RVCA is located in the mountains of Northern California on a beautiful 250 acre campus. Please Contact Us if you would like to schedule a tour of our campus.

The boys and girls schools are each separate. The campus is large which provides the ability to keep the boys school on one side and the girls school on the other. They have no social interaction whatsoever.

Only students who have a severe clinical issue will likely not be qualified for RVCA. As there are a variety of clinical diagnosis, there are many which will not necessarily disqualify a student from attending RVCA. Many students with certain clinical issues, who may have struggled in public or private day schools, will thrive in an environment where they are able to receive more attention, such as at RVCA.

If your child has a been diagnosed with a clinical condition, please Contact Us for more information on their eligibility to attend RVCA. We have a detailed profile which can help you to determine the best course of action for your student.

RVCA is not a residential treatment center or therapeutic boarding school. As a private boarding school licensed by the Department of Education, we do not directly provide counseling or therapy to our students. In addition, Community Care Licensing has informed us that we are not allowed to employ counselors as a residential school. We have found no law or rule to support this, but have chosen to abide by CCL’s wishes.

For parents or students who desire counseling or other outside services, we make it as convenient as possible for parents to schedule appointments with outside local therapists, counselors, doctors, etc., for their students and we will either provide transportation for the student to their appointment or a private space on campus for the appointment to take place.

We have seen and read these comments as well. We are unfortunately not able to reach every student who attends our school. There is a small minority of students who do not do well at RVCA, and we are always sad to hear when a student feels that they did not have a good experience with us. Fortunately, the number of students who feel this way is very low.

To our knowledge, the number of students making (unofficial) complaints averages out to less than one student per year over the 25 years our school has been in operation. Most of them being from a significant number of years ago. This is not to say we were doing anything wrong in those past years, but we are always updating our policies and looking for ways to make make our school better. And we do believe our school is better today than it was 10 years ago, just as we hope our school will be better 10 years from now than it is today.

As far as the truthfulness of the negative comments past students have made goes, the majority range from being out of context or exaggerations to completely untrue. If you would like to read our responses to specific complaints we have seen, please visit this page.

At RVCA, we are committed to helping families and will do everything we can work work with parents. We offer zero-interest loans lasting through your child’s graduation, as well as payment plans spread out over a longer period of time for qualifying parents. If necessary, RVCA parents can also work with loan companies.

Parents will be provided with a list of companies, and they are required to file all the paperwork themselves. Assistance is available for parents who establish legitimate hardship or demonstrate they are in a difficult financial situation at no fault of their own. All financial applications are reviewed by the RVCA administration and granted on a case-by-case basis. The decision is at the sole discretion of the administration and based on availability of funds.

RVCA will accept any student who is qualified to be enrolled in the public school system. Additionally, we have had a high success rate with students who have had struggles at home or had difficulties in public or private day schools. Although RVCA does not provide “behavioral-based services”, we do not discriminate against students who have had a “past”. We believe that students who have struggled in the past have a higher chance of educational success with RVCA due to our loving and structured environment with a high staff to student ratio.

The average attendance is usually 3 semesters, depending on the overall progress of the student. It is possible for a student to finish early, but this usually does not occur due to the fact that a significant amount of time is needed to for the full benefit of the school to takes place. The student’s success is not based on how long they attend our school but how long they do well. A strong foundation of positive direction is critical to their ability to maintain their healthy lifestyle upon returning home, which will positively impact their educational experience.

The students start their day at 8:00 am and have devotions or read a book until breakfast at 8:30 am. At 9:15 am the students start class, which goes until lunchtime at 12:30 pm. After lunch they have class until 2:15 pm, at which time they work on doing their chores and having PE afterwards. After PE the students have an hour and a half in the dorms. They can spend this time showering, playing games, reading, or doing homework. At 6:00 pm they have dinner, followed by an evening activity at 7:30 pm. At 8:30 pm the students return to their dorms, at 9:15 pm quiet time starts, and the lights go out at 9:30 pm. This schedule can vary slightly, due to the fact that RVCA has events where guest speakers or past students share with the current students.

All the students take turns helping the staff prepare the food for the meals as part of their educational electives. Everyone eats three meals a day of healthy and well-balanced foods. Fruits or vegetables are eaten a every meal, and juice or milk is provided each day. RVCA accommodates food allergies that are confirmed by a physician. However, we generally do not accommodate vegetarianism. The only exception to this occurs when a teen has been a vegetarian for over two years. In this case, RVCA will work with the family to determine the best course of action. Beginning a healthy eating routine is important for reinforcing and retaining information taught in their courses, as well as a necessary component to beginning an overall healthier lifestyle. At this time we are not able to accommodate a vegan diet.

There are twenty-five students per dorm. The boys and girls dorms are completely separate on different sides of the campus. RVCA uses an up-buddy system comprised of a new student and a student who has been there longer. The two buddies will stay together most of the time. The teens change buddies and dorms periodically. Boys and girls are kept in separate areas of the campus.

This varies from student to student, but almost all the teens start settling in and enjoy playing games and interacting with the other students after a few days.

Parents are strongly encouraged to visit their student and write to them on a regular basis. Parents can also help their student by attending the parent-teacher conferences. Attendance gives the parents information about their child’s status as well as encouraging their child’s educational experience.

The meetings will also equip parents to better manage those areas that had been inhibiting their student’s educational progress. Also, if the student sees the parent is invested in RVCA, this encourages the student’s participation as well. If parents are not able to attend the meetings, they should call other parents who attended to get the information that they missed. RVCA also encourages parents to call each other when they are struggling with their child so as to provide support for one another during this time.

We do not discriminate against any faith, race, or sexual preference. RVCA does not conduct conversion therapy. In fact, we do not provide any type of therapy. We do not give punishment for expressing sexual preference. However, we do not allow any sexual or romantic encounters or entanglements between students of any kind. This rule applies to all students, regardless of gender or sexual preference.

We are a Christian faith-based school and will talk about our faith openly. However, we do not force or coerce anyone to believe what we believe. As a faith-based program, there will be Christian-related topics for discussion and faith-based activities. Participation in such activities is optional for the students. We trust that the families admitting their child fully understand this prior to admission.

A major emphasis of our school is to help students to refocus on their education by removing distractions. As such, we do not allow sexual or romantic encounters or entanglements between students. This rule applies to all students regardless of gender or sexual preference. The purpose for this rule is to keep student’s education as their first priority. This is also why we decided to keep the boys and girls schools separate from each other.

RVCA only utilizes approved disciplinary measures which are moral and appropriate for the care of the children that attend our school. All disciplinary methods are in full compliance with California state law.

Disciplinary actions include removal of privileges, writing sentences, separation from other students when appropriate, (i.e. in cases such as physical violence or verbal threats/ fighting), detention, suspension, and expulsion. We do everything in our ability to avoid suspension and expulsion, as our desire to redirect the student rather than to remove them from our school.

RVCA has an evacuation plan for fires and earthquakes and several response levels for different illnesses or injuries. If a student is sick with something minor or requires routine medical treatment, this situation would call for a level 3 response. In this situation, the student can contact the staff and they can provide him or her with what is appropriate for the student’s current needs. A level 2 response would be if a student needs treatment from a physician. A staff member is always available to take a student to the hospital or the doctor’s office, depending on the situation. RVCA also has life flight and paramedics available, which would fall under a level 1 response, used for the most urgent situations. If the student is on medication, the parents must make note of this in the phone profile and on the RVCA application.

Yes, as a school licensed under the California Department of Education, RVCA is mandated to officially report any allegations of abuse that are made by a student. This is a responsibility that we take extremely seriously and every claim of abuse a student makes is properly reported within 24 hours of the student making the claim.

Depending on the situation, students are not always aware of the report being made. We have found that informing students that an official report is being made on their behalf can often cause them extra stress and anxiety that is unnecessary. Once authorities contact us to follow up and schedule an interview with the student, we will at that time inform the student that the report was made and someone will be coming to talk with them about what happened.