Élan School
| ÉLAN SCHOOL | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Address | |
|
PO Box 578 Poland, Maine 04274 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 44°00′27″N 70°23′10″W / 44.0075°N 70.386°WCoordinates: 44°00′27″N 70°23′10″W / 44.0075°N 70.386°W |
| 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 that was formerly a hunting lodge.
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. The school was also the subject of persistent allegations of abuse in their behavioral modification program.
On March 23, 2011, Elan School announced it would be closing its doors on April 1, 2011.
Élan School was founded in 1970 by psychiatrist Gerald Davidson investor David Goldberg and Joseph Ricci, who did not graduate from college. Ricci headed the school until his death in 2001, when his widow Sharon Terry took over. Maine politician Bill Diamond served as its Director of Governmental Relations.
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. 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."
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.
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