What’s Happened Since The Program Premiered?
Kubler gets in the last word toward the end of the documentary series. Crashing a karaoke night her former party camp boss, and duly designated culprit, Narvin B. Lichfield is promoting on social media. Kubler aims her vocals through Debbie Harry and Nigel Harrison’s Blondie hit from Parallel Lines, “One Way or Another.” The warning is as giddily ironic as the photobombs Kubler drops with the man of the hour. It very well might be an unintentional teaser for an upcoming follow-up.
That irony is not lost on viewers who recognized the abusive practices of the school, and brought it to the attention of the District Attorney’s Office, as per North Country Public Radio. WWNY News reported State Assemblyman Scott Gray saying the state attorney general’s office describes allegations of abuse at the old Academy at Ivy Ridge as a “very high priority.” The Assemblyman is reportedly calling for a thorough investigation into allegations at Ivy Ridge Academy. The Netflix investigative special uncovers numerous alleged abuses between 2001 to 2009.
As of March 15, “The St. Lawrence County district attorney’s office is sorting through ‘dozens of accusations,” according to North Country Public Radio “We have received reports of physical abuse as well as sexual abuse from numerous individuals,” St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary Pasqua said during a press conference. Meanwhile The District Attorney’s Office officially launched an investigation into the Academy on March 11, 2024. The St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office will work in conjunction with New York State Police.
Who Created Ivy Ridge?
In The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping, the intrepid team of investigators are repeatedly reminded to revisit the primary motivation: “Follow the money.” Ivy Ridge enrolled 600 units at $4,000 per month, for an annual profit of $20 million. Ivy Ridge is one of six behavior modification programs the documentary traces to the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), a multi-million dollar franchise run by a small group of powerful businessmen based in Utah. The documentary mentions the association’s affiliation with Synanon, the controversial extreme-commitment-drug-addiction-treatment breakoff of Alcoholics’ Anonymous. WWASPS, founded by Mormon Robert Lichfield in 1998, was anointed a successful financial model, the documentary points out, its schools awarded unofficial authority in all educational determinations. They were never, however, awarded proper licenses.
Ivy Ridge was never accredited by the state of New York, according to Kirk Semple’s June 8, 2005 The New York Times piece “Melee Keeps Spotlight on Hard Life at Academy.” In a letter obtained by Watertown WWNY-7 News, reporter Diane Rutherford cites a document from the New York State Department of Education indicating visits to Ivy Ridge found its application had “serious deficiencies in the areas of academics and health and safety.” The letter is dated Nov. 29, 2006, three years before Ivy Ridge was shuttered.
“It’s a failure not to shut that facility down right then and there,” said State Assemblyman Scott Gray. “Those are all significant red flags in that letter and I would have thought at that point in time it should have been shut down immediately.” Recently adding, “I think this needs to be dialed up at a higher level and that’s why I think it requires the AG’s involvement and I will be advocating very, very diligently for their involvement.”
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