Hyde School Survivors

From Justice Law Collaborative:  https://www.justicelawcollaborative.com/schools-boarding-schools-colleges-and-universities# The Hyde Boarding Schools of Woodstock, CT and Bath, ME JLC is currently representing a group of brave survivors who attended the Hyde School (both the Woodstock, CT location and the Bath, ME location). Since its founding in 1966, the school has been marketed as a behavioral modification program for teenagers (ages 14-18) with emotional or behavioral problems. The Hyde School case stands as a notable instance within the sphere of education and parental rights. This case, which garnered widespread attention, unfolded in the late 1990s, shedding light on the intricate balance between a school's disciplinary measures and the rights of parents to advocate for their children. At its core, the Hyde School revolved around the expulsion of two students from the prestigious Hyde boarding school. The school, renowned for its character-based education and emphasis on pe

Brochure that Hyde School has given Hyde parents Brochure link Transcribed text:  HYDE SCHOOL CONCEPTS 
HYDE SCHOOL AND THE RUNAWAY: A POSITION PAPER QUITTING DEFINED HISTORY WHO RUNS? WHEN AND WHY
 HOW TO RESPOND
 THE LEGITIMACY OF OUR POSITION Hyde is many things but it is first and foremost a challenge. Plain and simple, this is hard school. Many on the faculty are alumni and can vouch for this from both sides of the desk. Much has changed in our 25 years as a school but the idea of Hyde as challenging place has remained. Some students occasionally want to quit. That is normal. Taking the step from wanting to quit to acting upon it is a serious matter. It is also a family matter. There are two ways to quit. One is to pack up one's belongings and depart the campus - i.e. run away. The other is to refuse to comply with the demands of the program. Both ways add up to the same conclusion: the student has decided to quit on the commitment that was made at the interview. It is importa

From Fornits Hello, I am new to this board. I found this board after I realized Hyde(Woodstock) was not working for me, -- I AM a current student on their Woodstock campus. I also realize how risky it may be for me to come on this board, but I know my mom is going to struggle withdrawing me, and Hyde's manipulative ways. I can here a mere 4 weeks ago and already feel manipulated and lied to. When I came for a tour they seem to have put on a false front and this school is nothing what it seems. I was told this was a school for kids "who struggled, but were striving to get better" and trying move on in their life. I lost my father in February (14) of this year to cancer, and I struggled from there at home. I used to be a straight A student, but the sudden death of my father rocked my boat a little too hard and I lost my groove. I was struggling with simple tasks, and my mom thought a change of scenery would do me some good. She researched school, and was easily attracted t

I don't know where to begin. So happy our son is out of that place!! The arrogance, verbal abuse, poor supervision, and the most dysfunctional cast of characters that they call a staff. If your child has a mental health issue, substance abuse issue, learning disability, or just low self esteem, they will not improve here. The campus is rife with drugs - prescription and otherwise and some students are prone to violent outbursts. They idea of discipline is forced labor and humiliation through meetings with faculty where they verbally abuse, embarrass, and degrade students. The FLC meetings are a joke, not to mention they expect you to go to parent group meetings in your area. They aren't concerned with the fact that you have other children, a job, or other important commitments. My parent group leader divulged very personal graphic issues of her strained marriage in our first meeting!! Its a cult atmosphere and the staff does not take criticism well at all. This idea

  HYDE School: Follow Your Own Advice and Heal Thyself A Former Hyde Parents' Review. Original post Our family has now been affiliated with Hyde for several years.  It has taken us some time to figure out Hyde's true colors.  We started Hyde in earnest.  We were not in a true state of crisis, although we had some concerns about our child's path.  Our child enrolled in Summer Challenge which, overall, seemed to be a rather benign experience (with the exception of a couple of group seminars where, clearly, the group facilitators were in over their heads when a couple of parents disclosed some incredibly powerful, sensitive, and provocative information in front of their children and the rest of us -- it was painful to watch and hear the staff's inept handling of the situations). Our child then started Hyde in September of that year.  Initially we bought into the program and attended all meetings (regional, FLCs) faithfully.  We gave it our best shot as we embraced Hyde'

HYDE School: Follow Your Own Advice and Heal Thyself A Former Hyde Parents' Review. Original post Our family has now been affiliated with Hyde for several years.  It has taken us some time to figure out Hyde's true colors.  We started Hyde in earnest.  We were not in a true state of crisis, although we had some concerns about our child's path.  Our child enrolled in Summer Challenge which, overall, seemed to be a rather benign experience (with the exception of a couple of group seminars where, clearly, the group facilitators were in over their heads when a couple of parents disclosed some incredibly powerful, sensitive, and provocative information in front of their children and the rest of us -- it was painful to watch and hear the staff's inept handling of the situations). Our child then started Hyde in September of that year.  Initially we bought into the program and attended all meetings (regional, FLCs) faithfully.  We gave it our best shot as we embraced Hyde's

  CONDITIONS FOR MIND CONTROL DR. MARGARET SINGER (Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D., Emeritus Prof. of Psychology, Univ. of CA, Berkeley) THOUGHT REFORM = LANGUAGE + SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE In a thought reform program: the self concept is destabilized the group/leaders attack one's evaluation of self SELF: 2 Elements in one's self-concept Peripheral Sense: adequacy of public & judgmental aspects, social status, role performance, conformity to social norms Central Sense of Self: adequacy of intimate life, confidence in perception of reality, relations w/family, goals, sexual experiences, traumatic life events, religious beliefs, basic consciousness and emotional control When you attack a person's self-concept, aversive emotional arousal is created 6 CONDITIONS THAT NEED TO BE PRESENT IN ORDER TO CONSTITUTE MIND CONTROL: 1. CONTROL OVER TIME Especially thinking time Use techniques

Slap May Be Just What Child Needs by Hyde School founder and then-headmaster Joe Gauld. Originally published in Maine Sunday Telegram's column "Courage to Grow", July 8th, 1973. ________________ Should you ever slap a kid? How about a man teacher slapping a girl student? I think the place of such "physical" education in American childrearing is badly misunderstood. Most people who hit kids do it for the wrong reasons - like out of their own frustrations. Most people who don't hit kids, don't do it for the wrong reasons - like out of mistaken compassion. "Spanking", at best, has a mixed acceptance in our society, but slapping a kid is definitely out. As one educator recently said to me: "If I had to hit a kid to get the message across, I would consider myself a failure." Yet, with this seemingly "Christian" attitude in raising kids, assaults, rapes and murders mark us as the most violent society in the world today. We do seem

Content warning: RACISM Posted for informational/FAIR USE purposes only. We do NOT agree with this “column,” and we support racial justice, dismantling systemic racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement. We hope Joe Gauld’s views and opinions about racial oppression and equality have evolved significantly since he wrote this, and we hope the opinions of his son Malcolm Gauld, and daughter in law Laura Gauld, who currently run and profit from Hyde School, are far more evolved. As far as we know, he has never issued a redaction, update, or apology. He still references this column as something he is proud of in his books and on the  Biggest Job website .   _________________________ Are Blacks and Whites Really Equal? Maine Sunday Telegram column "Courage to Grow" October 21, 1973 by Joe Gauld, Hyde School Founder and then-headmaster. Entry later renamed "The Black IQ" for the Courage to Grow, the book .  It’s hard to write a column on a subject that has been a battle

Excerpt from UNREQUITED TIME, James McCurrach Jim finally overstepped the boundaries on the bus ride home for the Thanksgiving break in 1977. He brazenly lit up a marijuana cigarette in full view of a bus full of students in the middle of the day. Totally foolish, of course, but also unnecessary in that within only a few hours he would have been out of the school jurisdiction and in the safety of his own home. Leniency wasn't going to work in to this instance- especially since he had already had several warning related to circumstantial situations. This time he had gone too far and was terminated from Berkshire. ...Whatever, young James now required even more serious attention since Berkshire had become ancient history. I was ashamed of him as well as myself.. I needed to get Jim relocated as quickly as possible without, hopefully, making wrong move. Eventually, I heeded the advice of some experienced educational people and we later settled on the Hyde School located in remote part

FINDING THE RIGHT SCHOOL: LESSONS LEARNED FROM “INSIDE” Rick Reamer and Deborah Siegel Pawtucket, RI freamer@cox.net Parents of struggling teens typically agonize about finding the “right” school or program. They sort through mounds of data – from educational consultants, school directories, pamphlets, promotional videos, websites, campus visits and conversations with school staff – before settling on what they hope is the right choice. We’ve been there. During the spring of 2003, we spent countless hours combing through every morsel of information we could find about an overwhelming array of school options. We knew our child did not need a therapeutic boarding school. We simply needed a school that offered structure; consistent, humane supervision; a positive peer culture; constructive emphasis on personal accountability and integrity; and a willingness to collaborate collegially with parents. We did not seek perfection, realizing that those who do will always be disappointed. We foll