Abandoned School For Troubled Teens | These Kids Went Through Hell

The Academy at Ivy Ridge which is now an abandoned school, opened in 2001 after taking over a former college campus. The site was specifically chosen by the school’s founders mainly due to its strategic isolation in upstate New York and the long brutal harsh winters that naturally reinforce more distance between students and their families.
It sits on approximately 240 acres of land, just a stones throw from the ever raging international waters of the all mighty St. Lawrence River. The facility opened in 2001 after purchasing the former home of Mater Dei College, who originally built the five building educational complex back in 1959 and pretty much ran it until Ivy Ridge came into the picture in 2001. The complex measures in at over 200,000 square feet of building space; including educational classrooms, men and women’s dorms, gymnasiums, computer labs, science labs, a library, and administrative offices. School promotional materials state that the facility boasts cross-country ski trails, nature trails, tennis courts, basketball courts, sand volleyball area, a baseball field, and a soccer field, all located within a quiet peaceful wooded setting.
At its peak, the school had 600 students all paying nearly $4,000 per month per student, allowing the school to rake in over $20 million a year.
The Academy at Ivy Ridge advertised a much kinder approach to student discipline compared to the horrors that were actually taking place in the buildings.
While attending the school the students "were subjected to cramped bedrooms, solitary confinement, physical restraints and a strict points system that determined how long they would have to stay at the academy and in turn, be separated from their families and loved ones.
However, due to the uber strict program rules, students were not permitted to look out any of the windows. A student could reach upper level status in as little as 8 months and then at that time possibly earn the privilege to look outside, and occasionally be taken outside for various activities. And albeit, the rules and regulations at Ivy Ridge were seemingly impossible to adhere to but the consequences and punishment certainly didn’t fit the crime, or violation.
Allegedly there’s evidence that students were beaten, chained, locked in dog cages, forced to eat vomit and made to lie in urine and feces as punishment. Worse of all, documents allegedly claim students were also forced to engage in lewd and sexual acts. The sad part is that parents thought they were helping their teens by sending them away to these schools, but the reality was far more sinister than anyone could have imagined.
Even the students themselves tried to shut the facility down during their 2005 riot unfortunately to no avail. The students started a riot on May 16, 2005, resulting in at least 4 dozen expulsions and 12 arrests. About 35 sheriff's deputies, state troopers, city police officers and US Border Patrol agents assisted in ending the riot and capturing at over 30 runaway students.
The real twist in this story is that Ivy Ridge didn’t even end up closing because of all the allegations against them, but the school officially closed in 2009 after it was discovered that they were unaccredited, meaning the Academy at Ivy Ridge was never an actual academy or school and in the end it was all a scam, a raquet in a sense, at the gain of WWASP, at the loss of the parents and their money, and at the cost of the children and their innocence.
As of 2024, the Academy at Ivy Ridge still sits abandoned just as it has for the previous 15 years. With a current price tag of $875,000.00 it will sure be interesting to see what happens with such a disgraceful place. With Ivy Ridge currently serving as a constant reminder of all of the trauma, pain, and suffering that these students endured, it would not only seem appropriate, but necessary to demolish Ivy Ridge and erase it from the face of the Earth, signaling the end of a true American tragedy.
And that’s going to take its to the end of today’s video on The Academy at Ivy Ridge. As heartbreaking as this story is, we still hope that you all enjoyed another video from abandoned central. For more photos check out our website at AbandonedCentral.com. And please subscribe to Abandoned Central on CZcams so that you get all the latest and greatest videos. Thank you for all the support.