There are only so many words I can pull out of my vocabulary to describe how awful the management was.
Can you try?
There are a couple of examples I thought of.
1. The children ate in "chuck wagon" otherwise known as dining hall. My program director restrained another child inside chuck wagon during lunch. This took place in front of four groups. My program director, in my humble opinion, could have restrained him elsewhere. I understand why restraints take place but the timing/location of the aforesaid mentioned restraint was suspect.
2. The was a riot at Camp E-Hun-Tee when a group from TN [I think] that was visiting. There were four children from the Abnaki group who threw gang signs. The signs were directed at the visiting group from TN. Problems erupted shortly thereafter. To make a long story short, staff members moved every every remaining Camp E-Hun-Tee child [there was a group that managed to walk back to their campsite unscathed] into the chuck wagon. They did this because children from the visiting group were throwing big rocks at the dining hall, including the front office. I prevented one Camp E-Hun-Tee child from walking out of chuck wagon to fight with the visiting group from TN. Whereas I was nearly hit in the head with a shovel. The shovel missed the back of my head by an inch. Management were forced to call in the RI State Police. There were nobody charged and sent to juvenile detention. My Program Director made that choice because everyone involved would be charged, then sent to juvenile detention. If the visiting group was charged, sent to juvenile detention, their Camp Director would have to travel from TN to bail them out in RI. This was another reason my Program Director did not press charges.
3. There was a kid named Vinny who was in the youngest group. He got under allot of people's skin. My Program Director grabbed him by the collar and shook Vinny two times. This took place in campsite and during a van ride back from Florida.
4. The upper management did not provide sufficient training. There was rarely anything accomplished during staff meetings which would have been a good opportunity for training.
5. The upper management put new chiefs [group counselors] in group alone. This was a recipe for disaster. The children knew they could eat new counselors alive.
6. I saw my camp director and program director "escort" another child. One grabbed the other by the arms, the other by the legs. Off they went.
7. I saw my program director chasing after another child in front of chuck wagon. He was pissed off because the child did something to offend my program director. There were other employees who prevented my program director from pursuing the child.
8. I saw my program director chasing after another child in my campsite at night. He was trying to restrain him. The problem could have been handled more effectively. People who work/worked in wilderness camps understand creating problems at night was not good. There were other group counselors who would keep groups up until 1-2 in the morning until the problem "was solved." Children were cranky the next day and more problems/restraints took place.
9. Bear in mind there were company policies and there were unwritten rules. Upper management could get away with stuff ordinary group counselors could not. They restrained children the old fashion way and made a habit of it. There were "off the book" restraints upper management could get away with. For example, a Program Director In Training would bear hug another child and slam him on his ass.
10. Upper management could have been more selective with children they accepted. A majority of children were violent. This did not work well because Camp E-Hun-Tee was under staffed.
11. There were so many burnt out staff at Camp E-Hun-Tee. I approached my Program Director and spoke with him about a 4-3 schedule to reduce the burn out factor. He laughed at the idea. I also spoke to him about adding more counselors in groups but there was a reason few chiefs worked at Camp E-Hun-Tee. RI was extremely cold during the winter and the camp was the biggest shit hole wilderness camp in Eckerd Youth Alternatives.
