DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE SEND YOUR CHILD TO THE ELAN SCHOOL

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FACT: Annual fees for a 12 month year of $54,960.60

Your children will do all the work, they will be the janitors, scrub toilets directly after other students in 'higher positions' use them, and as they move up in the 'program', they will be the prison guards. Your child will be put into a small, overcrowded house with many ACTUAL criminals and drug-addicts. Since The Elan School contains many crazies, the staff feel YOUR child should be watching them in isolation, instead of a staff member. The student to staff ratio at many times is about 1 : 40. The children could clearly take over at any time which is why a strong level of brainwashing will occur when your child steps foot in the door.

I used to give tours of The Elan School when I was a position called 'Re-entry' which is the highest level a student can reach. I was highly coached as to what I could not say, and what I had to say. Tours were only given during very 'convenient' times when the children were not screaming, being beat up in 'The Ring', or being emotionally abused by staff members. Since these things occur nearly all day, every day, every month of every year, these 'tours' had to be meticulously scheduled.

If you are wondering how the ME Department of Education could fund or promote such a place, here is an interesting fact from a linked article titled: New York seeks change at Elan School:

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070325elan.html

'While New York conducted a surprise inspection, it is the policy of Maine's education department to let schools know when state officials are going to conduct a visit, said Edwin "Buzz" Kastuck, whose responsibilities within the department include school approval.'

Here is a claim made in the same article:

'Frank McDermott, the Elan School's director of education, said the New York officials who visited in 2005 conducted extensive interviews with students, parents and graduates.

here is a comment written after an article, titled:Good News: Bad Economy Killing Abusive Teen Programs:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/good-news-bad-economy-kil_b_162696.html

"I was a student at the Elan School for 3 years from 2005 to 2008. I am still traumatized by what I went through during my time there. Waking up each day the environment was constant screaming and swearing, by students, but more so by the "staff". I remember as a new student, I was crying when I was told to scrub a garbage can as a punishment for something so minor that I can't even remember the cause. I has stopped cleaning it, and that was when the staff determined that I had to be restrained and dragged to "the corner", isolation in a room to the point when one barely feels human. I tried to fight back, as any normal person would do when one is touched and forcefully grabbed without consent. Instead of just bringing me to the corner, the staff had other students hold me up, my hands and feet restrained, as other students were forced to scream and degrade me. I say forced, because regretfully I have also done the same to other students, and I know that if they refused to participate in this abominable event they too would have been punished. The only way to survive in this setting was to shut down emotionally. This memory haunts me to current day.

"This school needs to be shut down, and I am happy if that day is coming near. Even if Elan survives the recession, it should still be closed. However, this could prove to be exceedingly difficult, because the students in the school are pressured not even to think a bad thought about the program, let alone utter it, and will receive punishment if they fail to oblige that rule. I know that while I was at the school investigations were conducted, and students were pressured into lying. Furthermore, a survey was also done, which now appears on the school's website, some questions asking about if we felt comfortable at the school. It was said to be anonymous, but again we felt pressured into lying, staff was supervising, and each of our handwriting could be easily identified.
"I hope someone reacts to the atrocity that is the Elan School."

I do too...