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CEDU collapse stumps experts Posted: Sunday, Apr 03, 2005 - 09:25:26 am PDT By LUCY DUKES Hagadone News Network
BONNERS FERRY -- Industry experts are working furiously to figure out why CEDU suddenly closed down and declared bankruptcy on Friday, eliminating nearly 250 jobs in Boundary County, sending 301 youth home in the middle of uncompleted treatment programs and sending the county's economy into a tailspin. Bonners Ferry Educational Consultant Lon Woodbury, who publishes a directory of top therapeutic schools and treatment programs in the nation, said he's never seen schools close this abruptly on this scale."I had no idea that it was this bad," Woodbury said. CEDU had operated Ascent, Northwest Academy, Boulder Creek Academy and Milestones in Idaho. Milestones is in Coeur d'Alene, and the other schools are located in Boundary County. CEDU has a small office in Sandpoint and closed Rocky Mountain Academy in mid-February, saying it could no longer attract quality staff and therefore could not attract students.
Some disagreed with hiring people in top CEDU positions with financial, rather than program backgrounds, said Woodbury. For example, current CEDU Chief Executive Officer Pete Talbott has a background in many organizations, many of them banking institutions, according to articles on Woodbury's Web site, struggling teens.com. Talbott replaced Naples, who also had a financial background, he said. "I think the problem that occurred here is the financial people got ahold of the school and they were far away from the program," he said. "I don't know of any of the schools in any network that have that kind of thing." For example, Aspen Education Group, which provides educational and treatment programs for pre-teens, adolescents, young adults, has program people making decisions, he said. "I don't think they (CEDU) allowed the program people enough say," he said. "People gave them the benefit of the doubt because they've been around for so long." Woodbury said he'd heard McCown and De Leeuw, the investment firm that owns CEDU, had to keep investors happy. After all, the academies are a business, he said. CEDU employees heard they would not get payroll on Thursday and learned on Friday after 3 p.m. that CEDU was closing down all its schools. The news shocked both employees, Woodbury and other experts. The schools had an adequate number enrolled and the programs seemed to be running fine, he said. The closure is not an indicator that the industry is failing, experts say. "I think you can say it's growing," said Woodbury, whose directory has grown from a thin notebook-like handout in the early 1990s to a hardbound and detailed publication in recent years. New schools start frequently, he said, and they offer incredible variety. "We've grown and it's a reflection of the industry," said Woodbury. POST YOUR OPINION
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Bonner County Daily Bee
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