It is my intent to find the way and the means to establish a model boarding school for orphans. The school will provide academic excellence, and its students will embody a school-based family to replace the family they lost. The school will create an atmosphere of family values and family continuity so the students will walk away as brothers and sisters to one another, and help one another throughout their lives, like family members often do.
THE TIME HAS COME
Everything happens in cycles. The tide comes and goes, as do governments and civilizations. Social change happens as new and modern ideas grow out of necessity or as a reaction against a perceived wrong. Sometimes, the remedy brings new problems, unanticipated by the movers and shakers at its inception.
Children are born and sometimes their childhoods are interrupted by loss of parents and a stable home. In the past, children were sent to orphanages from which they could be adopted. This method fell out of fashion, as some of the orphanages became known for their unkind treatment of the youngsters.
Institutionalization became a negative concept. It was thought that a family atmosphere would be a preferred setting for a young person going through such trauma. This gave rise to foster care. The foster parents and children were forming bonds and that was considered to be harmful to the children. So foster care became a disruptive force in the lives of these children. They were prevented from bonding with anyone, had to change schools and homes until 18. At that time they were declared adults and were expected to care for themselves.
There is an effort to mitigate the harmful effects of such a system by offering the young people transitional programs. However, the damage of the lack of stability and lack of opportunity to form trusting bonds with any adults or peers in the environment cannot be easily repaired. There was no opportunity for family ties to last through the years.
A BOARDING SCHOOL FOR ORPHANS
The environment of a boarding school for orphans can provide the opportunity for stable and lasting relationships with preferred caretakers and peers. A boarding school would increase the amount of time that the young people will spend together, and give the caretakers a chance to mold the children without worrying about distractions and negative influences from the outside. Such a setting would increase the school's opportunity to remedy any deficiencies with greater ease. Throughout the program the young people will be taught to look toward the future by planning for it and learning necessary self-care skills, job skills, responsibility, and how to get along in relationships. They will learn how to debate, play instruments, dance, play sports, cook, garden and make simple home repairs as part of the after school training. In other words, they could have all the benefits that a stable and well-rounded homelife could provide but in a boarding school setting.
A FEELING OF BELONGING
The young people will be imbued with a collective responsibility for each other, much as a family. Just coming to the school will make them part of the school family forever. They will be taught and encouraged to help each other at school and after they go off on their own. The school will publish an updated alumni directory. The Alumni Association will maintain a website detailing the graduates' accomplishments. Each year, the students will be encouraged to keep in touch with the school and visit on alumni day and holidays. New students will be encouraged by, and learn from, the stories of those who came before them.
When they graduate, the students will be encouraged to go off in groups, to share an apartment or go to the same college or university. This will give them a sense of security and mitigate the feeling of abandonment. The school will work hard to provide scholarship opportunities for those who continue with university or vocational school.
The school will always be there to help any alumnus who has faltered and needs a family to return to. The alumni association will serve the same purpose.
HOW TO APPLY TO SUCH A SCHOOL
Due to the special community feeling of the school, new young people will only be recruited if they understand what they are getting into and are willing and happy to be a part of such a program. That means that they will have to read a brochure, complete an application and write a short essay about why they want to be part of the school. This process is not to exclude anyone who cannot write beautifully. It is merely to assure that they understand that it is a different sort of school. No one who completes the application will be excluded - they might have to be placed on a waiting list until a bed opens up.
FUNDING FOR THE BOARDING SCHOOL
A Boarding School for Orphans Board will have to be formed. Community support for the project will have to be secured. A site and funding will have to be secured. A Charter School formed and approved by the local authorities. Buildings will have to be built or refurbished to offer housing and school facilities. If the community supports such a project they can support it financially as well as by donating their time and other resources needed for its success.
SIZE AND AGE GROUP
The size of the school will depend on the amount of funding available for the start-up. It is perhaps best to start with High School aged young people and work out the missteps with those who can best articulate what needs re-working, before expanding this program to younger children.
Dorm rooms should house four to a room. Each should have 4 beds, 4 closets, 4 desks with computer docks and drawers and shelves. The family room will be surrounded by 4 dorm rooms, common bathroom and an adult supervisor's bedroom. There will be couches, easy chairs, a TV, one large refrigerator and one water tower in the family room. The refrigerator will be for healthy snacks.
Classrooms, library, music room, dining room and kitchen will be detached from the dorm rooms.
COLLEGE AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL TRACKS
Some of the students will elect to go into the college preparatory track and some into the vocational track. The school will take care to treat both types of training with respect and with an eye for excellence. The curriculum will be reviewed by the business community to anticipate future needs and utility of all training.
Students who come to the school with uneven skills in basic knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic or reasoning will be given intensive tutoring to bring them up to speed.
STAFFING
The teachers will be credentialed to work in the state of California.
The adult dorm room supervisors and other staff could be married couples who opt to live at the school and work on the school grounds. This would benefit the young people as well as the adults who might be glad of the free room and board.
Free housing will be provided to staff who wish to live on school grounds. In turn, these staff members can serve as surrogate parents and stable adult influence to the young people.
All adults will be screened for past criminal history and for skills in working with young people and small children.
Resident students will be paid for working in the kitchen and garden if the duties are beyond their assigned chores. Students will be able to save that money for their future, in a real bank account. Students will not be required to pay for food, clothing, or toiletries these will be provided by the school.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUCH A PROJECT
Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in this project. My home base is in Orange County, California. If you would like to form a school like this in your community, please feel free to use any of these ideas. If you already have such a school in your community, I would love to hear from you. sandyrogersphd@roadrunner.com
Posted 04-21-06
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