JCAHO AWARD TO CATHERINE FREER
(June 14, 2000) William Twonbly, Marketing Director for the Catherine Freer family of programs. Albany, Oregon, 541-926-7252, announced the “Catherine Freer family of programs has been awarded Provisional Accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).”

SOLTREKS FEATURED
(July 2, 2000) Jacquelyn Mitchard, writing for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, in an article entitled “Call of the wild brings son home” presented an insightful article on short term wilderness programs, especially Soltreks, Duluth, Minnesota, 218-525-5803, soltreks@computerpro.com, to which she had sent her son when she realized “he was at risk, of destroying his future and the happiness of our whole family. He went because we were so locked in love and combat there was nowhere else to turn.”

WELTY NEW ADMISSIONS AT MBA
(July 5, 2000) Sharon Bitz, Executive Director of Mount Bachelor Academy, Prineville, Oregon, 800-462- 3404, www.mtba.com, announced Jo Dee Welty has been promoted to be the new Director of Admissions, replacing Genelle Boeggeman who “has moved to Redding, California to be near her family.” MBA is currently looking for additional Admissions personnel. Welty has been assisting in admissions at MBA for about ten years.

ASPEN YOUTH SERVICES FEATURED
(July 10, 2000) The Eduventures.com Daily Newswire, featured Aspen Youth Services in their daily newswire Issue #50. The article estimated about $58 billion is spent each year in the US “providing services to children who are troubled or who have special needs.” However, barely 5 %, or $3 billion, is provided by the private sector. Since 1994 juvenile crime has been falling, that opens money and resources “to treating juvenile problems before they became manifest in criminal behavior.” Aspen Youth Services was used as an example of a company that is getting posed to take advantage of this demographic shift. Elliot Sainer, CEO and President of Aspen Youth Services was quoted as saying “I define at-risk children as a broad spectrum of youths who are at risk of not leading productive lives.” Aspen’s strongest growth is in the area of special education schools. He estimates revenues in 2000 will reach $55 million, a 40 percent growth over 1999, a combination of acquisitions and “same-store.” It also reports about 55 percent of their total revenues are “private-pay.”

KRABACHER TO RUN CEDU SCHOOLS
(July 12, 2000). The following announcement was run in the Boundary County section of the North Idaho Internet newspaper Ruralnorthwest.com. “Dan Krabacher has been named president and chief executive officer of CEDU Family of Services, which operates several programs for troubled teens in Boundary County, including Rocky Mountain Academy, Northwest Academy and Ascent Schools. He replaces interim CEO Rae Ann Knopf. One of the first challenges facing Krabacher is resolving an appeal filed by Northwest Academy and Ascent Schools on a variance granted June 22 by the Planning and Zoning Commission, which would require the construction of a private access road to the schools by November 1 to reduce traffic on County Road 12.

LOPEZ OPENS NEW OFFICE
(July 12, 2000) William E. Lopez, founder of Adolescent Guidance Services, a transport firm, announced he has established an additional office in Redding, California at 1510 Hartnell Ave., Suite B., zip 96002, office phone 530-221-5680.

JURY EXONERATES DESISTO WORKERS
(July 15, 2000) The Berkshire Eagle reported “After a seven-day trial, a Berkshire Superior Court jury needed about two hours of deliberations yesterday to acquit two DeSisto School employees accused of misconduct in their care of a former student who was hospitalized with a serious injury. The trial resulted from an incident on September 20, 1998 when a student was “hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms caused by a toxic level of lithium in her blood.” The comments of one of the jury was “We really didn’t think the right two people were on trial…. We didn’t think [the school employees] acted recklessly.”

AEE THERAPEUTIC ADVENTURE PROFESSIONAL GROUP CONFERENCE
(July 16, 2000) Will White, Vice-chair of the TAPG, a division of the Association for Experiential Education, Jackson, New Hampshire, 207-697-2020, announced several workshops to be held at the TAPG Preconference in Phoenix, Arizona October 31 and November 1, 2000. Included are sessions conducted by Gary Ferguson, author of “Shouting at the Sky,” Rob Cooley and Paul Smith, founders of the Catherine Freer Wilderness Programs, and Keith Russell of the Wilderness Research Center of the University of Idaho.

IN MEMORIUM OF JOHN PADGETT
(July 19, 2000) John Padgett passed away this evening in Seattle after a long battle against Cancer. John, along with his wife Marci, were early pioneers in developing the concept of Emotional Growth Schools at the CEDU School in southern California in the late sixties to the early eighties. This concept evolved out of the recognition that the medical model of diagnosing and curing in vogue at the time was not effective with the many children who had no pathology but simply were unable to function at an age appropriate level of maturity. He left CEDU in 1984 and became a key person in developing Cascade School in northern California, later founding Amity School in Italy in 1985, where he worked for about ten years. John returned to Bend, Oregon about five years ago, to work as a consultant to help exploding number of new start-up Emotional Growth schools and programs throughout the country. Survived by his wife Marci, and his many friends and co-workers who shared his vision of developing better ways of helping children, his passing marks the end of an era for those of us who had the benefit of knowing him. A memorial service will be held in Bend, Oregon on August 12, 2000 at 10:00 AM at Nativity Lutheran Church.

MCOMBER & SOLIE IN TOWN
(July 19, 2000) Darrel McOmber, founder of Bridges Academy, and Larry Solie, the Executive Director, Bend, Oregon, 888-283-7362, stopped by in between tours of the CEDU Schools here in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Solie started with Bridges Academy about five months ago and has been devoting his time to organizing and re-forming the school’s program.

ELK MOUNTAIN GRADUATE ATTENDS HARVARD
(July 20, 2000) Carl Olding, Ex. Dir. of Elk Mountain Academy, Clark Fork, Idaho, 800-355-3823, announced they now have an “Ivy Leaguer”. One of their graduates has been accepted into Harvard. Carl announced they have enrolled 145 students in their seven years of existence.

HELENE REYNOLD’S NEW GRANDAUGHTER
(July 20, 2000) Educational Consultant, CEP, and IECA member, Helene Reynolds, 609-921-1326, announced her daughter Hanna and son-in-law David gave birth this week to Adison Rose Buck at 6 lbs, 14 ozs. Grandmother says the new addition to the family looks exactly like Hanna did as a baby.

PACKARD AT NORTHSTAR CENTER
(July 25, 2000) Eliot Sainer, CEO of Aspen Youth Services, announced Trina Packard will become the Executive Director of NorthStar Center effective August 7, replacing Dennis Crowell, who resigned last month. Crowell is currently making plans for a major vacation in Costa Rica starting this winter. Packard is being promoted from within Aspen Youth Services where she had a senior position with the Pine Ridge program at Youth Care in Northern Utah.

SOLIE AT BRIDGES ACADEMY
(July 28, 2000) Darrel McOmber, Founder of Bridges Academy, a small boys program in Bend, Oregon, 888-283- 7362, announced Larry Solie had joined their staff as Executive Director. Solie, who has been with the school for about five months, has taken over the administrative functions, and will be soon working on taking over and reforming program functions to provide better services. Solie, who moved to Sisters, Oregon three years ago, is from Seattle where he held executive positions in several businesses, and had been a teacher at Washington State Reformatory’s Institutional Industries in Monroe.

HIGH PEAKS YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM
(July 28, 2000) Gabe Reynolds, High Peaks Wilderness, Roosevelt, Utah, 435-722-0958 announced they have recently added an 18-25 year old component to their program. The new program, named “High Peaks Young Adult Transitional Program” will “provide long term care with a residential component.” They also worked with several other Utah programs to set two tours for consultants in August. The participating programs, in addition to High Peaks, are Vista Treatment Center, Oakley, Sunrise Academy, New Haven, Island View, Logan River, and Discovery Academy. Consultants signed up for the August tours are Susan Trueblood, Jody Dobson, Elizabeth Jamison, Sue Bigg, Renee Sinclair, Diane Arnold, George Kirkpatrick, Leslie Goldbert, and Milton Little. A similar tour will be organized for October. Any consultant interested can contact Gabe.

DRAGONFLY ADVENTURES
(July 30, 2000) Mona Treadway and Glenn White of Dragonfly Adventures, Klamath Falls, OR, 541-850-0841, announced they are up and running with their family trips. Their Thanksgiving trip is already full, but there are still openings for a family trip in Baja, Mexico around Christmas time.

JOHNSON MOVES TO MONTICELLO UTAH
(August 3, 2000) Jeff Johnson, Admissions for Wilderness Quest, in southern Utah, announced to Woodbury Reports he has moved his offices to the program headquarters in Monticello, Utah. His new address is PO Box 12, 580 Main St., Monticello, Utah 84535, and his phone number is 888- 440-9461.