Employees, state legislators kept in dark of state’s decision to close Warm Springs Outdoor Therapeutic Program | Latest News | Columbus Ledger Enquirer

State officials contend closing the Warm Springs Outdoor Therapeutic Program is best for Georgia’s troubled teens.

But since the Ledger-Enquirer reported the news last week that the program for wayward boys and girls is scheduled to close Aug. 31, the newspaper has learned the following pieces of information that paint a picture of secrecy and an effort to keep this controversial action quiet:

• An email among state administrators shows the decision to close the program was made more than one month before the staff was informed.

• State legislators say they also were kept in the dark about the decision.

• Staff members say they weren’t notified when the state stopped allowing referrals to the program.

• Notice of the decision was given at an inopportune time: only four weeks before the closing date, during a month when it was too late for the program’s teachers to find other education jobs before the school year started, and when the legislature is out of session and powerless to reverse the decision.

• No news release announced the decision to the public. A prepared statement of background information was sent to the Ledger-Enquirer only after the newspaper started asking questions about the decision.

• The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which oversees the program, refused to let the Ledger-Enquirer tour the property and interview a former participant there Thursday, despite the program director granting permission.

• DBHDD fired the program director the next day.

“It has been nothing but cloak and dagger this entire time,” said a program employee who agreed to be quoted only on condition of anonymity.

But as the clock ticks towards the program’s last day, a possible compromise is in the works: The 30-year-old program’s first director and a legislator are scheduled to meet today with DBHDD officials to find common ground and perhaps a reprieve.

via Employees, state legislators kept in dark of state’s decision to close Warm Springs Outdoor Therapeutic Program | Latest News | Columbus Ledger Enquirer.