In an attempt to dissuade controversy over both Darrington Academy’s affiliation with WWASP and the involvement of his business partner and long time friend Dace Goulding, Mr. Darrington sent out a rebuttal to claims of abuse and maltreatment at Darrington Academy. He blamed the websites that filed these reports from survivors as providing “false allegations” and described claims of abuse as “anything to do with telling a child ‘No'”. Darrington further claims that DA was not a part of WWASP, despite the fact that he confirmed in this very letter, that he was in fact still utilizing the WWASP seminars and marketing resources.

Thursday, June 21, 2007 2:52 AM

Dear Parents,

I have recently received several questions from various parents and prospective parents about allegations that are being made on various sites on the internet. I would like to take this opportunity to address negative and false accusations about Darrington Academy on two sites specifically www.issaccorp.org and www.fornits.com .

The fornits site is unmoderated this means anyone can post anything at any time without any responsibility for what is said or any verification of its authenticity. Because of the anonymity provided by this type of site people are able to make allegations without supporting them with any type of fact or proof of experience. In the few instances that they do attempt to refer to anything concrete they refer to information provided on the isaccorp website which makes several allegations regarding connections between our school and the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and School (WWASPS). The so called facts that support these allegations are simply the interpretations of those operating the site. In the following correspondence I will address each of their charges with the truth and provide additional information regarding possible motivation behind their attempts to discredit the school.

First and foremost they allege that Darrington Academy is a member of the WWASPS, we are not and will never seek membership in this or any other non-academic associations. Because of litigation pending against the WWASPS programs there is a lot of negative press available throughout the net. By grouping us with these people they are able to speak in generalities about allegations against WWASPS rather than having to look for any actual allegations about Darrington Academy.

We are an independent specialty boarding school and due to the controversial nature of the work we do, we do not want to be accused or associated with schools that are beyond our scope of influence. Their allegation that we are a WWASPS school is based on the fact that a former employee of a WWASPS program works here at the school and that we use some of the same resources for enrollment and workshops. A topic I will address later in this letter.
Dace Goulding is the Operations Manager at the facility and oversees the overall management of the on-line staff and admissions. I am the Headmaster and CEO of Darrington Academy Inc. I am responsible for the school as a whole, academics, teachers, and curriculum. These sites would condemn us as a school because of accusations that were made at a WWASPS school that was run by Mr. Goulding in Mexico called Casa by the Sea. And while it is true that the school was closed by Mexican authorities in September of 2004 the Mexican authorities have still not offered an official reason for the closure nor filed any criminal charges that I am aware of. Regardless of the reason for the closure Mr. Goulding was employed here at Darrington Academy at that time. He had resigned as director of Casa by the Sea and left Mexico in July of 2002 to pursue other business opportunities.

Mr. Goulding and I are long time friends who went to high school together but didn’t really see much of each other after graduation. In 2002 we happened to run into each other at a softball tournament, as we began catching up we discussed our roles in education and that led us to a discussion about the number of students who’s behavior was outside the boundaries of public school but had not reached the point of needing a behavioral modification program like the ones that Mr. Goulding had worked with in the past. Over the next several months we stayed in touch and continued to discuss what it would take to provide an effective option for the parents of these students. Based on our combined experiences working with students we concluded that these students needed a safe and structured environment. An environment where they could grow and learn the skills necessary for a successful life without severely limiting their academic options.
In the fall of 2003 we decided to make it a reality and started looking for possible locations for the school. Mr. Goulding was the one who contacted the attorney regarding the purchase of the Fannin Inn and that is why his name appears on the top of the document posted on the isaccorp site, anyone who reads the deed can clearly see that it is Darrington Academy Inc that purchased the building and land but these people propose that the name used to file the document in the attorneys office is a more reliable indication of who owns the building and the land.

Mr. Goulding is a partner in the school but because of his past association with WWASPS and the relentlessness of some of these anti-anything-to-do-with-telling-a-child-no activist groups, we felt it would serve our school better if I was the sole owner and he remained a silent partner. Mr. Goulding has extensive experience working with students in this type of situation and because much of that experience was with WWASPS programs we have some things in common with some of these schools. These commonalities are not so much policy or procedure items but business and legal items, why reinvent the wheel?

Because of his time spent with the WWASPS program Mr.Goulding was already familiar with many of the enrollment agents who as independent businesses enroll students in WWASPS and NON WWASPS programs throughout the country, our school is marketed on the same sites and literature as WWASPS schools. Although our enrollment contract is in a format similar to WWASPS schools, it covers the information that any school of this type would require in order to facilitate the type of work we do here. We also use the premier education system which many WWASPS and NON WWASPS schools use to augment their academic programs and teach character and life skills. We chose to use premier because of the vast number of resources that they provide our students and parents.

These websites regard these similarities in business practice as solid proof that we are the same and must therefore be members of the WWASPS and as I stated earlier this is completely false.

The fornits site spouts allegations of brainwashing and “ties to alleged cults” without ever clearly defining what these words mean, instead they berate any positive posters as someone who is brainwashed and/or place blame on the “cult mentality”. If brainwashing is defined as teaching students to make better choices that will have a positive impact on their lives by providing consistent and fair consequences and rewards. Then we are brainwashing kids, but then again so are many parents who are doing the same things in their own homes. My parents just called it teaching and many experts regard it as a prerequisite for learning. If “ties to alleged cults” is based on the religious beliefs of a small number of those who work here or the fact that someone at premier education used to work for a program that has been labeled a cult by this clearly biased website, I guess it could be true.

I am confident that if an educated person spends some time reading all the information on these websites, not just that regarding Darrington Academy, they will gain an understanding of the types of people that post on them. They will easily see the inconsistencies of their allegations and that the majority of their postings are nothing more than negative propaganda from angry people searching for a conspiracy where none exists.

While there may be some factual accounts regarding other programs and schools on the issaccorp website, I am convinced that the main purpose of the isaccorp site is to discredit competition of Annie Armen who they actively sponsor on their website.

On the surface it appears that she is a compassionate child advocate but as you investigate more thoroughly you will see that she is selling you something called “Annie-biotics” her answer to all of life’s little problems. It is my understanding that there are a number of schools listed on the isaccorp website that are currently trying to have the monetary accounts of isaccorp (a non profit corp) made public so that it is clear where this money is really going and exactly what ties exist between isaccorp and Ms. Armen.

We at Darrington have nothing to hide and we encourage our parents to visit anytime to observe their students to ensure their safety and well being. We are happy to provide the names of several local parents who have and continue to drop by unannounced week in and week out to see their children. These sites refer to threats of removing students of parents who ask questions, in reality parents are encourage to ask questions, but when a parent is doubting their decision to place their child with us and passes that doubt to their child the student uses that doubt to their advantage and usually focuses more on manipulating parents to remove them than on doing the work necessary to truly change.

In these instances we inform parents that given their lack of commitment and the subsequent lack of work by the student it would be better for them to take their child rather than waste money on a student who will not change. The most powerful tool we have in enrolling students is the voice of our satisfied parents, the last thing we want to do is to take money for something we can’t deliver on in the future. We won’t become a holding facility, if we feel we cannot help the student we inform parents and assist them in finding alternative placements.

Hopefully this has given you a little insight into the truth behind the allegations being made by these websites. I will tell you that there has never been a legitimate charge or investigation of abuse against Darrington Academy. We have an open door policy with the local Department of Family and Child Services and are visited by representatives of that department regularly to check students placed here under their care. Please feel free to call them and ask them about their experiences with our school.

We are accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission and are seeking accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All of our staff are qualified and certified as necessary to perform the tasks they are assigned. We at Darrington Academy take our jobs very seriously and genuinely care about each and every student in our care. I encourage you to visit the school and meet the staff in order to make an educated assessment of the information available to you on the internet. If there are any other allegations that you are aware of that I have not addressed in this correspondence please feel free to call me at the school and I will do my best to provide an answer.

Thank You,

Rich Darrington, Headmaster

We’ll leave judgment on the veracity of Mr. Darrington’s claims to the reader.