The Academy at Swift River, also known as ASR, was a coeducational therapeutic boarding school for teenagers, located in Plainfield and Cummington, Massachusetts. Established in 1997 and closed in 2013, it was a part of the Aspen Education Group, which in turn is owned by Bain Capital's CRC health group.
The school's student population was described as "bright but underachieving kids" with a variety of behavioral problems. The majority of students use prescribed psychiatric medications. ASR was in session year-round and offered a college preparatory curriculum for high school grades 9 to 12.[1] Total enrollment was about 55 students.[2]
The school was the focus of the 2005 book What It Takes To Pull Me Through: Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out by journalist David Marcus.
In July 2013, Aspen Education Group announced that it would close the school later that summer.[3]
The original headmaster of the Academy at Swift River was Brett Carey who transferred there from Mount Bachelor Academy. Afterwards, Rudy Bentz was headmaster of Academy at Swift River, he had formerly worked at CEDU high school in running springs,[4]