My update is even though it didn't work out for my child he doesn't think it's as bad as other schools he attended. My child is at Chamberlian International now and rates it the highest compared to his other schools. My child did mention kids seemed angry here. read more

This place is the worst. If you are a parent with a child that has a developmental or emotional disability or special needs don't ever send them here If I could give this place zero stars I would. I was sent to this facility when I was 17. Staff beat me up in restraints twice. 1st time at the cottage 1 residential staff grabbed my neak and slammed me against the wall punched the side of my head and kicked my back and I fell down the stairs that were collapsable and steep. 2nd time a teachers assistant shoved his knee on my neak and punched me on the nose really hard it felt like someone threw a brick at my nose and I lost my vision for a few minutes. I was sent to the hospital and developed PTSD. I am in my mid 20s now and I have nightmares going back to this place This place needs to get shut down. I can't believe this place is still open in business read more

I also went to The Glenholme School. Some students actually liked going there because they thought it helped them and they were motivated to change or motivated to improve themselves. The students that went there that are giving negative reviews obviously didn't care about bettering themselves and they didn't take it seriously while they were a student there. read more

Went there for a year when I was 14. One of the most traumatic years of my life. Teachers bullied the kids, my English teacher told me and another peer to give up our dreams as artists and "settle for community college", that was on the second day of class, I cried myself to sleep. It only gets worse, kids were restrained constantly, with children young as 8 who couldn't control themselves sent to "Lower School", an isolated room far away from campus, with hard floors and very dark. They kept some students there for 8-plus hours, and one even broke a wall. Besides these dangers, kids were dangerous to each other, with some attempting to attack other students with computers and chairs in class and totally disrupt lessons by attempting to escape. Many kids did escaped from the school, and were eventually caught and sent to a facility in Virginia. One student attempted to hack into the schools email, and all computers were taken away for the remainder of the semester, leaving no way for us to communicate with our families, and many of us who suffered from writing-based disabilities to complete our work. I was lucky because I was allowed to go home on weekends to be with my family, but many kids only saw their parents for two-three weeks per year, as vacations were only ten days long, and most if not all had to return for the summer. Most "graduates" either continued living at the facility in a transition-style program, or went to college unsuccessfully. Any friends I had from there almost never completed college, yet came from financially stable backgrounds and mostly supportive families, as the school costed upwards of $70,000 plus for their services. Those who didn't, probably had it worse. Overall this school has to be one of the most awful places in existence, which does everything to discourage their students from pursuing their dreams and having better lives, and instead rely on the school for "support" while making life miserable. If your a parent reading, do not send your child here, they're are better places where they can get the help they need. I was extraordinarily lucky to have left when I did, since not long after leaving I got seriously into music and was accepted to the New York High School for Music, where I studied vocal performance and later went to Conservatory. I now live in Boston where I'm finishing up school with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emerson College and am a stage director for operas and musical theatre. read more

as a former student and Alumnai of glenholme also referred to as GlenHell by some students. I cannot in good conscience keep silent. this school if you can call it that claims to help prepare student for the real world. key word here is claims. newsflash they don't. In the real world you won't get arrested for eating a Twinkie, in the real world you won't have to sit on front of your door or be isolated from everyone else for 48 hours for poking a friend on the shoulder to get their attention. Parents I implore you please don't be fooled by the well manicured lawns and pretty decorated atmosphere. These things are a facade for what is really a prison for children. their rules are draconian, they make you sign away your civil rights on day one so they can deprive you of these core rights guaranteed to EVERY citizen Of the United States. Their punishments are cruel and unusual, the students have no contact with the outside world, and they try and keep all the students regimented by a bullshit token system. If you misbehaved you could also be sent to what was called a quiet room... a small room with a drain in the center of it. Why was there a drain? You may want to ask yourself that and why they NEVER show the parents these rooms on the tour. socially it's even worse. boys and girls are allowed no physical contact other than dances. If you even try and have a relationship I.e girlfriend or boyfriend you aren't allowed to hug or kiss. They will even go as far as make moves to force the relationship to ultimately fail, this has left the students who graduate with very bad social skills. relationships if you could even call them that were thusly RARE because compared to boys there were VERY few girls to begin with. They regulated what you could eat, what you could drink, and if you were overweight they put you on this bullshit thing called health table and denied you the freedom to choose to lose weight... key word is choose. not everyone at the ages at glenholme had the wherewithal to make these positive choices but gods dammit it should have been a choice not forced upon us. When parents visit the school they see GlenHell has a pool, a GoCart track, a gym, and more cool looking amenities but what they don't tell you is these things are rarely if ever used. They want to push an image that just frankly isn't real. Why? Because they want your money nothing else. Parents believe me when I tell you this school has given me PTSD, Increased my pre-existent anxiety disorder, paved the way for major depression... they have ruined lives. Parents I beg you, do not make the mistake of sending you kids to this disgusting, trashbin, despotic, good for nothing hell hole. they will thank you, and possibly be better off for it. read more

this school sucks dick you can't have phones there you don't get freedom like other boarding schools do. food is fabulous. so is the music department. the teching is outstanding. the rest of it is just fucking fucked up!!! read more

Wouldn't Recommend Going to Glenholme as a former student there for quite a good amount of time . You can't have phones there you don't get freedom like other boarding schools do . Your forced into doing things you don't want to do but when I was there the school wasn't down hill u til now which doesn't shock me I had an idea it was going to happen just going there and being a former student there . Things need to go back up hill there not sure the school is like this oh and even worse they have gates that surround the property so students can't get out and you have to buzz the gate when h arrive so they can let you in to see who you are and part of the reason that gate is there is because of the students . Sounds ridiculous to think but that's actually the truth of it and I'm sure they still have it. I can guarantee you nothing has really changed since I have been there as a former student but haven't been back there in a long time . But other than that the Staff are Amazing and understanding but the whole rest of it is just a mess there and this is coming from a former student who went there . You can't even have phones there nor do you get freedom staff are everywhere in the campus property and are pretty much around you 24/7 without supervision which made me crazy when I was there . Not sure if things have improved there but hopefully they have but don't know as I haven't been back there in a while but who knows what the case is there right now . But hopefully things have changed there and have made improvements there but what I do like an out Glenholme is the staff were very helpful and understanding and the mentors understand you very well but that's basically the basic facts of The Glenholme School and what the life is like there as a Boarding School Life there . It also manes you feel different from everyone and other boarding schools which personally doesn't seem right and make us feel different from other boarding schools which isn't right and shouldn't be doing that it's just not right and that's why some of the students have got sent there for support and extra help and that's Glenholme is to be giving extra support to the individuals which they do but mane us feel different from others and other boarding schools which is just not right . It's almost as if there saying all the other boarding schools are better than us as where as we're a different boarding school from many others for certain reasons . They need to stop comparing us to other boarding schools and their students to others that's not how it works . read more

Looking at their brochures and websites it almost looks like a getaway. Go karts, equestrian, endless activities. But I can say that no fond memories came from that school except the memories of the other students that got me through it. Each day you were given a piece of paper a token sheet. Your whole day and privileges revolved around these tokens. You'd lose tokens for speaking out of turn, your uniform isn't perfect, you don't follow their specific rules the exact way they want you to. And there were levels which were based off of your performance. The highest level you could get offered the privilege of walking short distances by yourself, being alone in your room for short periods of time, choosing your own food to eat. That's what you strived for that would be the highest point in your life. Their whole system was built to keep you quiet, obedient and out of the way. Which can be the exact opposite of what these "troubled teens" need. That was just their program the staff were another story. Sure there were a few good ones, mainly the teachers. But very few gave you the impression they were there to help. For most it was a job and ended at that. Your problems were made public, no privacy staff would openly discuss your issues in the company of other students, make jokes at your expense. The real nasty stuff came from when you were alone with them. I confided in one of my classmates my gender identify and sexuality. The staff overheard or found out somehow. I was called disgusting, unnatural as well as numerous homophobic and transphobic slurs and comments. It was easy to ignore at first but then it really starts to break you down. I was told to stop crying or I'd be removed. (Basically brought else where to sit in silence. Students would be gone for hours.) Told that I was making everyone else sad. I was given no support at any time. Taught my problems were my own and not to bother others looking for help. All communication outside was monitored, emails and phone calls. That one time a week you could get on the phone I'd try to tell my parents what was really going on. I was told the phone call would end if I continued for "lying and trying to scare my parents" Those phone calls were precious, you didn't want to lose them. After a while some people would earn the privilege to go home on the weekends. The staff taught your parents the token system, you had to bring those forms home. Even then you didn't get a break from them. It was a two+ hour drive from the school to my home. Sunday night heading back to the school I was filled with such a dread it's hard to explain. I was suicidal and incredibly depressed over the thought of going back. I've never wanted to escape something so bad before. You could feel all the happiness being sucked from your body. Not to be overdramatic but it was terrifying. Twice a week I was sent to the stable to work in the stalls and with the equine, Despite my huge fear of them and repeated begging for other work I was still forced to go. Much went on at that school that I cannot speak on, even six years later it's too hard. But so many other students suffered too. One student opened up about being sexually assaulted by a staff member. She was called a liar and attention seeker by staff. It didn't seem like there was any investigation into the matter. Later I would find out that wasn't the first time something like that happened. A previous staff member had been arrested for repeatedly abusing a student. The school was sued. To this day I think back to that school and all the students still there suffering. Those two years there were the lowest points of my life. I was later diagnosed with CPTSD from my experiences there. The sad thing is this wasn't an isolated incident. I have spoken to dozens of past students of Glenholme all with similar experiences. read more

As a past student I would not recommend this school. I'm unsure if much has changed but a few years ago the school was not a good place to live. Students hadn't no freedom or a say in anything. You were punished for not participating in activities even if they made you uncomfortable so you had to dance or sing karaoke. Some students were violent we were chased by an angry student with a metal baseball bat. The staff would not let you speak freely to your parents about what was going on. They would say your exaggerating and everything was fine. One student told staff they were being sexually abused and they ignored them, blamed the student and allowed it to continue. Many past students have reported trauma from the school. On a positive note they have a swimming pool and go cart track. read more