Hidden Lake Academy was a

therapeutic boarding school Therapeutic boarding school is an institution where students reside on campus and are provided with both educational and therapeutic services. These institutions first began to emerge in the late 1960s. Description A therapeutic boarding school ...

Dahlonega, Georgia Dahlonega ( ) is the county seat of Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,242, and in 2018 the population was estimated to be 6,884. Dahlonega is located at t ...

, United States, in operation from 1994 until 2011. In 2006, it was the subject of legal action over

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

. The school filed bankruptcy in 2009 and shut down in 2011.

History

The school was founded in 1994 by Dr. Leonard Buccelatto in Dahlonega, Georgia. It was intended to "fill the need for a specialty school to fill the gap between services of

residential treatment center A residential treatment center (RTC), sometimes called a drug rehabilitation, rehab, is a live-in health care provider#Medical nursing home, health care facility providing therapy for substance use disorders, mental illness, or other behavioral pr ...

s and traditional

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

s." A federal

class action lawsuit A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...

against the school by a group of parents was filed in 2006. Although denied class action status, the parties settled out of court for $400,000. The lawsuit caused a drop in student enrollments and cost the school $1.5 million in legal fees. This, combined with the impact of a poor economy, led the school to file for bankruptcy under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in 2009. After the bankruptcy hearing, the school was renamed "Ridge Creek School". In 2011, a disturbance occurred in which multiple students tried to leave the school. This resulted in the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office being called out to the scene. The school closed in 2011.

About the program

New students had typically struggled with homework, depression, anger management, or various addictions. Some students were from outside the United States. The student population ranged from 15 to 200. Hidden Lake Academy was

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...

(SACS), the

Southern Association of Independent Schools The Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS), founded in 1953, is a U.S.-based voluntary regional accrediting association of more than 380 independent elementary and secondary schools with a combined enrollment of more than 220,000 ...

(SAIS), and the Georgia Accreditation Commission (GAC). The length of the program was eighteen to twenty-one months. Each group consisted of fourteen students and the daily group counselling sessions were seven hours long.

Campus

The campus included academic and recreational facilities designed to support student education and extracurricular activities. The academic facilities consisted of 15 classrooms, including a building with seven classrooms, a library, a computer room, and a science lab. Additional spaces were available for arts and crafts, aerobics, dance, and drama.

Ridge Creek

The Ridge Creek wilderness program was founded in 2001 and was listed on National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) website as early as 2003. The address listed on the NATSAP and Ridge Creek websites is the same as that of Hidden Lake Academy. The website states that Leonard Buccelatoo was the founder of Ridge Creek.

Former headmasters

* Joseph Stapp * Charles W. Cates * Rudy Bentz

Notable alumni

Dash Snow Dashiell A. Snow (July 27, 1981 – July 13, 2009) was an American artist based in New York City.Roberta Smith"Dash Snow, New York Artist, Dies at 27" ''The New York Times'', July 14, 2009. Snow's photographs included scenes of sex, drugs, viole ...

, artist

References

{{coord, 34, 37, 42, N, 84, 04, 16, W, type:city_region:US-ME, display=title Therapeutic community Schools in Lumpkin County, Georgia Private schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Schools accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Therapeutic boarding schools in the United States