This is a staff list for Scotts Valley School in Yoncalla, OR
(Scotts Valley School is closed as of April 16th, 2016)
(we are working to acquire the complete records for ALL years)
We advise current and/or former staff to report any abuses you may have witnessed while working at the Scotts Valley School. For information on your rights and how to take action, visit www.heal-online.org/blowthewhistle.htm. If you were fired or forced to resign because you opposed any illegal and/or unethical practices at Easter Seals Residential Programs, you have the right to take action.
If you were harmed (family or survivor) by Scotts Valley School, please contact [email protected] if you remember the long-term employees and from which years. This will help! Also, if you recognize any of these staff as having worked at another program, please send in any information about their past or present employment at other facilities and/or cults.
HEAL is currently investigating Scotts Valley School.
|
Name |
Unit/Position |
Additional Information |
| David M. Thomas | Executive Director | David Thomas ran "The Academy" and is publicly claimed by Scotts Valley School (scottsvalleyschool.com/boarding_schools_006.htm). The Academy is closed. |
| Dr. Matthew Driver | "on call" | medical doctor |
| Dr. Donald Wonderly | "on call" | OB/GYN (medical doctor) |
| Dr. Poe Randall | "on call" | dentist |
| Dr. Bruce Randall | "on call" | orthodontist |
| Mary Warren | Admissions Director | |
| Wayland E. Wisby | Boys Group Trainer | |
| David Dale Stidham | Boys Group Trainer | |
| Jad Thommen | Staff Trainer | |
| William "Bruce" Heard | Boys Group "Runner" | |
| Tyler Pope | Boys Group "Runner" | |
| *(Scotts Valley School, like many other programs in this industry, keeps a "tight lid" on any specific information regarding their staff, qualifications, and practices. Please contact us with the names of any staff of which you have firsthand knowledge or experience. Thank you for your help.) | ||
|
The following is an abuse report regarding this program taken from an
external website (link provided below):
"My 16 year old nephew was physically beaten by the buckle of a belt numerous times by staff, aka trainers (names: Jad, Bruce, Whalen) and deeply bruised by the same trainers when they used their elbows to jab the chest, abdomen and thighs of my nephew. At shower time, staff used their heels to kick my nephew's thighs, chest, abdomen; when my nephew would run from them, they would wrestle him to the ground (a concrete floor), causing abrasions and bleeding of my nephew. The staff were verbally abusive, name calling (such as: "*****-*** little *****" and "kiss-***". My nephew was admitted to Scotts Valley School for substance abuse and we removed him after finding out about the physical and verbal abuse." Source: http://businessfinder.oregonlive.com/640092/Scotts-Valley-School-Yoncalla-OR (Post Originated on March 21st, 2011 and Copied to this site on Sept. 23rd, 2011.) |
||
| Scotts Valley School is opening a sister program in Fiji in June called Mango Island Academy. | ||
| Boarding school, Lake Oswego foster care group could lose state licenses Created on Thursday, 03 December 2015 21:05 | Written by Hillary Borrud/Capital Bureau | inShare Share 0 Comments SALEM — Two programs that care for foster children and troubled teens could lose their state licenses following a recent review, the Oregon Department of Human Services announced Thursday. The agency is working with the Oregon Department of Justice to draft “intent to revoke” letters to Scotts Valley School, a therapeutic boarding program in Yoncalla, south of Eugene, and the Youth Villages foster care agency which operates facilities in Lake Oswego and Oregon City. As a result of the review, the state also stopped placing foster children at Youth Villages programs and moved the children who were already there to other placements, DHS spokesman Gene Evans wrote in an email Thursday. Top officials at the agency knew there was trouble at Scotts Valley School, because they had flagged it on an internal list of problematic service providers known as the “radar list.” Yet the agency had not revoked or even denied the renewal of licenses for any organizations on the list since it was created 36 months ago, according to DHS testimony at a legislative hearing last month. The letters are a “due process step” the state must complete before revoking the licenses, and they will lay out corrective actions Scotts Valley School and Youth Villages must complete in order to continue operating, according to DHS. The agency did not release any information Thursday about the type of problems that led officials to start the license revocation process. Connie Mills, manager of public relations for Youth Villages, said in a statement that the organization takes the state’s concerns seriously and is making improvements to the program. “While we disagree with some of DHS’s conclusions, we are extremely concerned about this and are taking these issues very seriously,” Mills wrote. “Our No. 1 goal always is to provide the very best care for young people. DHS has asked us to hold off on admissions to our residential campus program for the time being. They have some questions about this program and we are actively addressing those while we work with DHS on a corrective action plan.” Mills wrote that this would include “enhancing supervision of youth by significantly increasing highly skilled and trained staffing, as well as conducting additional trainings and evaluating other areas in which we can make improvements.” “We have a long history of providing care for Oregon’s youth who face some of the biggest challenges, and our commitment to caring for them is steadfast,” Mills wrote. Staff at Scotts Valley School did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday afternoon. DHS officials decided to take action against the programs amid scrutiny of the agency’s handling of problems at another foster care agency, Give Us This Day in Portland. Willamette Week reported on problems at Give Us This Day starting in September, and the newspaper has since reported that top officials at the agency knew about the issues and did nothing. The Nov. 25 review also took place a week after news organizations including the Pamplin Media Group/EO Media Group Capital Bureau filed public records requests for information on the other state-licensed facilities DHS had flagged on its internal “radar list.” Interim DHS director Clyde Saiki called together top agency managers on the eve of Thanksgiving to conduct the review of other children’s services organizations on the list, Evans wrote. DHS released the information Thursday to news organizations, at the same time the agency announced its planned action against Scotts Valley School and Youth Villages. Scotts Valley School had been flagged for problems more than 30 out the last 36 months, more than any other DHS-licensed facility, according to information provided to lawmakers during a Nov. 16 hearing. At the time, the agency did not identify the school as the entity that had been on the list for so many months. The criteria to get on the list include “high severity or high quantity of allegations,” a state licensing action such as suspension, political implications, potential media attention and “chronic non-compliance or ‘YoYo’ compliance,” according to information DHS provided to the Legislature last month. The Nov. 25 review of children’s service providers on the “radar list” included several other programs that will not receive letters of intent to revoke: Chehalem Youth and Family Services in Newberg; Eastern Oregon Academy in Hines; The Inn Home for Boys in the Portland metropolitan area; Kairos in Grants Pass; and Youth Progress in Portland. Evans, the DHS spokesman, wrote that agency director Saiki “established an ongoing review process to ensure that any issues with licensed child-caring facilities are identified and vetted with a cross-agency management team. This will ensure that actions are taken before a situation becomes a risk to the safety of children and youth in state care.” Hillary Borrud is a reporter with the Pamplin Media Group/EO Media Group Capital Bureau in Salem. Source: http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/283981-160547-boarding-school-lake-oswego-foster-care-group-could-lose-state-licenses | ||
| DHS moves to revoke foster care licenses Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 0 By Hillary Borrud Capital Bureau Published:December 3, 2015 7:28PM The agency is working with the Oregon Department of Justice to draft “intent to revoke” letters to Scotts Valley School, a therapeutic boarding program south of Eugene, and the Youth Villages foster care agency which operates facilities in Lake Oswego and Oregon City. SALEM — Two programs that care for foster children and troubled teens could lose their state licenses following a recent review, the Oregon Department of Human Services announced Thursday. The agency is working with the Oregon Department of Justice to draft “intent to revoke” letters to Scotts Valley School, a therapeutic boarding program south of Eugene, and the Youth Villages foster care agency which operates facilities in Lake Oswego and Oregon City. As a result of the review, the state also stopped placing foster children at Youth Villages programs and moved the children who were already there to other placements, DHS spokesman Gene Evans wrote in an email Thursday. Top officials at the agency knew there was trouble at Scotts Valley School, because they had flagged it on an internal list of problematic service providers known as the “radar list.” Yet the agency had not revoked or even denied the renewal of licenses for any organizations on the list since it was created 36 months ago, according to DHS testimony at a legislative hearing last month. The letters are a “due process step” the state must complete before revoking the licenses, and they will lay out corrective actions Scotts Valley School and Youth Villages must complete in order to continue operating, according to DHS. The agency did not release any information Thursday about the type of problems that led officials to start the license revocation process. Connie Mills, manager of public relations for Youth Villages, said in a statement that the organization takes the state’s concerns seriously and is making improvements to the program. “While we disagree with some of DHS’s conclusions, we are extremely concerned about this and are taking these issues very seriously,” Mills wrote. “Our No. 1 goal always is to provide the very best care for young people. DHS has asked us to hold off on admissions to our residential campus program for the time being. They have some questions about this program and we are actively addressing those while we work with DHS on a corrective action plan.” Mills wrote that this will include “enhancing supervision of youth by significantly increasing highly skilled and trained staffing, as well as conducting additional trainings and evaluating other areas in which we can make improvements.” “We have a long history of providing care for Oregon’s youth who face some of the biggest challenges, and our commitment to caring for them is steadfast,” Mills wrote. Staff at Scotts Valley School did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday afternoon. DHS officials decided to take action against the programs amid scrutiny of the agency’s handling of problems at another foster care agency, Give Us This Day in Portland. Willamette Week reported on problems at Give Us This Day starting in September, and the newspaper has since reported that top officials at the agency knew about the issues and did nothing. The Nov. 25 review also took place a week after news organizations including the EO Media Group/Pamplin Media Group Capital Bureau filed public records requests for information on the other state-licensed facilities DHS had flagged on its internal “radar list.” Interim DHS director Clyde Saiki called together top agency managers on the eve of Thanksgiving to conduct the review of other children’s services organizations on the list, Evans wrote. DHS released the information Thursday to news organizations, at the same time the agency announced its planned action against Scotts Valley School and Youth Villages. Scotts Valley School had been flagged for problems more than 30 out the last 36 months, more than any other DHS-licensed facility, according to information provided to lawmakers during a Nov. 16 hearing. At the time, the agency did not identify the school as the entity that had been on the list for so many months. The criteria to get on the list include “high severity or high quantity of allegations,” a state licensing action such as suspension, political implications, potential media attention and “chronic non-compliance or ‘YoYo’ compliance,” according to information DHS provided to the Legislature last month. The Nov. 25 review of children’s service providers on the “radar list” included several other programs that will not receive letters of intent to revoke: Chehalem Youth and Family Services in Newberg; Eastern Oregon Academy in Hines; The Inn Home for Boys in the Portland metropolitan area; Kairos in Grants Pass; and Youth Progress in Portland. Evans, the DHS spokesman, wrote that agency director Saiki “established an ongoing review process to ensure that any issues with licensed child-caring facilities are identified and vetted with a cross-agency management team. This will ensure that actions are taken before a situation becomes a risk to the safety of children and youth in state care.” Source: http://www.eastoregonian.com/eo/capital-bureau/20151203/dhs-moves-to-revoke-foster-care-licenses | ||
| 'Lack of food,' vulgar names: Abuse complaints at school for troubled teens 1 / 3 DHS hearing Donna Keddy, the Oregon Department of Human Services' licensing and regulatory oversight director, testifies before a Senate panel looking at foster-care legislation on Nov. 16, 2015, at the Capitol in Salem. Ian K. Kullgren | The Oregonian/OregonLive Print Email By Denis C. Theriault | The Oregonian/OregonLive The Oregonian Email the author | Follow on Twitter on December 12, 2015 at 10:04 AM, updated December 12, 2015 at 11:19 AM 59 shares 2016 Oregon Legislature 'Lack of food,' vulgar names: Abuse complaints at school for troubled teens Fed-up officials call for overhaul of Oregon Energy Department As Oregon grows more diverse, Legislature remains overwhelmingly white 3 minimum wages in Oregon? Lawmaker's proposal would do just that Scandal fallout: Oregon pulls foster kids from another provider All Stories Oregon officials on Friday threatened the license of a boarding school that's been on a state "radar list" for most of the past three years — revealing repeated allegations of abuse and neglect. The Department of Human Services, in a letter detailing concerns at Scotts Valley School about 40 miles south of Eugene, writes about children enduring hunger, bedbug bites, vulgar nicknames such as "orphan whore" and punishment that involved silently facing a wall for 12 hours a day. "Throughout all of these reviews, students consistently report being hungry," the letter says. "The issue regarding food is pervasive enough that DHS has concerns the lack of food may cause serious health issues for the students or reflect a neglectful environment." The 20-page letter is the second this week to detail serious complaints against an Oregon child-care provider. And it's the third this year as fallout continues from a scandal over allegations that a Northeast Portland foster care provider misspent $2 million in state money while neglecting and abusing the children under its care. Read: To review a copy of the state's letter, click here. That scandal prompted a series of legislative hearings, a push for new legislation and plans by Gov. Kate Brown to overhaul the state's child-welfare system. Human Services officials released this week's letters in response to media requests last month seeking more information about the department's "radar list" of troubled providers. Taken together, the findings paint a troubling picture of disarray among Oregon providers and the regulators tasked with overseeing them. One staffer at Scotts Valley Schoolat Scotts Valley School, in Yoncalla, conducted his own reference checks, the state said. Investigators also found that staffers failed to intervene after a female student reported a rape and was hounded into silence by classmates. The private facility — which provides 24-hour care for troubled teens from around the country — failed to track children's medication and consent forms, along with records showing whether staffers were trained in CPR and the handling of emotionally troubled youths. Noting a pattern of complaints since the school first gained its license in 2009, the letter had harsh words for longtime director Dave Thomas — accusing him of violating rules requiring child-care staffers to possess "good moral character." "Thomas has frequently misrepresented facts or responded to inquiries in a circular fashion," the letter says. "He often blames his employees for failing to properly document or file information, without acknowledging his own responsibility to supervise those employees." Thomas, in a short interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday, said he hadn't read the letter but disagreed with the state's findings. He threatened to sue the Department of Human Services, accusing it of fabricating conversations and refusing to provide help as promised. The school has 30 days to challenge the state's action. "We are in full compliance. We are well within substantial compliance right now," Thomas said. "We have never had one child go hungry, not once." Scotts Valley School landed on the state's watch list for 30 of the past 36 months, licensing officials told lawmakers in November. The list, updated every few months, considers factors such as the volume and severity of complaints, and long-term noncompliance. Officials first revealed the list at a tense legislative hearing last month on how the department deals with those providers. The hearing followed reporting in Willamette Week that said top officials continued to send children to Northeast Portland provider Give Us This Day despite knowing about serious abuse allegations and financial struggles. Asked why Human Services didn't move to revoke Scotts Valley School's license until this month — given the drumbeat of complaints stretching back years — spokesman Gene Evans said the department's hands were tied by weak enforcement rules. "We did hold Scotts Valley accountable on these issues, and they completed their corrective actions to return to compliance with many of them," he said in an email. "The problem was they were not able to sustain compliance." Evans also pointed to the department's new interim director, Clyde Saiki, who was handpicked by Gov. Kate Brown to lead an overhaul of the state's child welfare system. Saiki ordered fresh reviews of each of the seven providers on the state's most recent radar list. "Clyde heard the concerns and said enough is enough," Evans wrote. Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, said Friday's letter perfectly explains why she's drafting legislation to give Human Services more power to crack down on providers. She was particularly disturbed by the allegation involving the reported rape. Now, she said, licensing inspectors have wide discretion when deciding violations are serious enough to declare a provider out of compliance with licensing rules. Her bill would set a clear bar for that declaration: any violation involving discipline, nutrition, safety and background checks, among others. "I'm glad these letters are going out. What I don't understand still is why it took so long," she said. "What our bill will do is make clear that some teeth are there and that action is immediate. It doesn't look like they ever came into compliance." — Denis C. Theriault [email protected] 503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/12/hunger_vulgar_names_oregon_air.html | ||
| State threatens license of Yoncalla's Scotts Valley boarding school for troubled teens Article Comments (0) 2 SmallerLarger YONCALLA — A boarding school for troubled teens has come under fire from the Department of Human Services Child Welfare Program. In December, DHS notified Scotts Valley School on Scotts Valley Road east of Yoncalla it intended to revoke its license. The notification letter lists a variety of allegations against the school, among them that the school has allowed students there to go hungry and that it has used abusive punishments like forcing students to sit all day in front of a wall for weeks at a time. The director of the school told The News-Review Monday the allegations are false. He has filed an appeal that will bring the case before an administrative law judge. Scotts Valley is a therapeutic boarding school serving students ages 12 to 18 with issues ranging from low self-esteem to defiance toward authority to behavioral problems. Some have run away from home, some struggle with their identity or goals, some are unable to live by their parents’ rules or have experimented with drugs or alcohol, according to the school’s website. The school advertises its program as a “positive and non-punitive environment which inspires and honors responsible choice.” DHS spokesman Gene Evans said the department sends out a letter of intent to revoke a license much more often than it actually revokes that license. The letter represents a last chance for the facility to fix the problems DHS identified, he said. “Many facilities, many organizations see that as kind of a wake-up call of OK, all right, you’re serious, we get it now and make those changes, but we’ll see,” Evans said. According to DHS, Scotts Valley School has been found repeatedly to not offer snacks to students on request. “Throughout all of these reviews, students consistently report being hungry. The issue regarding food is pervasive enough that DHS has concerns the lack of food may cause serious health issues for the students or reflect a neglectful environment,” the letter said. “That’s absolutely nonsense,” Dave Thomas, the school’s director, said Monday. He said the details he will present at a hearing before an administrative law judge will “certainly exonerate us.” He said snacks are available, and said the average student gains 30 pounds over the course of his or her stay at the school. The DHS letter also states that students were forced to sit and stare at a wall, without speaking to anyone, for approximately 12 hours a day, a punishment it termed abusive. One mentally ill student spent two weeks at the wall in 2012, while other students told DHS inspectors students were on the wall for up to a month as punishment, according to the letter. That didn’t happen the way DHS described it, Thomas said. “Some of the kids wanted to do nothing, so they got to sit there and do nothing. So what did they do, they stared at the wall,” Thomas said. If the allegation were true, he said, DHS “would have closed our school in a heartbeat.” A third complaint brought up by DHS was that some students were being allowed to discipline others. According to the letter, students were allowed to help place other students in restraints. One student complained of an injury during exercise at the gym, and students yelled at her to push through it, the letter said. A more disturbing allegation surrounded a student who reported she had been raped. “Other students confronted and berated her until she ‘admitted’ to lying. No staff intervened during this time or checked on the welfare of the reporter,” the letter said. Thomas said the letter is inflammatory, and that the rape incident outlined in the report did not happen. He also asserted that DHS has sent letters to the parents of students at the school, but said that no parents have taken their students out of the school because of the allegations against it. • You can reach reporter Carisa Cegavske at 541-957-4213 or [email protected]. Source: http://www.nrtoday.com/news/19988178-113/state-threatens-license-of-yoncallas-scotts-valley-boarding | ||
| State threatens license of Yoncalla boarding school for troubled teens THE ASSOCIATED PRESS January 07, 2016 - 5:01 am EST AAA YONCALLA, Oregon — A Douglas County boarding school for troubled teens could shut down over allegations from the state that it allowed students to go hungry and used abusive punishments. The Roseburg News-Review reports (http://is.gd/Y6epvg ) the Department of Human Services Child Welfare Program notified Scotts Valley School in December that it intended to revoke its license. Agency spokesman Gene Evans says the notification letter serves as a warning to facilities to fix problems identified by the state. DHS claims students at the Yoncalla school report being hungry and denied snacks. The school is also accused of forcing students to sit all day in front of a wall for weeks as punishment. The school's director, Dave Thomas, says the allegations are false. He has filed an appeal that will bring the case before a judge. Source: http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/5b6b761f6a67490cb7b19cdd916f9a17/OR--Boarding-School-Warned | ||
| HEAL received word that this program closed on October 25th, 2016. We verified it has been closed since April 16th, 2016. Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scotts-Valley-School/132803636769790 | ||
Last Updated: October 25th, 2016
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