New York
Determining which alternative or therapeutic boarding school is best for your troubled teen is a daunting process. There is a wealth of information available, but it is hard to know which organizations to trust and it can take hours to track down the information you really need. Help Your Teen Now is a parent advocate/resource agency dedicated to taking the guesswork out of accessing the right information. Call us to today and put yourself on the quickest, most effective path for getting help for your troubled child.
| School Name | Category | Grades | School Style |
|---|---|---|---|
Adirondack Leadership Expeditions |
Single/Coed | 13-17 | Wilderness Program |
|
Family Foundation School |
Single/Coed | 13-19 | Therapeutic Boarding School |
New York Regulatory Laws
There are no requirements for Accreditation and Registration is optional with the Board of Regents. Only competent teachers may instruct students, but a certification is not specifically required. N.Y. Educ. Law §3204.2. The curriculum of private schools must be equivalent to the instruction given at public schools, including English, Geography, U.S. History, Civics, Hygiene, Physical Training, American history, N.Y. Educ. Law §3204.3 as well as instruction discouraging the misuse of alcohol and drugs.
Private school authorities may require students be tested for drugs, including urine analysis. This is subject to written consent of the parents. N.Y. Educ. Law §912-a. Private facilities must train their pupils in safety drills and fire drills must be held at least 12 times a year using different exit methods and times of the day. An administrator failing to comply with this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor. N.Y. Educ. Law §807.
Private facilities are allowed the same health and welfare facilities that are available to public schools. This includes dental and physician services, dental hygienist, school psychologist, nurse, social worker and speech therapist. N.Y. Educ. Law §912.
Reference: http://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/regprivschl/regprivschl.pdf
| Statistics for At-Risk New York Teens | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADD/ADHD | 9.2 | 9.2 percent of children between 4 and 17 diagnosed per year. (2007 study, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007 Study) http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/prevalence.html |
| TEEN PREGNANCY | 29.4 | Pregnancy rates for adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 in New York were between 16.4 and 29.4 per 1,000 women (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2009 Study). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6006a6.htm?s_cid=mm6006a6_e%0d%0a |
| TEEN SUICIDE | 6.6 | Teen Suicide- New York ranks 49th in the nation for suicide in individuals age 15-24. In 2010, there were 183 deaths with a crude rate of 6.6. (CDC’s WISQARS website “Fatal Injury Reports, 2010” http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html;) http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=262&name=DLFE-629.pdf |
| SUBSTANCE ABUSE | 8.3 | Substance Abuse: Approximately 11.1 percent of adolescents in New York, age 12-17, experiment with illicit drugs monthly. 8.3 percent regularly use marijuana and 4.6 percent use other types of illicit drugs. 71,000 adolescent males and 59,000 adolescent females abused or were dependent on drugs or alcohol in the past year. (State Report, 2009, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.) http://www.samhsa.gov/data/States_In_Brief_Reports.aspx |
| VIOLENT CRIME | 77 | Violent Crime: In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice reported the following juvenile arrest rates for for New York: 260 arrests for violent crime, 1,141 arrests for property crime, 536 arrests for Drug Abuse and 60 arrests for weapons violations. (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/228479.pdf |
| GRADUATION RATES | 77 | Graduation Rates: New York had an 77 percent statewide graduation rate for the 2010-2011 school year. (U.S. Department of Education. 2010-2011) http://www.governing.com/gov-data/high-school-graduation-rates-by-state.html |
Summary
Your path to helping your child and getting your life back together can start as soon as you call us. We will start off with a no-cost evaluation of your teen, which will allow us to narrow down the list of facilities and services. Every family’s needs are unique and you can utilize our free advice to answer questions from government benefit paperwork to a reference for a local therapist.
Knowledge is power when deciding which alternative or therapeutic school to place your child in. You can rest easy in the knowledge that you are getting unbiased advice for programs and facilities based on our years of research. No-one makes our reference list unless they are able to show a solid history of success in treating troubled teens. Call us today and take the first step toward healing your family.