Academy at Ivy Ridge
New York WWASPS-affiliated facility closed in 2009; later featured in Netflix’s The Program.
New York · 2001–2009
Overview
The Academy at Ivy Ridge was a for-profit behavior-modification facility in Ogdensburg, New York, marketed as a boarding school for “troubled” teens. It opened in 2001 and was affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) for much of its existence.
What happened
Former students have described extreme control, isolation, restraints, and other abusive practices. New York authorities acted on academic fraud: then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced a 2005 agreement requiring tuition refunds and stopping unauthorized diplomas. The state Education Department later rejected registration as a secondary school, citing program and safety concerns.
Outcome / status
Ivy Ridge announced a 2009 closure/restructuring and the campus was sold with no reopening as the school. The facility’s history is a central subject of the 2024 Netflix series The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping, which prompted renewed public scrutiny and reporting (AP).