"The most important thing anybody should do when checking out a school or program is to check the credentials and longevity of the key staff," said Watson, August 8th on Lon Woodbury's Internet Talk Show "Parent Choices for Struggling Teens" on LATalkRadio.
"In this network," Watson continued, "people refer to people rather than to institutions and to make a good choice for enrolling their children the parent or anybody else needs to know the people responsible for running the program."
"This includes knowing who are the money people behind the program," concluded Watson, "since all too often financial investors actually own the program and sometimes will make surprise decisions undercutting the program management and making a major impact on programming."
"A successful school or program will have a good balance between program and financial decision making," Watson said, "since if effective day to day control is too tilted to the financial people the program suffers, and if the programming people have too much say there is the possibility they would financially obligate the program beyond its abilities."
Some other red flags parents should watch for, Watson explained, in addition to good staff balance and qualifications, would be when a program asserts they can handle all kids with problems, if the program doesn't have a rich variety of supplemental services including good family work, and it seems like they are trying to sell their program rather than just presenting.
Parent Choices for Struggling Teens is an Internet Talk Radio Show hosted by Lon Woodbury every Monday at noon on LATalkRadio.
Lon Woodbury, MA, IECA, CEP is an Independent Educational Consultant, the founder/owner of Woodbury Reports Inc. and www.strugglingteens.com and has worked with families and their struggling teens since 1984.