I am reporting three important pieces of new information related to Alpha School’s Survival Challenge that have now been confirmed by multiple sources.
I have run out of words to describe the depth of my concern for child safety at Alpha School. I will keep this brief (at least by my standards), describing these new facts before providing brief commentary.
1. Students were deprived of their life-saving medical supplies for the duration of the Survival Challenge
Alpha School put its students’ lives in danger during the Survival Challenge by confiscating their medical supplies.
According to several sources, on the first day of the Survival Challenge, all students were required to turn over their medical supplies to adult guides. These sources inform me that these medical supplies were not returned to students until Sunday at the conclusion of the event. (Several students didn’t get their supplies back until Monday, according to one source.)
Why Alpha School did this is unknown. What is known that is some of the medical supplies that students were deprived of over the weekend included epi-pens and inhalers, according to multiple sources.
This was (and is) extraordinarily dangerous. An epi-pen injects epinephrine to quickly address severe food allergies known as anaphylaxis. According to the Food Allergy Research Education organization (FARE), for people with such allergies, it is “crucial to have epinephrine with you at all times” (my emphasis). Indeed, FARE recommends carrying two epi-pens, aka epinephrine auto-injectors, at all times as a safety precaution.
The consequences of failing to immediately address a serious allergic reaction are severe; according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, these reactions are such that they “typically come on quickly and may cause death” (my emphasis). The AAAAI further notes, “this medical emergency requires immediate treatment…if you (or anyone you are with) begin to have an allergic reaction, use your epinephrine and get to the closest emergency room. The sooner the reaction is treated, the less severe it is likely to become.”
For three days and two nights, Alpha School students were deprived of access to their epi-pens. While the severity of students’ anaphylaxis conditions are unknown, there is no justification — none — for any policy or practice that results in students lacking access to this potentially life-saving medical device.
Likewise, there is no possible justification for depriving students of access to their inhalers, either. The National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute states that asthma attacks “can be very scary” and that someone suffering such an attack “should use your reliever inhaler as soon as you start to have symptoms.”
Alpha School put allergic and asthmatic students in danger for the duration of the Survival Challenge. I do not know what other forms of medicine might have been confiscated, but my investigation into this remains ongoing.
2. Student attendance was not taken during the Survival Challenge
I reported earlier this week that 73 high school students attended the Survival Challenge, a figure supplied to me by multiple sources.
What I have since learned through multiple sources is that Alpha School did not take the attendance of students once the Survival Challenge commenced — students were accounted for at the beginning of the event and when it concluded, but not in between. Given the 250-acre size of the River Rock Ranch, its minimal gating and fencing, and the separate campsites of adult guides and students, it is fair to say that students’ presence on the ranch went unaccounted for long durations within the Survival Challenge time period.
This is dangerous and unsafe. The Survival Challenge started on a Friday and ended on a Sunday (albeit earlier than planned, according to multiple sources). A student could have wandered through the wilderness and seriously injured themself while away from others, yet could have potentially remained unaccounted for up to 48 hours. This is why so-called normal schools take attendance with regularity: at all times, public schools must be able to account for the whereabouts of the children in their care in order to keep them safe. According to Texas Education Agency memo dated February 2, 2026 on Attendance, Complaints and Educator Responsibilities1:
“Schools have a responsibility and duty to keep students safe.”
School systems have an “obligation to ensure students attend school and remain safe.”
State law recognizes parental involvement as including “parents knowing the location of their child during the school day.”
And schools “should make every effort to notify parents when students may leave school property.”
So that’s state law that applies to normal schools in Texas. But then, Alpha School does not consider itself a normal school.
3. Circumstances surrounding the adult guide fired in relation to the Survival Challenge
Additional information related to the Alpha School guide that was fired has come to light.
Through multiple sources, I’ve learned that not long after arriving at the River Rock Ranch, one adult guide stated they were suffering heat stroke. Sources indicate that other staff disagreed with this self-assessment. Sources further indicate this guide then left the ranch of their own volition to visit a hospital in Victoria, Texas, and obtained a note from a doctor that stated the guide should no longer stay on the ranch, and should instead return home. The guide did so.
The guide was fired by Alpha School shortly thereafter. I am withholding the name of this guide to preserve confidentiality.
My commentary
Alpha School put the lives of its students in danger, seemingly for no reason other than to cosplay at some twisted version of the reality television show Survivor. The name of the event itself, Survival Challenge, seemed overly dramatic upon my first reading, but based on what I’m reporting today and have reported previously, it appears there was a non-trivial danger that students could have suffered a major medical crisis, or even died, while participating in this activity at the River Rock Ranch (owned by Little B. Diddies LLC).
We know that one student fell and was taken to the ER, itself a major concern. But it could have been so much worse.
Finally, I note that Alpha School high school students take many class trips together — homecoming, for example, will be in Miami this year, according to multiple sources. Student field trips to foreign countries also take place, such as Poland. I simply do not know how any parent could feel safe about their child’s participation in these trips, given the inexplicable confiscation of students’ medical supplies, and the failure to take regular attendance to monitor students’ whereabouts.
I ask again: What will it take?
Candidly, this TEA memo was issued directly in response to student walkouts taking place to protest ICE brutality, and as a not-so-subtle message to school leaders that they should prevent students from doing so. I cite it here solely as evidence of TEA’s interpretation of existing state law on student attendance for purposes of ensuring student safety.
Perhaps relatedly on the authoritarian front, new (and outstanding) reporting from Lexi Churchill with ProPublica explores the relationship of Mike Morath, Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, with — wait for it — Alpha School.
Why does this feel weirdly like eugenics now?
Even if they were trying to emulate "Survivor", that show, as far as I'm aware, lets folks have access to any critical medical devices/medicine when needed/in case of an emergency.