FIFTH REPORT: CHILDREN HARMED AT ALPHA SCHOOL’S BOOT CAMP

Student hospitalized during Survival Challenge on wilderness ranch; police investigation is ongoing; other concerning incidents re student safety and privacy; one guide fired; also Little B. Diddies

The scandals at Alpha School continue to unfold at dizzying pace.

In what follows, I report on recent events taking place within Alpha School’s boot camp, the first eight-week phase of its high school. What I’ve learned moves beyond being weird or troubling — students were harmed, physically harmed, as the weekend unfolded. There is an open and active police investigation. And student privacy is being violated at scale.

I have organized this report as follows:

1. Initial descriptions of the Survival Challenge

2. Incident during the Survival Challenge that resulted in student hospitalization

3. Open and active investigation by Victoria County police

4. Other troubling incidents during the Survival Challenge

5. The mysterious River Rock Ranch owned by Little B. Diddies LLC

6. Alpha School’s continued silence

7. My commentary

8. Field notes from my trip to Victoria, Texas

What you read may unsettle you, and it should.

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Initial descriptions of the Survival Challenge

As I reported in my initial special report, Alpha School’s high school boot camp involves a number of unusual activities. One activity that multiple students described on social media at the beginning of boot camp involved a multiple-day outdoor camping trip, stylized as a Survivor-style event, based loosely on the long-running television “reality” show.

One student called this Alpha School’s “Survival Challenge,” a term I will use throughout this report.¹ This student stated that Alpha School would be “dropping [students] in the woods with a single bag of rice and dry beans to see if we can survive.” Further, “if your fire goes out or tarp collapses in the rain, the guides will not fix it for you.” In sum, “instead of sitting in a classroom and doing nothing…Alpha drops you in the wilderness to see how you handle real pressure.” Other student tweets echoed this description of what was planned.

Alpha School itself describes this activity under as cultivating the “life skill” of “leadership,” wherein students “help build a culture where it’s cool to work hard.” The boot-camp microsite also confirms when the Survival Challenge was scheduled to occur:

Source

The Survival Challenge boot-camp event just took place as scheduled, from September 18 to September 20, 2026, a little over a week ago as of the publication date of this report. According to multiple sources, the entire Alpha School high school, approximately 73 students, first gathered in Austin before being transported by bus to the River Rock Ranch in Victoria, Texas for the weekend.

The good news is that every student appears to have actually survived the Survival Challenge. The less good news is that one student fell and was concussed, and had to be provided advanced life support services on-site before being evacuated by ambulance to the local ER. Further, the Victoria County Sherriff’s Office has confirmed there is an open and active police investigation underway. One Alpha School guide was fired as all this unfolded. And there are several other incidents that raise questions about Alpha School’s oversight and ability to ensure student safety and privacy.

I will now describe what I’ve learned about what happened during the Survival Challenge, starting with the general atmosphere and then turning to particular incidents, all confirmed through multiple sources.

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Incident during the Survival Challenge that resulted in student hospitalization

The student who tweeted about being dropped in the wilderness with de minimis adult supervision was prescient.

In general, during the Survival Challenge, sources report that students were largely left unsupervised for three days. Although adult guides were present at River Rock Ranch, they set up camp separately from the students, approximately 20-30 minutes away by foot. Students were told that they could go wherever they wanted within the expansive, 250-acre campground. Although there were numerous port-a-potties, sources told me there was only one shower facility.

Multiple sources confirm that at least one major traumatic incident took place over the weekend, one that involved a student falling and becoming concussed. Emergency Medical Services and Fire Department teams were dispatched, and the student was provided advanced life support services on site. The student was then evacuated from the campground by ambulance, and taken to the emergency room at the local hospital.

I know this in part because on Friday, September 26, 2026, I filed a public record request with the Victoria Fire Marshal’s office, and later that day I was provided an incident report for the night of September 19, 2026. The first page of this report appears below, with my circles in red:

Despite repeated attempts, I was unable to speak with any EMS technician based in Victoria to learn more about what Advanced Life Support services they might typically provide to a concussed juvenile. However, this Texas Emergency Medical Services Initial Provider License Checklist describes ALS services generally, with my highlighting:

As one official from the Victoria Fire Marshal’s office said to me, ALS services are “more than just a band-aid.”

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Open and active investigation by Victoria County police

The local police are investigating what happened over the Survival Challenge weekend.

On Friday, September 26, 2026, I filed a public record request with the Victoria County Sherriff’s Department seeking “any public record that memorializes any dispatch by the Police Department or law enforcement provider to River Rock Camp over the time period in question (9/18/26 to 9/20/26).” The afternoon of Monday, September 28, 2026, I received the following notice, with my highlighting:

I spoke with Erika Ruiz, the records clerk, that same afternoon, and she confirmed it is standing policy in Victoria County to not release any records related to an active police investigation. She added that, “since they are juveniles, that also comes into play, since you’re not their parent.” She confirmed that the statement regarding “relying on of the Office of the Attorney General’s previous determination” refers to this Open Records Memorandum Rulings from the OAG, which in turn states that “juvenile law enforcement records are confidential” and “may not be disclosed to the public,” but may be produced pursuant to a request from a child’s parent or guardian.

So all we know right now is that there is an open and active investigation by Victoria County police related to the Survival Challenge on the River Rock Ranch. Parents with students in Alpha School’s high school may be able to obtain the existing police report, and I encourage concerned parents to do so here. I will update this report if additional information related to this police investigation comes to light, while of course always protecting student privacy.

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Other troubling incidents during the Survival Challenge

On its own and without further detail, someone falling and being concussed during a camping trip could be understood as just an accident — these, of course, do happen. But leaving approximately 73 teenage students largely unsupervised by adults on a 250-acre campground for multiple days obviously increases the likelihood of such an accident occurring. Sources indicate that at least one guide was fired as the events of the Survival Challenge weekend unfolded, although the precise circumstances and reasons for this are presently unknown (I am actively investigating).

The fall that resulted in a concussed student should not be viewed in isolation, but rather as just one of many concerning things that happened during the Survival Challenge. Sources indicate that many students suffered from sunburn and/or heat exhaustion. Texas is experiencing a hot fall, and Victoria hit highs of 100 degrees over the weekend in question. One source reported to me that, as a planned activity, students were made to walk ¾ of a mile without any water, which was only provided upon completion of this stage of their hike.

In addition to student safety, there are also troubling issues of student privacy violations. As noted, there was only a single shower facility that the 73 students had access to for three days. Multiple sources informed me that this facility was not fully private, and that male students repeatedly observed female students showering through gaps in the shower’s walls.

Finally, although my sources informed me that adults were largely absent during the Survival Challenge, this does not mean student went unobserved. Multiple sources indicated that Go Pro cameras were placed around where students camped, and positioned to face the area where students slept at night. I’m also told drones were omnipresent.

I strongly encourage parents with children enrolled in Alpha School’s high school to make inquiries into who has access to the footage obtained by these cameras, where the recordings are stored, and what if any measures are in place to preserve student privacy.

I continue to refer potential claimants against Alpha School to the EdTech Law Center, the tech-accountability law firm that is “working to protect students, parents, teachers, and schools from the exploitative practices of the EdTech industry.”

For broader context, I reached out to my longtime friend and collaborator Dylan Kane for perspective on Alpha School’s Survival Challenge. Although Dylan has recently received deserved attention for his reduced use of screens in his classroom, he also taught for six years at the High Mountain Institute in Colorado, an outdoor expeditionary school, and he’s spent over 40 weeks leading wilderness trips with students ranging from 15 to 18 years old. He told me this:

What Alpha School is doing has some things in common with practices in the outdoor education world, where students camp or travel with minimal adult oversight. Two things to note: first, when we did things like this, they occurred at the end of the program. This was after students had chances to practice the relevant skills with plenty of support, with the goal of creating a meaningful culminating learning experience.

And second, we still had persistent safety issues. My organization, and several other similar outdoor education organizations, scaled back practices like these because we struggled to manage risk and avoid incidents, and because we felt we could get similar learning outcomes with more adult oversight.

Finally, I am reporting here only the incidents that I can presently confirm through multiple sources (apart from the hiking incident that one source agreed to share with me on background). I have reason to believe other concerning things happened during the Survival Challenge weekend, and I will update this report if and when I can confirm them through multiple sources.

I turn now to the River Rock Ranch and what I have — and have not — been able to determine about it serving as venue grounds for the Survival Challenge.

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The mysterious River Rock Ranch owned by Little B. Diddies LLC

The website for the River Rock Ranch is unusual. It includes promotional statements about being a blank canvas with no restrictions, a montage of pictures of the property, a short promotional video, and a map showing its general location.

What it does not include is a physical address or phone number — the only public-facing means of communicating is through a web form. Moreover, although there are social media accounts for the ranch, most do not appear to have been active since 2023 (save the LinkedIn account, which has a single fireworks video posted to it from July 2026, stating, “happy birthday America.”)

In the course of my investigation, I spoke several times with a representative from the Victoria County Fire Marshal’s office. During one of our conversations, an official informed me that, according to internal records, the River Rock Ranch is owned by an LLC located in Austin, Texas. He further informed me that the name of the ranch’s legal owner is “Little B. Diddies.”

I have confirmed this. According to Texas public records and online sources, Little B. Diddies is owned and managed by Beau and Shelby Curtis, and the LLC is registered to an address in Austin, Texas. The public social media profiles for the Curtis’s in turn confirm their co-ownership of River Rock Ranch:

(Sourced here and here)

I reached out to Beau Curtis and Shelby Curtis via social media to inform them of my reporting, and asked them to explain the Little B. Diddies relationship with Alpha School, but they did not respond.

Texas is well-known for its devotion to limiting government regulations, and it is unclear what regulatory rules or local ordinances may apply to the River Rock Ranch. I spoke with several officials at various departments at both the City of Victoria and the County of Victoria, including the respective fire marshal, planning and development, and engineering departments, to determine what official records might exist related to the Ranch.² But apart from identifying Little B. Diddies LLC as its legal owner, these officials were unable to find any public records related to the property at all.

Adding to the complexity, the address where EMT and fire department dispatched to, 670 Smith Road, falls outside the City of Victoria’s jurisdiction, but two officials told me it might fall within a special area called the ETJ, for “Extra Territorial Jurisdiction,” that exists within a 3.5 mile radius around the City of Victoria. The same officials told me there were no records associated with River Rock Ranch within that jurisdiction, either.³

One final note on the River Rock Ranch: On Saturday, September 27, 2026, I drove to 670 Smith Road in Victoria, Texas, approximately two hours from Austin. A video and two pictures of what I observed are posted below, and I provide further personal commentary and observations in the field notes section of this report.

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Alpha School’s continued silence

On the evening of Saturday, September 26, 2026, I emailed Anna Davlantes, Alpha School’s Chief Communications Officer, to again offer Alpha School the opportunity to comment on my forthcoming story about the Survival Challenge. I attached a copy of the fall incident report and requested comment by end of day Monday, September 27.

I received no response.

Concurrently, I emailed the same offer to Chris Locke, Alpha School’s Head of High School, who’s held that role since June 2021, at least according to his public LinkedIn profile:

Source

In my email, I stated the following: “Given the nature and seriousness of what I plan to report, I want to extend the opportunity to comment directly to you as the person who I understand oversees Alpha School’s high school, and therefore bears direct responsibly for the ‘Survivor Challenge’ and any harm that resulted to students.”

Locke did not reply. But for context, I want to share two additional pieces of information stemming from my general investigation of Alpha School.

First, Chris Locke’s name has come up in several conversations with sources over the past weeks. Without exception, even sources that are highly critical of Alpha School have described him favorably, and as someone committed to educating the students in his care. As I stated to Locke in my email, I have long believed that good people can work for bad organizations.

Second, multiple sources have told me that Joe Liemandt pays particular attention to Alpha School’s high school, and that many activities within it are created as the result of his direct instruction to staff. As one source told me, these activities often reflect “whatever the last thought is that entered Joe’s brain.” It is notable that in addition to the Survival Challenge, high school students in boot camp are also tasked with learning “critical thinking” by watching a full season of Survivor: Cagayan.

Whether Joe Liemandt is a fan of Survivor is not something I plan to investigate at this time, but I suggest anyone who interviews him in the future put the question directly to him.

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My commentary

Alpha School is in complete crisis. Children are being harmed. The police are investigating. And the false narrative that its leadership has long presented to the world is destroyed forever.

I now want to speak directly to several affected communities.

To students enrolled at Alpha School: You have the right to be safe at Alpha School. You also have the right to personal privacy at Alpha School. If you are asked to do anything by anyone at Alpha School that you feel violates these rights, you should object, document your objection, and refuse to do what you are being asked. You should tell your parents or guardians immediately. You do not have to do anything that puts your physical well-being at risk. Nor do you have to sacrifice your privacy to Alpha School’s PR machine. Do not let them control you to the detriment of your safety or privacy.

To parents with students enrolled at Alpha School: In the wake of my reporting, many people have asked why you continue to keep your children enrolled at Alpha School, and I have no good answer. In my previous reporting, I stated my belief that children are at risk. With alarming speed, the events of the Survival Challenge have now borne that out. I am speaking to you as much as a fellow parent as I am citizen journalist: your children are not safe attending Alpha School.

To adults employed by Alpha School: Based on multiple sources and conversations I’ve had throughout my investigation, I understand you have received little or no training related to ensuring the safety of the children in your care. Nonetheless, as a matter of common decency and common sense, you should exercise oversight to ensure of your students, and to protect their privacy.

I know many of you are afraid of Joe Liemandt. If that’s the case, resign. Your moral obligations are to a power higher than any he will ever possess.

To Joe Liemandt and MacKenzie Price: You are the co-founders of Alpha School and bear ultimate responsibility for its activities. The same guidance I just provided to the adults employed by Alpha School apply with far more force you both. Students, which is to say children, are not guinea pigs or lab rats for you to experiment upon, nor are they proto-influencers to manipulate, shredding student privacy in the process, so as to generate footage to promote the hideous organization you purport to lead.

I am told by many that you view Alpha School as your legacy project. Whatever remains of your already tattered legacy will be irreparably destroyed if you continue to harm children due to your neglect of their safety, and their privacy.

I am so ashamed of you.

To the grotesque and terminally online pro-Alpha School nitwits I call the Alpha-Betas: For several weeks, you have defamed my character in social media. I have paid you little direct attention, because I’ve been busy reporting on actual things happening in the real world that violate the rights of students at Alpha School, things that are actually creepy. The baseless claims you’ve circulated among your sociopathic crew do not intimidate me. You are nothing to me.

I have little doubt you will ignore the harms to actual children I share in this report, but perhaps this will get your attention: Alpha School’s bumbling communications team has been relaying your missives to news outlets both big and small. This means that your disgusting missives are now intertwined with the Alpha School empire, and as such, you and Alpha School may jointly bear responsibility for the baseless smears you’ve so glibly shared on social media. I already have general counsel monitoring your activity, and I am in the process of obtaining litigation counsel to affirmatively pursue my claims. If you do not cease your defamatory posts, you will soon need to lawyer up.

Continue to fuck around, and you will find out.

To the education community broadly: What is it going to take? What is it going to take? I thought by now I’d see more people jumping off the rapidly derailing Alpha School hype train, but instead, the reaction remains muted among those who should know better. What should be happening is neatly modeled by educator Wess Trabelsi, who recently published a post titled, with admirable candor, “Boy, was I wrong about Alpha School.” Yes! Hell, everything about Alpha School is wrong, and until I trained my attention upon it, I had no idea myself. There is no shame in admitting to being deceived by the carefully crafted but total bullshit story they’ve been promoting for years. Matt Seybold also does outstanding work here pulling up to the broader aims and implications of what Alpha School’s owners ultimately aim to do.

In glaring contrast, what should not be happening are essays such as this one by Michael Horn and Thomas Arnett of the Christensen Institute that gloss over the reality of Alpha School. Their tone-deaf post contains a weak-ass disclaimer regarding the “recent wave of reporting on Alpha School,” before the authors quickly proceed to vomit up a word salad about school choice or whatever. Since these two have been wrong on virtually everything they’ve predicted about the “future of education” for decades, I will spend zero time interrogating their inane arguments, but given that Horn platformed MacKenzie Price and Alpha School on his podcast just last year, I find it unfathomable he chose to publish this essay now. It’s akin to having interviewed Elizabeth Holmes, then watching her get indicted, yet concluding, “well my, that certainly is something, but let me now explain why we still need to disrupt home blood testing.” It’s as clueless as it is embarrassing. (I offered Horn the opportunity to comment on this, but he declined.)

Now let’s try to find something uplifting — and delicious — stemming from all this, shall we?

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Field Notes from my trip to Victoria, Texas

Here is something to know about me: the Riley family roots run deep in Texas. Outside of Llano, not far from the local public high school, there is a hill that locals adorably fondly refer to as “Riley Mountain,” so named for my great-great-great-great grandfather James C. Riley, who settled there with his family in 1841. Here’s an old photo of them, courtesy of the friendly folks at the Llano County Historical Museum:

Don’t they look fun?

In the generations that followed, my great-great grandfather David W. Riley became a man of some importance in Texas, serving as sheriff of Llano County and also one of the early Texas Rangers, not the baseball team but rather, the paramilitary outfit revered by Texans generally despite it being — or perhaps because it was — often a tool of white supremacy. Relatedly, David W. Riley also joined the Confederate Army, and named one of his five children Robert E. Lee Riley, also known as my great-grandfather (never met him). And it turns out that David W. Riley retired in Austin, and he’s buried about 15 minutes from where I sit typing this now. I’ve visited his grave multiple times.

Anyway, there are many things that drive me bananas about my home state — the right-wing politics being one, the lack of public land another — but I kind of adore enjoy road tripping through its vast if largely privatized expanses.

And boy do I love our barbecue.

So, while investigating the River Rock Ranch in Victoria, Texas — reminder, that’s the one owned by Little B. Diddies — I asked locals to recommend the best barbecue in town. (Pro tip: You can do this just about anywhere in Texas, and you will rarely be disappointed.) There was one and only one that was universally recommended: Mumphord’s Place.

What I am about to say I do not say lightly. After living in Texas for more than a decade and exploring it from the northern panhandle to the southern Rio Grande Valley, from the western border town of El Paso to the eastern woodsy surrounds of Lufkin and Tyler, after conducting my own personal quest to find the best barbecue in a state that reveres smoked meats with religious fervor, I say this without reservation: Mumphord’s Place is the best barbecue joint I’ve found in all of Texas.

I don’t have time to write a proper review, and this report is long enough as it is, so I’ll just quickly share that:

• The brisket consistency was perfect, with a deep crimson smoke ring;

• The ribs were also “competition-grade” perfect, meaning the meat clung to the bone but immediately separated when bitten into (and please trust that I devoured them quickly);

• The sausage was as flavorful as any I’ve ever tasted;

• The beans and potato salad were likewise outstanding (the quality and options of barbecue side dishes are their own separate issue in Texas, believe you me); and

• The banana-foster pudding, oh my god.

The food alone makes the journey to Mumphord’s Place worth your time, but there’s something just as important: the atmosphere. It’s a family affair there, I believe Ricky and Keith Mumphord are the co-owners and pitmasters, and everyone working inside appeared to be either family or close friends, people who grew up together in the same community and deeply know their personal histories, people who clearly love each other, and also love talking endless shit, a joyous form of razzing emanating from back in the kitchen but directed at times toward the seemingly endless line of local customers, too.

That includes me. After Ricky Mumphord kindly let me take a few pictures of him carving up some brisket, the tireless and wonderful server LaJuana Strait rightly noted that women aren’t often seen in BBQ pics because they are more likely to be working the tables rather than slicing the meat. Duly shamed, I vowed to immediately remedy that fact, and she’s pictured below. Hers is a beautiful soul. That’s true of everyone working there, you can feel it the minute you step inside.

I say again: Mumphord’s Place is the best barbecue in Texas. I’ll be coming back soon, y’all.

Ricky Mumphord handling the brisket

The amazing LaJuana Strait, and thank you for educating me

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What, you thought we were finished? Here are three more pictures and brief commentary arising from my road trip to Victoria, Texas.

I reference in my video clip above the sort of ranches I typically see used for group events in Texas. I have no idea if this one is public or private, but this is what I mean about them usually having a nice gated entryway. No animal skull, though – might be owned by a Californian.

Mandatory, and I believe our European World Cup visitors are still recovering from the overwhelming experience that is visiting a Buc-ee’s. While obtaining provisions in Bastrop, I saw one patron staring bewilderedly at its wall of jerky and seemingly endless varieties of seasonings. The move here is the Bohemian Garlic, trust me on this. But make sure to have some floss handy.

I’ll wrap things up now, finally, but one habit that can irk my road-tripping companions is my insistence on stopping to read the many historical markers that line the Texas state highways. Learning our history is joyous for me, even when it reminds us of the many manifestations of white supremacy in this state, as this marker does. We cannot change the past, but we for damn sure can learn from it, and take action to remedy the inequities arising from whence we came.

Take the time to stop and read these geographic footnotes to our history — they are educational and important.

“History is not the past. It is the present.

We carry our history with us. We are our history.”

– James Baldwin

1. Internally, Alpha School describes this event as its Survivor Challenge, but I think Survival is more apt.

2. I want to extend my personal thanks to the many officials of both the City of Victoria and County of Victoria that I’ve spoken to over the past several days. Without exception, they were helpful and informative, undertstood the gravity of the situation, and they worked quickly to provide me with the public records I requested, and to answer my many questions.

3. Initially, this was described to me as the “Extra-Terrestrial Jurisdiction, which provided a moment of levity before the official corrected his mistake. Sometimes this story does feel like it’s from outer space.