Élan School

Élan School was founded in 1970 by Joseph Ricci, a former heroin addict who had worked with young people in drug-treatment facilities,[8] along with psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Davidson and investor David Goldberg.[9] Ricci headed the school until his death in 2001, when his widow Sharon Terry took over.[7] In 1974, Élan 1 was damaged by a fire with damages estimated as $100,000.[10] Maine politician Bill Diamond served as the school's Director of Governmental Relations.[11]

In the school's program, described as "controversial",[7] "humiliation" was identified as a therapeutic tool, as was following up on such intervention with encouragement and warm support. Students attended year-round.[12] In 2002, a New Jersey educational consultant who had referred students to Élan for twenty-two 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."[7] 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.[13]

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, ... and yet there are lots of hugs."[7] Accounts of former students include mentions of physical and mental abuse, including degrading tasks such as "[sessions] of cleaning urinals with a toothbrush that can last for hours" and up to the point of critical malnourishment.[7]

Throughout its history, the school was faced with numerous allegations of student maltreatment. In 2001, Details magazine cited Élan as "among the most controversial of the nation's residential therapeutic communities."[14] In 1975, Illinois state officials removed eleven children from the Élan program, alleging mistreatment.[2] In the late-1970s, Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Max Ashburn visited the school after repeatedly hearing rumors of abuse, but the staff did not allow him entry into the school past the lobby.[15] Following this, he began keeping a file in which he documented names and phone numbers related to Élan, as well as reported abuses.[15]

The New York State Education Department, which had paid tuition for special education students to attend Élan School, gave the school a favorable review in 2005.[16] 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.[2]

Students would occasionally run away from Élan.[15] Former Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office Captain Ray Lafrance stated that Élan would send groups in vans to search for and return runaways, and noted that the school only called police to report missing students as a last resort.[15] Lafrance said some runaways would be relieved to be found after spending nights in the woods, though others "were scared to death to go back to Élan. If we really felt they were really scared, we'd bring them into the department, call their parents and at least let them know what's going on. Then we'd call Élan and they'd come pick them up."[15]

In 1979, Lieutenant Max Ashburn was called by a local family to pick up a 16-year-old Élan runaway.[15] The boy had been a student at Élan for several months, and said that his parents lived in another state.[15] Ashburn recalled in 2016 that the boy "was crying, and he was begging me not to take him back";[15] rather than return him to the school, Ashburn, a former truck driver, took the boy to a local diner, and instructed him to hitch a ride with one of the truck drivers there.[15]

On March 23, 2011, Élan School announced it would be closing on April 1, 2011.[36] The school's owner, Sharon Terry, blamed "declining enrollment and resulting financial difficulties," as well as 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."[1]

Élan was featured in Children of Darkness, a documentary film shot in 1983 that explored the experiences of emotionally troubled youth and the various residences and institutions that housed them. A documentary chronicling the school's history and impact titled The Last Stop was released in 2017. The film was directed by an Élan graduate and included interviews from various residents and professionals including Maia Szalavitz.[37][38][39] Élan is the main location for the events in Joe versus Elan School, a web-based graphic novel.[40][41]

• Attack therapy
• Human Potential Movement
• Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
• Large Group Awareness Training

• Elan School at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Kevin Gray, Bad Company: The Elan School, Details magazine, November 2001, pp. 88–97
• David Gurliacci, Ex-students at Skakel trial describe Elan as 'horrific', Portland Press Herald, May 31, 2002
• Todd Nilssen: The Last Stop (documentary, 2017) Video on YouTube

• Curley, Maura (1991). Duck in a Raincoat. Menuki Press. ISBN 0-9629522-0-6. An unauthorized biography of the founder of the Élan School, Joe Ricci.
• Pappas, Eva (2006). The Other Son – One Family's Personal War on Drugs. Lagrimas & Clean Slate Publishers Group. ISBN 978-0-9777187-1-9. Describes Élan's program under a fictitious name.
• Szalavitz, Maia (2006). Help at Any Cost. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1-59448-910-6. A former senior fellow of the Statistical Assessment Service at George Mason University offers a thoroughly researched critique of the troubled-teen industry, which includes an ethical guide for parents with troubled teenagers.