Logan River Academy

Logan River Academy is a residential treatment center, or RTC in Logan, Utah, United States. The facility has a capacity of around eighty children, including autism spectrum youth.[1] The treatment center's address is 1683 US-89, Logan, Utah 84321.

Tuition

The school's tuition is variable, depending on whether private or public money is being used for tuition. The school bills separately for school, residential hours, and therapy sessions. However, tuition generally exceeds ten thousand U.S. dollars per month, and children generally stay at the program year-round.[2]

Licensing

In the United States, residential treatment centers must be licensed through their state. Logan River Academy is licensed as a residential treatment center through the Utah State Department of Human Services.[3]

Accreditation

According to Utah Law, Residential Treatment Centers are required to have an accredited academic program, but are not required to have their residential portions accredited.[4] However; The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI,)[5] and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommend that each individual aspect of a program be accredited.[6]

Educational program accreditation

The school's educational program is accredited through AdvancED.[7] Logan River Academy's most current available accreditation report, done in 2009, states, "The facilities of Logan River Academy are commendable, and the school design is very beneficial to learning and teaching."[8] The report also notes that the facility's educational programs did not provide adequate curriculum maps nor the desired amount of student achievement data, and that the school should work to reduce a high rate of staff turnover.[9]

Residential program accreditation

Logan River Academy's residential treatment program is accredited by the Joint Commission (JCAHO) . The school also belongs to NATSAP, a non-accrediting membership organization that regulates standards on its member organizations. Specifically, they require each of their members to: "be licensed by the appropriate state agency authorized to set and oversee standards of therapeutic and/or behavioral healthcare for youth and adolescents or accredited by a nationally recognized behavioral health accreditation agency, have therapeutic services with oversight by a qualified clinician, and aspire NATSAP Ethical Principles and NATSAP Principles of Good Practice" [10] Logan River Academy is also licensed by the state of Utah as a residential treatment center.

Sports

Although the academy used to be active and engaging in local sports teams, currently the school as of May 2020 has no active teams or groups of this sort.[11] In Winter 2014 Logan River Academy had 2 basketball teams. In 2012, two Logan River Academy students were allowed to try out for a team at the local high school, but the Utah High School Activities Association did not allow them to play for the team.[12]

Criticism

The school has been subject to a campaign of criticism led by Anonymous, who allege that the school uses a form of solitary confinement on students.[13][14][15] This is denied by the school who say the allegations are "unfounded" and that there is "no basis for the allegations out there".[16][17] Despite that, many former students have still reported severe abuse and torture by the hands of the schools staff as part of the school's behavior modification techniques, some have even compared the abuse against students at the school to the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.[18] The campaign against the school has used an online petition on change.org as well as campaigning on social media.[19]

After much of the criticism occurred, the school removed some of the practices that were of the most criticized. Among the most criticized and later removed practice was Devolopment, or "Devo" which was a dorm with stricter rules that students would be sent to for misbehavior. As of early 2019, the now focuses on helping students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and mild to moderate behavioral disorders.[20]

Other groups outside of Anonymous have also criticized the school over a variety of separate issues such as many of the schools employees not being professionally licensed by the state of Utah.[21]

References
  1. "Logan River Academy". education.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014.
  2. Private School Review - Logan River Academy Profile Archived 2013-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Private School Review - Logan River Academy Profile
  3. Utah Human Services License Search, Utah Human Services License Search
  4. Utah Administrative Code: Rule R501-19. Residential Treatment Programs. (http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r501/r501-19.htm Archived 2014-02-13 at the Wayback Machine)
  5. NAMI - Residential Treatment Options - Page 4 Archived 2013-08-31 at the Wayback Machine, NAMI - Residential Treatment Options - Page 4
  6. United States Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information - Residential Treatment Programs for Teens - Item 3 "What about accreditation?", US FTC - Consumer Information - Residential Treatment Programs for Teens - Item 3
  7. AdvancED Institution Summary - Logan River Academy, AdvancED Institution Summary - Logan River Academy
  8. http://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/accred/Reports/DOCS/Logan-River-VT-report-2009.aspx, page 26
  9. Utah State Office of Education - The Report of the Accreditation Visiting Team - Logan River Academy, Utah State Office of Education - The Report of the Accreditation Visiting Team - Logan River Academy
  10. "NATSAP - About NATSAP". natsap.org.
  11. Logan River Academy Academics. "Logan River Academy Academics". loganriveracademyacademics.blogspot.com.
  12. The Salt Lake Tribune - Logan River Academy Students Aim to Play for Logan, The Salt Lake Tribune - Logan River Academy Students Aim to Play for Logan
  13. Palmer, Ewan (12 November 2013). "Anonymous Campaigns to Close Logan River Academy over Student Torture Allegations". International Business Times.
  14. "Anonymous launches Twitterstorm to close Utah school over alleged torture of students". RT. 12 November 2013.
  15. Amy Joi O'Donoghue (11 November 2013). "Hacker group alleges Logan River Academy abuses clients". KSL.
  16. Fernando Alfonso III (11 November 2013). "Anonymous aims to shut down Utah boarding school over abuse allegations". The Daily Dot.
  17. Keller, Kelsey (13 November 2013). "Logan River Academy says abuse allegations are false". Cache Valley Daily.
  18. Shut Logan River Academy on Vimeo
  19. "Anonymous leads calls to #ShutLoganRiver". Al-Jazeera The Stream. 12 November 2013.
  20. "Home". Logan River Academy. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  21. "This is a staff list for Logan River Academy in Logan, UT". 28 Mar 2015. Retrieved 25 Mar 2016.

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