[amarynow]

Originally Posted by Gery brother of Bill

My brother Bill was incarcerated at Weeks School up to its end in 1979. He corroborates much of the abuse stories above and has said he was one of the principals involved in its exposure and closure. I too have searched the Internet for what really happened with no success. Does anyone recall what happened that got it closed or perhaps changed to something else?

I might have known Bill. I was there for a few years and until just before it closed. I am in touch with a couple people who were also there during that time.

[amarynow]

Originally Posted by sammysam

i'd love to chat with someone that has been at the Weeks School, as i was there myself.


shirley

Hi, I was there also. I would like to be in contact. I know some others that were there.

[mascoma]

Originally Posted by rasputin72

I spent a year there in 1958. Greenleaf was Superintendant, and the Palmers were in charge of my cottage (Graham). There were rumors of atrocities committed there over the years and inhumane treatment of residents. The reformatory was finally closed after an investigation into some of the disciplinary practices. I wasn't privy to all of the abuse, but I can relate three incidents that were over the top. Every day when we returned from work detail, we were assembled in the basement to shower and change into house clothes. The procedure was to stand in front of your locker and "tow the line". (Place your toes on a line about a foot back from the locker, lean forward with your hands behind your back with your forehead against the locker.) You were then subjected to a pat-down search. On one occasion a resident said something to the cottage master and was pulled out of line. I didn't see him get hit, but I saw him hit the floor with his eyes rolled back and his leg twitching-obviously unconscious.
I ran away once but couldn't get out of town because an accident blocked the road so I got caught. After spending a couple days in the infirmary to be treated for frostbite I was made a guest in the isolation room. It was a room with no lite in the basement of the infirmary with an army style cot bed and a "slop pail" with pine-sol in the bottom and a roll of toilet paper. I spent 24 hours a day for 30 days in that room. They brought me breakfast in the morning and I had to put my mattress in the hall. They brought me supper at night and when they came to pick up the tray I could walk down the hall to the bathroom and empty the "slop pail" and when I returned I got my mattress back. Once a week I was allowed a shower. Except for those few interruptions, I spent the rest of my time sitting on a cement floor or on bed springs with a hospital gown on in a dark room.
After I got back to the cottage I went back out on work details. I didn't have a specific assignment, so I reported to the farm boss (a Mr. Peabody) along with other unassigned residents every day. On about the 3rd day, I was the last one left without an assignment and the farm boss told me to come down to his office. I went in and sat where he told me, and after a while he told me to go the storeroom and get a roll of bailer's twine. When I brought it back, he told me to measure about six feet, took out a pocket knife, told me to hold it taught so he could cut it, and then instead of cutting the twine he sliced my hand open. Then he handed me a bandana, drove me to the infirmary, and they put a few stitches it it. Trust me, it wasn't an accident.
I was 15 when I got there, and 16 when I left. I'm glad they finally closed the reformatory. In the year that I was there, I saw kids treated in ways that wouldn't be allowed for hardened criminals in a super-max prison today. In my experience most of the staff were violent and sadistic and those that weren't just turned a blind eye to what was going on.

This is the kind of thing I heard about. The teachers used to scare us with the threat of going to Weeks School. I remember Governor Snelling shutting it down because he wanted to protect kids. I remember a few years later he ordered a raid on the Northeast Kingdom Community Church in Island Pond because the kids were allegedly being abused. That one backfired.

[maduce59]

Funny how times change. I was at week school 73/74. I ran away 3 times, was caught 2 times out of the 3, Was on Ingles cottage, not sure if I spelled the ingles right. I swam across Otter creek the third time and made it into NY, rumor has it I drowned swimming across the creek, current was a bit strong but manageable lol. Nice to be talking with other alumni.

[maduce59]

If anyone would like to chat my email is [email]californiablossom08@yahoo.com[/email] I don't remember a lot about weeks school Other than during my stay it wasn't a whole lot bad,I did spend a week in the box on 2 occasions I ended up in a reform school in Rochester NY 1974 called Industry., that place on the other hand was like the wild wild west.

[Motherfirefly]

I have not only head of it , I was THERE 2 or 3 different times from 1978-1979. Between there and several transitions to foster homes and the abuse, neglect and horror are ABSOLUTELY TRUE. I was 12 years old and was thrown in there by my mother for exposing family secrets. It was a living hell that I struggle with to this day.

[harry chickpea]

Weeks School was in Vergennes. Waterbury and the state hospital were NOT Weeks School and they were literally MILES apart (for a reason). I had a friend who had been in Weeks School. I don't doubt many of the things from the 1950s and 1960s that I was told about it. That time frame you give is quite late for Waterbury, and Weeks closed in '79 under the dept of corrections, and bluntly the people who worked at Waterbury were so overworked and understaffed during the period that THEIR lives could be worse living hell than that of the patients'.

If you had been at Waterbury and cogent, you would know which ward and what part of the campus you were on AND you would know the difference between Waterbury and Vergennes. If you had lived in the 1800s and been at the boy's reform school in Waterbury (which burned down well before I grew up in that town) and then been forced to return to the State Hospital in Waterbury in the next century, I might understand your confusion, as you would be well over two hundred years old.

If you want to post about Weeks, there is an existing thread.

[Motherfirefly]

Omg I’m 56 years old with Lupus and CREST syndrome. I know I was in WEEKS SCHHOL AS WELL AS WATERBURY when I ran away from weeks. When I got there is was only for a few weeks until the state found me a foster family. My apologies if I got some of the names wrong, BUT THE FACTS OF ABUSE REMAIN TRUE!!! I was there.!!

[harry chickpea]

Omg And I worked at Waterbury. I too was there!! And my medical conditions have zip to do with that or how I remember things. I was very aware of what happened when I worked there, and there was NO abuse by staff I saw, and if anything we were more lenient than might have been preferred. Were you ever cold c*cked by a staff member, lain unconscious on the floor, and then shrugged it off as just something that happens? How many staff threw food and dishes at you, and you shrugged it off? How many staff do you know that crapped in their clothing and smiled, knowing you had to deal with it? Flip that "staff" word to "patient" and I've BTDT.

Look, I recognize that you may have gone through a traumatic time. I recognize that you probably saw things you wished you had never seen. So did I. If you want to slander those of us who worked for a pittance for long hours trying to help, it is only fair to expect some kickback from us. I could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on end, and they do NOT include abuse (at least by staff).

Give me a ward name. Give me the name of the nurse in charge. Give me the name of the doctor. Give me details. Give me the name of a single perpetrator. If you can't do that, and have it stand up to public verification, you can understand why I might not believe you. There was a lot said at the state hospital that we could not believe; about other patients, staff, parents, government entities, walls, and some beings I have yet to encounter in real life.

Yes, I am angry. I don't like sweeping unsubstantiated generalizations about people that I likely knew, and knew of their caring in the face of personal hardships. If you have a specific beef, there are legal channels.

[Trixie1704]

Does anyone that attended in the mid 70’s remember Patricia newsom? Maybe attended 72-74 time period?