Investigation finds physical, mental, and sexual abuse at Oregon’s Mount Bachelor Academy
November 5, 11:22 PM
Politics in Education ExaminerAna Kasparian
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An article was published in the Huffington Post by journalist Maia Szalavitz regarding a criminal investigation of an Oregon school for troubled teens. Mount Bachelor Academy is in the center of controversial allegations made by students claiming that the staff used abusive techniques in their “emotional growth” program known as “Lifesteps.”
Oregon’s Department of Human Services released an eye-opening report on Mount Bachelor, claiming that its emotional growth curriculum is “harmful and damaging” and its “methods of emotional, behavioral and mental health intervention and daily interaction with students perpetuate an environment that poses an immediate threat and puts all children at risk of harm.”
The Department of Human Services is holding Executive Director Sharon Bitz accountable for turning a blind eye to the abusive treatment evidenced by the investigation. The Department believes that Bitz either knew about the abusive practices of her agency, or should have known what was happening under her watch. The abuse is said to be “substantially consistent with the experience of all children enrolled in the program.”
Unsurprisingly, Bitz attacked the validity of the report. In an official statement she said, “We vigorously disagree with the state’s findings. This surprising action, following seven months of cooperative work by Mount Bachelor with the state since the allegations surfaced, is not only erroneous but also creates an unnecessary burden of distress and disruption for our students and their families. As a result, we are quickly and aggressively pursuing legal options.”
During the seven-month investigation, officials talked to 65 witnesses including former students, staff members, and an ex-employee whistle blower. The report confirmed eight allegations of abuse involving five students. Some of the allegations made by former MBA students are horrendous to say the least.
One female student, who had been raped prior to attending the MBA, was forced to dress as a French maid and perform lap dances to sexually suggestive songs such as “Milkshake” by Kelis.
Another former male student told officials that at least four girls and one bi-sexual boy were forced to do the same exercise. He said that when the girls performed the dances on him, “The were just crying,” and that the bisexual boy had to give lap dances to both male and female students.
According to Maia Szalavitz’s piece in Time Magazine, a former student by the name of Melissa Maisa experienced similar bizarre abuse:
Maisa attended MBA from 1992-1994. When I spoke to her for Time, she described having been made to do a bizarre and obscene ritual, for which she had to lie on the floor “in the sluttiest way possible” in front of male staff members and students. Through numerous repetitions, she had to put one foot on a guy’s knee and say, “This foot is Christmas.” Then, she’d place the other foot, saying “This foot is New Year’s. Would you like to meet me between the holidays?”
Maisa said she encouraged the state investigator who interviewed her to get into the positions that she had been made to take. “It’s one thing to hear the stories, but another thing entirely to put yourself in that position mentally and physically, to think about being a teenage girl far from friends and family, feeling like no one loves you and then you have to act out no one loving you.”
The investigation also discovered that school staff failed to tell child welfare officials when a student disclosed that she had been raped.
Many couples have sued for a refund of the $76,000 annual tuition they paid to send their troubled kids to MBA. The state has also ordered the school to shut down until its administrators hire new staff and make other disciplinary changes within 90 days. If MBA fails to meet the requirements within that time frame, its license will be revoked.
If an investigation yields such incriminating evidence on a given school, should the campus ever be allowed to re-open? When considering the Executive Director’s nonchalant and dismissive attitude toward the investigation, I would highly recommend that this school lose its license indefinitely. Cases of sexual abuse involving minors should not be taken lightly, and the fact that the state government is giving this school a chance to “redeem” itself is ridiculous.
Also, the staff members who forced these students to participate in sexually suggestive exercises need to face serious consequences. Telling the school to switch things up in 90 days simply is not enough.
What angers me the most is the fact that this school charged parents $76,000 a year to “educate” their kids, and instead of giving the so-called “troubled teens,” and education, staff members treated them as jokes and abused them.
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