."

Anonymous:
The school is run by folks who really could have a more academic background in psychology. This is a concern when you are dealing with student who are very troubled and serious decisions have to be made. Parents are spending enormous amounts of money to help their children and it seems to me that those serving at the executive level need to be better qualified. Some of the therapists at this school seem very caring and it is a very nice looking facility. They seem to make a good effort academically. However, not everything is as it seems. Might be better than average though. I would not take everything at face value when looking at this school. Don't be fooled. If your child is suffering from depression...RUN! If your child is suffering from a serious disorder...RUN! If you have any doubts at all...RUN! Ask MANY questions and if you don't get good answers, RUN! Keep an eye out on your child. This school has potential, but it will always be a question mark in my book due to leadership issues.

Anonymous:
Just for clarification, I was referring to Carlbrook
Carlbrook seems to have a weak Executive Staff. They seem to have a surprisingly week background in psychology...esp. at the Executive level.  This is a concern when you are dealing with students who are very troubled and serious decisions have to be made which influence the lives of teens and their families.  Parents are spending enormous amounts of money to help their children and it seems to me that those serving at the executive level need to be better qualified. Some of the therapists at this school seem very caring and it is a very nice looking facility. They seem to make a good effort to provide a good quality education for your child.  However, not everything is as it seems. (Might be better than average academically though, however I would not take everything at face value. Don't be fooled).   This school is not for kids who are seriously disordered, depressed or who suffer from a severe problem with ODD. Keep an eye out on your child. Carlbrook has potential, but improvements need to be made especially in terms of leadership and in providing better psychological/psychiatric care for their students.

Anonymous:
John Gurney is like the headmaster there. Wasn't he a shrink at Ascent?

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