For those who are curious.
I am one of the 250 or so who lost their job on Friday in North Idaho. None of the staff, or even the regional managers was aware that the financial problems at CEDU had reached such dire proportions until we did not receive our paychecks on Thurs. We were told that a meeting of the upper management/financial backers would take place on Fri., and that an announcement would be made late in the day informing us of when we might receieve our checks. I have since been told that the two primary investors in Brown Schools 1) George McGowan and his partner, Delough (sp?) and 2)a group called "Teachers" could not reach agreement on a plan or price for a possible sale to other investors, and instead chose to immediately close the schools and have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means all the schools property and assets will be sold off to pay it's debts. The root of CEDU's financial problems as it has been explained to me goes back to the time 6-7 years ago when Brown Schools purchased it from Mel Wasserman. Apparently just prior to the sale, the Wassermans made an effort to fill the schools up quickly (particularly RMA), and created an inflated picture of what CEDU's revenue producing capacity was, which resulted in Brown Schools paying way too much for CEDU. They have tried numerous measures in the past few years to rectify this, but were unsuccessful. This is particularly troublesome to those of us who currently worked there, as for the most part BCA, NWA, and Ascent were profitable in the context of their own budgets, but not in the context of paying off loans for the inflated price paid for them.
There are attempts being made by some staff, current parents, and ed consultants to reach out to alumni students and families or other investors to reorganize and create an ongoing program or programs, but it is likely that the window for this, at least on the current properties will be short.
Parents of current students have also been making donations to help the staff, who have not been paid a cent for the last 3 weeks work, and are unlikely to see much or any of the money as it is tied up in bankruptcy. Many have continued to come to work and help the kids and families get ready to move on.
As a relative newcomer to the CEDU system, I am sympathetic to those who had to endure some of the "old school" CEDU approach. Someone earlier posted about how the best staff and therapists were those that tried to create a bond with students and then appealed to their desire to create something better for themselves and their families. I couldn't agree more. While I'll acknowledge that there were vestiges of the "old school", while I was there I never saw anything that I considered abuse, and had I, I would have reported it to Child Protection.
I can understand those who may have been mistreated feeling a sense of relief or even some kind of vindictive joy at CEDU's closing. But I hope some can understand that there were many who worked there out of a sincere desire to help and care for kids, and not for money. I made a decent living at this, but not enough to, for example, send my child to a CEDU, let alone a regular boarding school. The loss of 250 jobs to the Bonners Ferry area will be a devastating blow to a community that doesn't have much to begin with.
