Tag Archive | CEDU
24/12/2023  

976. Anderson Creek School

The school also went under names as Karums Collective or Karum Group School. It was founded in 1973 by Larry Katz who had attended one the CEDU schools. As with many of the schools which made use of methods use at CEDU, the school eventully caught the attention of the authorities.

Years later the schools foundee went to trial accused of

  • 3 am wake-ups | sleep depravation
  • Head Shaving | Psychological abuse
  • using a cattle prod on students | torture
  • cleaning with tooth brushes
  • Cleaning with tooth picks
  • Using students’ free hard Labour | slavery
  • Parents unable to leave with their children | kidnapping

The use on cattle prod on students may for some sound unusual but such use has also been seen at other programs.

Various sources state that the school ceased to operate around 1986. Because the trial took place so many years ago, it is not many sources, we have been able to locate. It is easy to state that it could not have been fun to be there as a student.

Sources:

14/08/2022  

905. Dock Mennonite Academy

Dock Mennonite Academy is a private school located in Pennsylvania. Earliest records of the schools date back to 1952 and it opened in 1953. It is affiliated with the Mennonite movement. Some years back they hired a teacher who had worked at the infamous CEDU chain of school mentioned on this block. They closed in 2005 after the lawsuits piled up.

At Dock Mennonite Academy the teacher was allowed to include some elements of the curriculum at CEDU. Especially a part called “smushing” where students and teacher lie close together so they can feel each others bodies.

Some years later the teacher – now a assistant principal made the choice to resign and later charges of misconduct was brought up.

Students who were forced through this process which took place after the marathon sessions involving attack therapy felt violated at CEDU. Some felt that the feeling of their bodies focused on private parts. Now students at the Dock Mennonite Academy who were subjected to the smushing part also felt violated.

Some might wonder why the management allowed these methods to be allowed and are the use limited to this one person? Did they not know about the lawsuits against CEDU? They were very public. As result the Dock Mennonite Academy became a not so fun a place to be as a teenager regardless of the outcome of the trial.

Sources:

31/07/2022  

903. New Alternatives Home

New Alternatives Home was 2 group homes located in California. One was located on Victoria Place in Costa Mesa and another in Orange. At the Costa Mesa place a psychiatrist named Burnell Gordon Forgey had been hired to work with a boy. Little known to the public he had opened his home for James Lee Crummel who later ended up on the death row before he committed suicide. Forgey had also worked for the CEDU chain of boarding schools where researchers now link the disappearance of several boys to this couple having access to the campuses.

In relationship with New Alternatives Home the authorities charged Forgey for having lured a 16 year old boy, he worked with to the home and drugged the boy. Taking advantage of the boys helpless state, they performed various sexual acts with their victim. Both were arrested and charged with various crimes.

The full extend of the pairs crimes were never fully exposed due to the advanced age of Forqey and the suicide of Crummel but being the victims of such crimes cannot be fun as a teenager.

Sources:

10/09/2018  

724. Northwest Academy

Northwest Academy closed after 24 years. It came to life under the CEDU umbrealla. The sick ideology which was invented by the religious community Synanon was used on innocent children. Later after CEDU collapsed it was purchased by a large investor group running a number of residential programs all over the United States. Not very much is known from this last period but it is sure that the teenagers felt themselves isolated from their extended family and peers back home.

A riot among students also took place. It could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

05/12/2017  

633. Carlbrook School

Carlbrook School was modeled after the CEDU boarding school chain which closed in 2005 after being treathened with a number of lawsuits. 3 boys are still missing from the CEDU school. They ran away and were never found.

The same goes for Carlbrook School. Forest Ferguson went missing in 2010 and has never been found. While lack of background check allowed a man later prosecuted for child murders to work on the campus, it is not known what caused Forest Ferguson to remain missing leaving his family in uncertaincy about his fate.

The so-called therapeutic model used at Carlbrook was invented in its early form at Synanon, which was a defunct religious community which closed down after a FBI investigation. The damaging components were basically the same. Marathon seminar sessions which in its controlled nature led to psycodrama rather than treatment.

Many teenagers now live with therapy on weekly basis trying to overcome what they were exposed to at Carlbrook School. The school closed in 2015 after teenagers became adults and began to speak out against it.

Sources:

28/11/2017  

631. King George School

King George School located near Sutton in Vermont was modeled after CEDU, which again was based on Synanon which was a religious community which closed after an criminal investigation.

It was opened in 1998 and closed in 2011.

The CEDU model used sleep deprivation in marathon seminars which resulted in psycodrama.

Several teenagers who were held there tried to escape and the local police was involved.

It could not have been fun to be there as what they called students.

Sources:

2021 update

The property is still listed for sale

21/11/2015  

394. Campbell Park

Campbell Park was located in New Zealand. It was modelled after the CEDU programs in the United States.

However stricter oversight in New Zealand meant that it never became a good business. Only a year later the school closed. The area was sold as private property.

It didn’t matter much as it based on the testimonies from the students in the United States wasn’t a fun place to stay as a teenager.

Sources:

16/08/2015  

362. Amity School

Based on the original CEDU school this school was founded in Italy. It didn’t last long because Italy at that time had stricter requirements into what a school should include regarding curriculum. For the teenagers who were sent there it was basically a waste of time they could have used on better things.

Robbing time from teenagers when they could go through the rite of passage towards adulthood drinking, socializing and partying makes it safe to state that it wasn’t fun for the teenagers to stay there.

Source:
HAS ANYONE HERE EVER HEARD OF THE AMITY SCHOOL IN ITALY? (Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)

11/06/2014  

265. Shortridge Academy

Shortridge Academy was founded by a former student from CEDU who wanted to re-create the same kind of enclosed boarding school he went to.

A couple of years a documentary about CEDU and the long-term emotional damages this program inflicted on its former students was put on. As result enrollment at the CEDU-clone schools dropped. A parent to a student at Shortridge Academy writes:

This school was an utter disapointment. Enrollment has fallen to the point where there are now only about 20 kids at the school, and there is an absolute lack of resources and staff to accomplish what they represent they will do for the kids. The staff is augmented by half trained college students. My child arrived at this school from a wilderness school, and he was an absolute joy. Now, after almost a year he has regressed to being disobedient and defiant. All through this time I was told to just wait, that my child could be helped, and that my child was the perfect student. After about $100k I’ve come to recognize that none of this is true. There has not been any perceptible improvement in behavior or attitude. I feel as though I’ve been defrauded. I don’t know if other theraputic boarding schools have better results, but this one failed in every respect for me and my child. Sorry. Just my honest opinion.

Greatschools review – might have been removed by the schools marketing department

It doesn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

2023 Update

The facility announced November 2023 that it would close down bringing an end to the dangerous methods invented by CEDU which it made use of.

15/11/2013  

182. New Horizons for Young Women

New Horizons for Young Women was a wilderness program being operated in Maine. It opened in 2001 and closed down around 2008 when the dangers of wilderness programs had become known to the general public resulting in a period of reduction of profit. It was run by the daughter of a superannuated television host who was sent to the teen prison called CEDU (See an earlier post in our California or Idaho section).

It does not sound fair to drag teenagers out in the wilderness as a program manager just because the program manager had a terrible experience as a teenager. The wilderness in Maine during the winter can be a very unpleasant place to be so it doesn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager. Fortunately the program is clsoed and the program manager is busy getting drunk according to various media sources.

Sources:

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