Hayes said the academy is working to place students in other programs or homes.
CUMMINGTON – The Academy at Swift River, a school for troubled teenagers on a 630-acre site that reaches into both Cummington and Plainfield, will close at the end of the summer.
Kristen Hayes, a spokeswoman for the academy, said the current economy has made it unprofitable to provide residential treatment to youths with behavioral and substance abuse problems.
“Changing market dynamics, including the inability of families to obtain credit, loans or home equity lines to help finance treatment, have made it difficult for parents to access treatment,” Hayes said in a statement released by the school. “As such, it has become abundantly clear that the current market just does not support us continuing operations. “
The property has a long and varied history. A group that included Northampton real estate broker Patrick Goggins and insurance company owner Peter Whalen developed the site into a cross-country ski resort called Cummington Farm Village in the late 1980s, but the project collapsed under the weight of debt.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird bought the property for $1.5 million in 1991, but also failed to make a go of it. Aspen Educational Group, the company that owns the Academy at Swift River, purchased the site for a little less than $2 million in 1997, then resold it to a finance company in Arizona in 2005 for $5.4 million.
Barbara Goldsmith, a member of the Cummington Historical Society, said the property once served as a camp for Jewish children from New York called Meadowbrook. In the early 1900s it was a dairy farm.
Both Goldsmith and Monica Vandoloski, Cummington’s administrative secretary, said local residents accepted the school, even though students would occasionally stray from campus.
“The people in Cummington didn’t have any problem with it,” said Goldsmith.
Hayes said the academy is working to place students in other programs or homes. She could not be reached for direct comment, but it appears that the staff at the school will be laid off.
“We recognize and regret that the decision to cease operations affects our valued employees as well,” Hayes wrote. “We are sincerely appreciative of our employees’ years of hard work and determination, and their dedication to young people whose lives they have forever positively affected.”