Was there one of these in Plantation FL back in 1976/7 or so? I was relegated to a "Gables Academy" on the campus of Florida Air Academy there in Plantation that year. It was a couple hours day for reading comprehension. I don't think I learned anything special though, lol, but I definitely wasn't abused.
It could well be that you went to one of the "eventually ten schools operating under the Gables Academy umbrella," especially if it was for something like reading comprehension.
As to your contention of a lack of abuse, I dare say that the likelihood goes down when it's just a class for a few hours a day. It may or may not have been different if you were enrolled in one of their
residential programs.
However, it is also my impression that this organization may have
changed over the years. The ballooning up to ten schools, especially during the time period in question, suggests to me that Gables may have started expanding their targeted student profile to include kids who were not only learning disabled or challenged, but perhaps "behaviorally challenged" as well. This is strictly postulation on my part, I don't actually have any first hand or even third hand knowledge of that.
At any rate, the way things stand
now, Gables Academy does present itself as treating both of these (ofttimes overlapping) populations. And it also appears that some sort of separation goes on, whereby the more "behaviorally challenged" kids get sent elsewhere, perhaps just for a while or perhaps longer, to another of their programs or to an affiliate.
This is actually how I first became aware of this place, as one of their former programs/affiliates is
Shepherd's Hill Farm, run by Trace and Beth Embry. In fact, it would appear that Gables Academy may even have taught the Embrys some basics about running a program, since there is little to suggest any other source for such knowhow in the Embrys' personal histories. Perhaps I just haven't looked hard enough!
· · · · ·
Here's an old '
Seen 'n Heard' piece from Struggling Teens which mentions both Gables Academy and Shepherd's Hill Farm in relation to one another, emphasis added:
SHEPHERD'S HILL FARM RECEIVES ACCREDITATION(November 4, 2003) Beth Embry from The Shepherd's Hill Farm, 706-779-5736,
http://www.shepherdhillfarm.org, announced their on-campus junior/senior high school has recently received its accreditation from The Georgia Accrediting Commission. No longer with
Gables Stone Mountain, they now operate the
Shepherds' Hill Farm Discipline Camp, an outdoor residential therapeutic program and school for youth struggling with behavioral issues. Their 80-acre camp strives to equip youth with spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical tools, "building relationships and trust between staff and students, based on biblical truth."[/list]