Allynwood Academy

Allynwood Academy
Location
Map
,
United States
Information
TypePrivate High School
MottoBuilding Character. Changing Lives.
Religious affiliation(s)Interfaith
Established1984
Enrollmentclosed
Student to teacher ratio4:1
Campus158 acres (0.64 km2)
Color(s)Blue and Gold
Athleticsn/a
MascotFalcon
Websiteallynwood.org

Allynwood Academy, formerly the Family Foundation School, was a private, co-educational, college preparatory, therapeutic boarding school located in Hancock, New York.[1] The school was in operation from 1984 through 2014, when it closed due to declining enrollment amid a raft of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse allegations made by alumni in a grassroots "truth campaign."[2][3][4] At least ten lawsuits have been brought by former students since 2019, in which plaintiffs claimed that strip searches, hard labor, isolation rooms, physical restraint, and sexual assault were rampant at the school in the 1990s and 2000s. Three of the lawsuits were settled in October 2021 for undisclosed sums.[4] A front-page New York Times article in 2018 reported a pattern of at least one hundred deaths by overdose and suicide among alumni, the vast majority before age 40.[5]

  1. ^ New York State Department of Education, Administrators Listing for Public and Non-Public Schools and School Districts [1]
  2. ^ "Boarding school for troubled teens set to close". WBNG-TV. August 7, 2014. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  3. ^ "Hancock boarding school to close: School formerly known as Family Foundation School to shut its doors Friday". The Daily Star (Oneonta). August 6, 2014. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Wilson, Michael (January 14, 2022). "Survivor993 Is Not Alone: Lawsuits Show Abuse at School for At-Risk Teens". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  5. ^ Wilson, Michael. "'It's Like, Who's Next?': A Troubled School's Alarming Death Rate", The New York Times, September 3, 2018. Accessed October 14, 2018. "The effort is led by Elizabeth Ianelli, 39, an alumna of the school and a former police instructor, who has tallied the death count — now up to 101, all under the age of 50 and the vast majority under 40."