I attended Hyde in the 1990s. I was not a troubled teen, just a kid with self-esteem issues and…read morechildhood trauma. We were told it was a therapeutic program that would help build confidence. That turned out to be a bait and switch. After a summer challenge, I entered the school year expecting support. Instead, I found a brutal, one-size-fits-all system where questioning authority meant punishment. There was nothing personalized or healing about it. You either got in line or were labeled broken. The kids who conformed quickly were rewarded and are still, decades later, defending the place like it's a cult. The school's marketing included slogans about "character," "truth," and "brother's keeper," but it's all surface. The truth is that Hyde used emotional control and public shaming to keep students in line. And they called it growth. I've connected with others from my class through the recent lawsuit. We were all told we were the problem. Turns out the problem was Hyde. If you're a parent, look past the marketing. Ask why so many former students are speaking out. Notice that there are (at the time I've writing this) in addition to all the negative reviews Yelp is showing you, there are also 36 one-star reviews that are hidden because they're "not recommended," and something like 40 more one-star reviews removed because someone flagged them as being 'in violation of Yelp policy'. Long story medium, the overwhelming majority of reviewers here are warning you: do not send your kids to Hyde.

My parents sent me here over 15 years ago, and while I've gone on to build a successful career in…read morethe IT field within the government sector, I can say with complete honesty that none of that success came from this school. To me, this place felt more like a cult than an educational institution. In my experience, it was an abusive program. I still remember being harshly punished simply because I didn't report another student--someone I didn't even know--for having cigarettes. Even as a teenager, I knew it wasn't my place to police other students, but I was still placed on what they called "2-4." That meant being woken up at dawn and forced to run and work out until I threw up. At one point, they even made me use a sickle to cut grass that nobody would ever use--completely senseless. To top it off, they had us perform staged "presentations" for parents to make it look like the school was helping us. It was manipulative and deeply unsettling. If you truly care about your children, do not send them here.