The Keys of Carolina School

Grades: 5-12
Student Enrollment: 54

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1 out of 5 | 1 Review

Address
1715 Sharon Rd W
Charlotte, NC 28210

Phone
(704) 554-4924

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School Description

The Keys of Carolina School enrolls 54 elementary, middle, and high school students from grades 5-12. It is located in Charlotte, NC, which is a highly populated city with a median household income of $46,975.

School Operational Details

Alternative School
Students Have Access to a Library or Media Center

School Days and Hours

School Days Per Year: 260
School Hours Per Day: 6

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School Ratings and Reviews

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1 review for The Keys of Carolina School

Reviewed by Community Member on April 20, 2010
Rating: (1 / 5) Flag as inappropriate
Charlotte mental health center faces shutdown
State says The Keys of Carolina, a private children's caregiver, has endangered patients, could lose license.
By Michael Biesecker
[email protected]
Posted: Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010
A private mental treatment center for children in Charlotte could be shut down after a series of violent incidents, including the staff hitting patients and a teenager stabbing another child in the eye with a rusty nail.

State inspectors who toured The Keys of Carolina in September and February found multiple violations that "endanger the health, safety and welfare" of the children, who range in age from 12 to 17. Many of those housed there suffer from serious psychiatric problems and are in the custody of social services agencies from counties across the region.

The state Division of Health Service Regulation notified administrators at the 60-bed residential treatment facility last week that they intended to revoke its operating license.

Until that decision is finalized, The Keys can no longer admit new patients and will be fined $500 a day for each day it is out of compliance, a bill that now exceeds $80,000.

Jay Leach, the chief executive officer of The Keys, did not respond to calls seeking comment Monday. The facility is owned and operated by Universal Health Services Inc., a national healthcare conglomerate that has run into problems before with regulators in North Carolina and other states.

The head of a Charlotte group that provides legal services to the children housed at The Keys said advocates have long been concerned about conditions there. Lawyers for the group reported they had routinely seen children with bruised faces and broken bones.

"We have had concerns about that facility ever since it opened about 10 years ago," said Brett Loftis, executive director for the Council of Children's Rights. "At many times it has been run more like a prison than a treatment facility."

15-year-old stabbed

State inspectors were called in last year after receiving reports about an incident where a 15-year-old was stabbed. According to their written report, the incident was triggered after the staff had left notebooks containing information from psychiatric case files unattended on a table, where they were stolen by a patient.

After reading the files, a teen with bipolar disorder used the information to tease another male resident about how he was raped by a family member when he was a toddler. That young man, who had been removed from the custody of his mother at age 5 because of the abuse, responded by throwing a chair at his tormentor.

Tension between the two escalated until Aug. 8, when the boy who had stolen the records took a rusty nail he had found outside the facility and jammed it in the head of the other boy, who had been sitting on a couch watching a movie.

According to the report, the nail was more than three and half inches long and entered through the left eyelid, barely missing the eye. The patient was taken to a nearby hospital, where the nail was removed by a neurosurgeon.

No report of incident

The facility then failed to report the incident to regulators, despite a requirement to disclose any patient injury requiring medical attention beyond first aid.

The state report issued Oct. 15, which was not shared with the general public, also documented other cases of violence at the facility. In one incident, a staff member was "horse playing" with a patient, who fell and hit his head on the floor, leaving a gash that had to be stapled shut. In another, a patient reported that a staff member punched him in the face.

Following the October report, the facility was required to submit a plan to the state for correcting the violations. On a return visit in February, the state inspectors not only found that the problems had not been corrected, but that there had been additional violent incidents.

A 123-page report issued by the state March 1 chronicles dozens of violations at the facility, including poorly trained staff and the widespread failure to adhere to the patients' treatment plans. The staff was also found to be disorganized and lax in handling the patients' prescription medications.

Tape from a security camera showed that on Feb. 10 a staff member used her forearm to pin a girl against the wall, before dragging the patient out of view. It was one of several instances documented where patients were improperly restrained by staff, according to the report.

In other incidents, patients were forced to eat meals while sitting on the floor, and a youth with a long history of behavioral problems escaped the facility through a hole cut in an exterior fence.

Company has poor history

Universal Health Services, which owns The Keys, is a national healthcare conglomerate headquartered in Pennsylvania. The company also owns Old Vineyard Behavioral Health Services in Winston-Salem, which was cited by federal regulators last year for conditions that placed patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm. Last month, federal authorities filed a lawsuit accusing a Virginia youth treatment center owned by Universal Health of Medicaid fraud.

Vicki Smith, executive director of Disability Rights North Carolina, said her advocacy group began tracking problems at The Keys in 2007.

She said the state's enforcement action against The Keys is appropriate, if not overdue.

"Based on both the state review and our independent investigation, we think The Keys of Carolina is a violent and dangerous place for children," said Smith, whose group has a federal mandate to review claims of patient abuse in North Carolina.

"We have no confidence that the management of this organization is willing or able to fix any of these issues," Smith said. "As you can read in the state report, they have been notified of these problems again and again and again, and have failed to fix any of these very dangerous practices."

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/04/20/1386909/charlotte-mental-health-center.html#ixzz0le4bGfjQ

Faculty Details and Student Enrollment

Students and Faculty

Total Students Enrolled: 54
Total Full Time "Equivalent" Teachers: 3.0
Full-Time Teachers: 3
Average Student-To-Teacher Ratio: 18.0
Percent Minority Students: 53.7%

Students Gender Breakdown

Males: 36 (66.7%)
Females: 18 (33.3%)

Student Enrollment Distribution by Race / Ethnicity

The Keys of Carolina School Student Race Distribution

	Number	Percent
American Indian	3	5.6%
Black	23	42.6%
Asian	-	-
Hispanic	3	5.6%
White	25	46.3%

Number of Students Per Grade

	Number	Percent
5th Grade	3	5.6%
6th Grade	6	11.1%
7th Grade	10	18.5%
8th Grade	7	13.0%
9th Grade	17	31.5%
10th Grade	7	13.0%
11th Grade	3	5.6%
12th Grade	1	1.9%

Source: NC Department of Education, Source: NCES 2009-2010

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