| Schools,
Programs, & Visit Reports - Jun, 1990 Issue
|
The DeSisto School
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Lon Woodbury's Visit: May 3, 1990
Population: Coed, ages
14 to 20, who have been failing.
Model: Residential boarding school with strong counseling and
therapy.
Founded: 1978.
Program Length: Year round until graduation.
Current Size: 184
Capacity: 185
Credentials: Accredited through the local school district.
Faculty: 45
Academics: College Prep with higher requirements for a DeSisto
diploma.
Physical Activities: Regular PE classes & sports.
Family Participation: Emphasized, and almost required, in 16
area groups.
Enrollment: Family interview required. Enroll usually the same
day and enroll year round.
Graduation: Early June.
Western Massachusetts, especially
the Berkshires, has traditionally been the rural escape for the urban
dwellers of Boston and New York. These summer and year-round refugees
have brought their culture with them. For example, the Boston Symphony's
summer home is in Stockbridge, just a few miles from the DeSisto school.
The school reflects this environment of culture by a heavy emphasis
on dance, art, and music. During my visit I kept running into signs
of this emphasis, on one occasion watching a singing practice session
by a student which bordered on being a professional quality performance.
As another example, the head of the school dance program is D. J. McDonald,
a dance choreographer who moved to DeSisto from Broadway, bringing some
of his professional dancers with him as teachers.
The DeSisto School is obviously
a personal creation of Michael DeSisto. There is no doubt he is in charge,
which probably has something to do with him being considered controversial
in some educational circles. His personal time is spent mostly in working
directly with students' emotional growth. This starts in admissions
where he does most of the interviewing and takes the leading role in
decisions if a student is to be enrolled. This was explained to me that
he does the "insight" work, delegating to others follow-up work such
as administration, interviews, etc.
DeSisto started as a school
and evolved from there in the focus on dysfunctional youth. The academics
are college preparatory, with students being able to take college courses
while still on campus when appropriate. School is year round with standard
vacations and the summer program is required for enrollment the next
school year. The school is ungraded, with small classes, and students
take only 3 subjects each "dime," (two months long). Study in the Arts
is intended to be a key element in helping students learn how to express
their feelings, as well as a growing emphasis in working in and serving
the surrounding community. For example, the students run and work in
a local coffee shop in neighboring Lenox which serves coffee, soft drinks,
and light meals. There are off-campus study possibilities students can
work for, including learning Spanish in Mexico, and Marine Biology in
the Florida Keys.
In emotional growth, each
new student is assigned a therapist for weekly sessions, daily and as
needed group sessions in dorm meetings, and students progress up the
four levels by consensus of his/her peers. For students who are acting
out and are very resistant, assignment to farm work is designed to allow
the student full time to think through their behavior and how they are
living life.
A student can graduate with
a standard High School diploma, or, if he/she meets the higher requirements,
can receive a DeSisto diploma. They tell me 90% of their graduates go
on to college, but they have not done any detailed follow-up studies.
Copyright
© 1990, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
