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CLOSING A SCHOOL
By Lon Woodbury
lon@woodbury.com
At 3 p.m., Friday, March 25, 2005, a shock wave engulfed the
community of Bonners Ferry, ID and spread throughout the country.
The shock wave originated from an announcement that all CEDU
Education schools in north Idaho, California and Vermont were
closing immediately. The ramifications are extensive. Hundreds
of CEDU employees were immediately out of work and plunged
into personal financial crisis; hundreds of parents across
the country were forced back into the crisis they believed
CEDU had rescued them from and many of the children began
reverting to old self-destructive behaviors after learning
they had to leave new found friendships, and the safe and
supportive structure they had come to depend on.
In my 21 years of working in this business, I have seen several
legitimate schools forced to close. In every other case, money
was somehow made available to ensure the well-being of the
children by an orderly closing. The CEDU closures are the
first instance in my experience of a school closing as if
it were a dying factory in a declining rust belt community
with no consideration of the immediate impact on the children.
In my conversations since Friday with ex-CEDU staff and other
professionals' familiar with the school, I am convinced the
program staff, including the corporate program administrators,
had no knowledge of how bad things were. They were as surprised
as anyone else was. The knowledge of the real status seemed
to be known only by the CEO and the semi-visible financial
institutions that held and managed CEDU's debt. It is these
people, the real owners, who for years were the ultimate decision-makers
for CEDU; and who made the final decision to "pull the
plug."
The Emotional Growth/Therapeutic schools and programs industry
is unique. The demands, stresses, and dynamics are unlike
any other industry. It is imperative that the ultimate decision-makers
for any of these schools have personal knowledge of the industry.
It is impossible to do a good job managing any of these schools
if they look at the schools as just another business. I think
what happened to CEDU is an example of what can happen in
this industry when ownership of a school gets too far removed
from the child oriented nature of the school.
Copyright ©
2005, Woodbury Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(This article may not be reproduced without written approval
of the publisher.)
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