Closing Red Hill Academy

It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Red Hill Academy. (Click here to read Executive Director Brad Freed’s statement about the closure).

In 2008, Sunny Hills launched a new educational program, expanding our treatment spectrum to include a whole new service area. We opened Red Hill Academy because we envisioned a new kind of learning environment—an environment that was specifically designed for students who struggled with learning challenges accompanied by emotional problems. It is with regret that I write that we are closing Red Hill Academy at the end of this academic year (June 15th).

Like many of our sister agencies, Sunny Hills had to close our residential treatment program in 2008 due to insurmountable funding gaps. As we prepared for that closure, tremendous research and analysis went in to determining how to continue using our 35-acre campus to fulfill our historic mission. We identified an unmet need for specialized services for learning disabled children with mild to moderate emotional problems. Convinced that there was a demand for this kind of specialized academic environment, we developed a plan to meet that need. And with the full support of our board of directors, the idea of Red Hill Academy was born.

The small cadre of students who began at Red Hill Academy in September are bright and curious, but also vulnerable. They come from loving families that have faced their share of life’s challenges. Many felt tired, others frustrated. In coming to Red Hill Academy, these families – for once – felt like they had found their place. And the students, each in their own way, began to thrive. It was thrilling for all of us on campus to see. But after more than a year of intensive marketing and outreach, enrollment levels were not meeting our expectations. Red Hill’s student population remained at four students for most of the past school year, despite a large number of inquiries from interested parents. This level of enrollment is far too low to maintain a viable, financially sound organization, and the downturn in the economy had a direct impact on families’ abilities to meet the tuition requirements. The economy also dampened our ability to attract philanthropic sources of capital and program support to seed this new venture. Ultimately, the Red Hill and Sunny Hills boards both recognized that continuing to operate under these conditions was not only challenging; it was dangerous to the long term good of the overall organization.

In these challenging times, it is heartening to me that even with significant programmatic and budgetary setbacks we continue to help so many children thrive. This year we will serve well over 1,000 kids. Our array of mental health, special education, supportive housing and youth development programs continues to expand and grow despite extremely real hardships. Each of the programs we run is guided by our mission to serve vulnerable children, and I have tremendous gratitude for all of the support that we continue to receive. It is in times like these that you realize the roots we have in our community are over 100 years strong, and that despite the challenges, we continue to help so many kids build better and brighter futures.