| ÉLAN SCHOOL | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| PO Box 578 Poland, Maine, 04274 United States |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Private therapeutic boarding school |
| Opened | 1970 |
| Closed | 2011 |
| Grades | 8-12 |
| Age range | 13-18+ |
| Affiliations | NATSAP |
Élan School was a private, coeducational, controversial residential behavior modification program and therapeutic boarding school (beginning with 8th grade and extending beyond high school completion) in Poland, Androscoggin County, Maine. It was a full member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP).
Elan was located on a 33-acre (13 ha) campus[1] that was formerly a hunting lodge.[2]
The school acquired some notoriety during the 1990s and early 2000s when former classmates of Michael Skakel, who had attended Élan in the 1970s, testified against him in his trial for an unsolved murder that had occurred about two years before he enrolled at Élan.[3] The school was also the subject of persistent allegations of abuse in their behavioral modification program.[4][5]
On March 23, 2011, Elan School announced it would be closing its doors on April 1, 2011. The school's owner, Sharon Terry, blamed negative attacks on the school via the Internet. In a letter to the Lewiston Sun-Journal, Terry said: “The school has been the target of harsh and false attacks spread over the Internet with the avowed purpose of forcing the school to close." She added that despite numerous investigations by the Maine Department of Education that vindicated Élan, “the school has, unfortunately, been unable to survive the damage.”[6]
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Élan School was founded in 1970 by psychiatrist Gerald Davidson and Joseph Ricci. Ricci headed the school until his death in 2001, when his widow Sharon Terry took over.[7] [8]
The school specialized in treating teenagers with behavioral problems. In the program 'humiliation' was stated clearly as a therapeutic tool, as is following up on such intervention with encouragement and warm support. Students attended year-round.[9] In 2002, a New Jersey educational consultant who had referred students to Elan for 22 years told the New York Times that he would refer only "the most serious cases" to the school, which he said would "take kids who haven't responded to other programs and who are really out of control."[8]
The school's treatment methods were based on the "TC" or therapeutic community modality popularized in the 1960s at facilities such as Synanon, and later at Daytop Village.[10]
In 2002, a New Jersey educational consultant told the New York Times that the school was "certainly not for the faint-hearted." He said "There's lots of confrontation," but added "and yet there are lots of hugs."[8]
Throughout its history the school was faced with numerous allegations of student mistreatment. In 2001, Details Magazine cited Elan as "among the most controversial of the nation's residential therapeutic communities."[11]
In 1975, Illinois state officials pulled 11 children out of the Élan program, charging that they had been mistreated.[1]
In 2002 during the trial of Michael Skakel witnesses testified that beatings and public humiliation were parts of life at Élan during the late 1970s.[1] In trial testimony, former students also described the practice of placing a student in a "boxing ring" surrounded by classmates who confronted the student.[12][13] The New York Times has reported that, at the school, "smiling without permission can lead to a session of cleaning urinals with a toothbrush that can last for hours.".[14]
The New York State Education Department, which has paid tuition for special education students to attend Élan School, gave the school a favorable review in 2005.[15] In 2007, however, New York education officials raised questions about the school's practices, alleging in a letter to the school and Maine education officials that Élan students were physically restraining their peers and being deprived of sleep. The allegations prompted the state of New York to threaten to withdraw tuition money for taxpayer-funded students. The school's lawyer contested the allegations.[1]