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Tampa Bay Academy Reaches Settlement, Must Meet Standards

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By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: January 15, 2009

The state has reached a settlement with the troubled Tampa Bay Academy, which will be allowed to admit patients into its long-term mental health care program when it shows it meets every standard set by regulators.

The academy must pay a $50,000 fine and bring everything in its facility up to standards within the next 180 days, said Shelisha Durden, a spokeswoman with Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration.

If it wants to run its residential treatment program, it has to fix everything – even deficiencies regulators didn't cite before suspending the academy's license Friday. It can't even have a cracked window, Durden said.

Despite the settlement, the state still hasn't approved the improvement plan the academy submitted last week.

The Health Care Administration reported last month that conditions at the academy's residential treatment center were "substandard." Inspectors found evidence that residents sexually preyed on workers and on each other - all made easier by the failures of a poorly trained and inadequate staff.

Fifty-four children were enrolled at Tampa Bay Academy's residential treatment program, and all have been placed in other centers. A group home program and a charter school on the academy's campus in Riverview were not affected by the agency's order.

Because of the treatment center's closure, the academy recently laid off about 140 workers – more than a third of its staff.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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