Desisto School

[Anonymous]

nothing happened at DeSisto that hasn't happened at every other school."




 :question:

[Anonymous]

DeSisto still hasn't paid composer

By Tony Dobrowolski
Berkshire Eagle Staff

PITTSFIELD -- The composer of the hit musical "Inappropriate" recently filed a lawsuit in Berkshire Superior Court against DeSisto School, formerly of Stockbridge, seeking the recovery of almost $350,000 in damages that an arbitrator ordered the school to pay him five months ago.
Michael Sottile of New York City and Vermont, who was hired by the school to write the music and lyrics for "Inappro-priate" six years ago, sued the school for breach of contract in July.

According to court papers, arbitrator Gloria Messenger on June 18 ordered the school and two of its entities, Butterfly Productions and XYZ Corp., to pay Sottile and his publishing company $341,566 in damages as financial compensation for numerous services related to the musical.

The damages include 9 percent interest, which began to accumulate 30 days after the judgment was rendered, and 12 percent statutory interest. Representatives of DeSisto did not attend the arbitration hearing, which took place May 27.

At least one hearing on Sottile's lawsuit has taken place in Superior Court since the legal action was filed. Attorney Judith C. Knight of Great Barrington, who represents Sottile, and the school's attorney, John R. Gobel of Pittsfield, both declined to comment, except to say that they were both hopeful that the matter could be resolved without further litigation.

Gobel also declined to comment on whether the lawsuit was holding up the sale of the school's property on Route 183 in Stockbridge. The well-known school for teenagers with at-risk behaviors closed in June following a long regulatory struggle with the state Office of Child Care Services. The school's 222-acre campus is scheduled to be sold in January to Grove School of Madison, Conn., another therapeutic residential school.

DeSisto School also has been sued in federal court by a Con-necticut woman in connection with her daughter's self-inflicted wounds, which are alleged to have occurred under staff supervision while she was attending the school last January. The woman is seeking a property attachment to se-cure any potential judgment against DeSisto.

A hearing on that lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Bridgeport, Conn., is scheduled to take place Thursday.

According to papers filed in Superior Court, Sottile claims that DeSisto School "failed and continues to fail" to pay him for unpaid royalties; unpaid merchandising fees; unpaid fees as a musician, producer and vocalist; unpaid record company advances, and unreimbursed living expenses that Sottile incurred while living in Los Angeles while "Inappropriate" was being produced there.

The play is based on the life stories of DeSisto School graduates, taken from journals that the students must complete to graduate. Using music, dance, poetry and drama, it explores the emotional issues that the students have dealt with.

The play has been shown off-Broadway, in West Hollywood, Calif., and at different Berkshire venues. "Inappropriate" received favorable reviews in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., and Theatre Reviews Limited.

Sottile is a performer, musical director and arranger for Broadway and off-Broadway stages as well as for European and national tours. A graduate of New York University with degrees in theater and music/music composition, he also has composed music for theater, television and film. He has collaborated on productions with the New York Public Theater, the Manhattan Theater Club and Lincoln Center, among others.

[Anonymous]

Paid for what?
Wasn't inappropriate a commercial failure?

[Anonymous]

Sorry I shouldn't have said that. Inappropriate as an offoffoff Broadway play was good for what it was, but AMD had big plans for it on the left coast: Movies, CD deals, whatever. They all fell apart and the people left holding the bag were old former students in show business financing it with their own money, and the producers and creators naively believing that they would be paid at some point.

[Anonymous]

OK, since theres a lot of rumor i would like to clarify.

This was the most fucked up (illegal/immoral) experement in troubled teen reprogramming since clockwork orange.
I went there around 99' (im not gonna be specific, but I know about the remaining legal funds), during the heyday of child abuse(i was there for the tara rubens case, the jon gay case) right before the school ended their insane fight against state certification. These same reasons that made certification impossible were the ones that put all of our lives in shaky hands in a secluded mountain aria, and actually providing a more unsafe environment for certain children (particularly those with tendancy for self inflicted violence). Honestly it was scary as shit and im glad i got the fuck out by RUNNING THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT PSYCHO HELLHOLE!!!

yeah, i ran away, and if you went there you should have too...

Mike desisto died of a brain hemmorage, and my oppinion is that the world is truly better off. This man was as smart and evil and manipulative as hannibal lechter, except he wanted to molest boys, not eat them. Im not suprised that one of yall says he tried to show his penis, almost every boy who went there had a sexual angle worked on him by the great egomaniac headmaster, weather you loved him or hated him like me you had to admit this to yourself. I think tthis sick fuck set up the school as a ttrap, a way for him to live out his troubled boy-unsure-of-himself-and-his-sexuality helping/molesting fantasies safely in his mountain fortress.

furthermore he set up a catering/dinner theattre tthat also rtan innappropriate and made a reported 200,000-400,000$$$ a year, and those involved were compensated NOT WITH MONEY BUT WITH A DISCOUNT TRIP TO ITALY AND A LEATHER JACKET!!! I SHIT YOU NOT!

you couldnt imagine the neglect/abuse/psychological torture that went on here. This place was remote, unlicensed, and had a unique disinformation method that prepped the parents for child complaints of abuse. The school quite simply used pre-existing mistrust between parent and child that lead to the initial problems that got a chid sent there. They used this mistrust and made it worse by making the parents think that all claims of wrongdoing were simply manipulation by the child and demanding that the parent remain firm in their committment to the school.

So now the school is closed. I saw it myself. Boarded and padlocked, transcriptts shredded, property held in lawsuit limbo over the girl swallowing razorblades case.  Kids died at this school. Suicidal kids were left in danger of themselves repeattedly.

and now the new head, frank mcnear, A FUCKING HOUSE PAINTER WITH NO EXPERIENCE IN TROUBLED TEENS AT ALL has up and moved the last 15 kids to mexico where the state does not pay anny attention to what goes on behind a schools doors. This guy does not know what he is doing, and the parents of these 15 kids are victims of an elaborate scam. Tuition was ungodly high(+30,000$ a year) for a school that had a graduating class average of around 10 a year. Kids were held past 18 against their will(as was I!!!) Kidnapped on roadside in vans, police lied to about ages, id witheld, etc... Michael used the dinner theatre to grow rich of of his ability to convince others he was doing them the biggest service. Sure he wanted to kelp some kids... but help them in his weird over thought pedafiliac love sorta way. He invited many a boy to spend the night in his bed, i shit you not.

TO put it simple tthis school was more hellish than you could imagine, and the remoteness only added to the rteality  that help would never come for you.

If you are one of the devout followers of the cult of desisto, i truly feel bad for you. You have been suckered by a very sick twisted and genius man. He started wanting to help people, but something went horribly wrong. This man was too smart, too dynamic, frightenlingly so. Jim Jones like...


And if you have a problem with this get at me. Chances are I have a very deep resentment if you were in anyway involved in my illegal confinement and would love to repay you for your efforts.

[Anonymous]

and if you did not attend the school as a STUDENT YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK OF WHAT THE SCHOOL IS LIKE. If you were a parent you were fed lies and disinformation by many pretending to be your friends. The academic program was a joke (almost nonexistant, i spent half my time there on the farm not going to class) so your kids good grades dont mean shit, and the thereputic evals are done by unlicensed innadequately trained staff who are as qualified as any of you to make these sensitive evaluations. ALMOST ANYONE WILLING TO PUT UP WITH LOW PAY AND INSAINE WORK ENVIORNMENT COULD BECOME A STAFF MEMBER DEALING WITH TROUBLED TEENS GIVING YOU EVALUATIONS. The only requirement was highschool graduation for dorm staff, no psychology training, not even community college. One of my dorm staffers was a tennis player, a nice guy, but hardly qualified to make a psychological assesment of a kid to a parent.

THIS SCHOOL WAS A SOURCE OF EVIL
I WENT THERE FROM 97-99 :skull:

[Anonymous]

Mike DeSisto may have died of complications of AIDS. AIDS is a wasting disease.Mike lost so much weight in his later life that he was hardly recognizable. Mike's body was cremated becuase of fears that his gravesite would become a place of desecration.

[Anonymous]

Although he did lose a lot of weight, i know for a fact that desisto did not die of aids. The weight loss was from his inttense involvement in the H.O.W. diet, a 12 step based eating disorder diet that is like Atkins on steriods with scales. He was on kidney dialasis for a few years from complecations from his early years of overeating and obesity. I know a ex employee i trust very well who was involved in his hospital transfer prior to his final months and was privy to his medical complications. He received a kidney transplant, which they do not ever give to people with aids, and the transplant is what killed him. The final cause of death was a resulting brain hemmorage after the transplant. Many students witnessed this final 24 hour period where he was on a resperator before they pulled the plug, where blood was leaking out of his ears, eyes and nose... a horrible death for a horrible man.

As for the cremation and lack of grave site, this is true. If I could have found a memorial I myself would have left a steaming turd on it... too bad...


dcept360

[Anonymous]

I did a cat burgular raid a year after I left and stole all my records except for my transcript. The spelling and grammar on those evals was so bad as not to be believed. Some were little more than pieces torn off a yellow legal pad that was used to write a bunch of other students at the same time. I don't know WTF they were so meticulous with the records process considering no one especially the authorities were ever going to look at them. It was all such B.S. when we did go to class we'd be called out to particpate in some limit structure or group leash, but that kind of worked in our favor because you needed two people to take someone to therapy and then everyone got to smoke an after therapy cigarette. All in all a collosal waste of human time and effort, I'm glad it's all long over.

[Anonymous]

I am forever grateful to Parents for Residential Reform for pushing the state to get Desisto to license, it took going to court.  Too bad Frank Mc was able to pack up and leave with those kids.  I hear they are running in Florida have a MA number and the website is still up and running.  Keep telling your stories tell them to the reporters and writers expose these awful people.
Go get them!
 :flame:

[Anonymous]

Mike Desisto was married and lived with his wife on campus at the school.

How was he able to invite boys into his bed when he was living with his wife?
 :eek:

From what I have read, many people believe they were treeted unfairly at the school and the reason is mostly because the staff was not educated and trained properly to deal with the problems of the students. Their anger is understandable and their treetment not forgivable.
All this anger against Mike Desisto, who is no longer here, is less understandable.
He was ill for many years prior to his death and had less to do with the day to day running of the school.
To say he got rich running the cabaret is just speculation. You know how much money was coming in but you don't know the cost for the entertainment, food, etc.

There are also many praises for Michale Desisto such as the Misguided Youth web site. Misguided Youth. From that site,"Misguided Youth proudly hailed from the DeSisto School, Stockbridge, MA. The Band had three albums and a few personnel changes along the way, but the mid-incarnation Youth: Jon Buchsbaum (Bix), Max "The Factor" Tauber, Jon "Chief" Shulman, Mark Mandica, and Jessie Widdows was the line-up that took their original blend of "folk rock funk blues" to China in 1987. In Chinese, Misguided Youth translates to "The Lost Lambs" The Misguided Youth albums(1986-1988, Big Bear Records)were all recorded at Derek Studios, Dalton, MA with the help of Michael DeSisto, David Grover, and Gregg Steele. .

The point is that some people got something out of going to the school.


Going to a school, any school , should be primarily about graduating and getting on with your life. I would assume students who went to Desisto School were unable to go to public school
and this place was a chance for them to continue or complete their education . It was a second chance for many who went on to college and careers.

[Antigen]

On 2005-01-01 13:13:00, Anonymous wrote:

I would assume students who went to Desisto School were unable to go to public school
and this place was a chance for them to continue or complete their education .

Most people assume that. But, in many cases, they're very wrong. Most of the kids who get shipped off to these places are not ajudicated. They're signed in and kept against their will for just as long as parents keep signing checks. That's all it takes.

To regard Christ as God, and to pray to him, are to my mind the greatest possible sacrilege.
--Leo Tolstoy, Russian revolutionary

[Anonymous]

Federal law states that the local school system must provide to *every* child a free and appropriate education.

So there is *no* child who is unable to attend public school.  It may be an alternative school with different hours, it may be school in juvie, but *every* child, no matter how many times they've been expelled and from no matter how many places, *does* have the opportunity to go to some sort of public school rather than these private prison hellholes and every child *does* have other options than these hellholes for finishing his/her education.

Timoclea

[Anonymous]

Mike DeSisto's wife Margie was a fag hag. I can't believe to this day that people thought he was straight and Margie was nothing more than a "beard". Margie saw a lot of shit go on and even encouraged the new agey angle of the school. If Mike wanted to hide anything from her I'm sure he could, or she didn't care. It's impossible to say what she knew or didn't know, unless she one day has enough integrity to spill the beans herself, but that'll never happen. I don't give a fuck about kids' accomplishments in the performing arts no matter how good they were; that's really a side show and smoke screen to the main event that was the horror show of the DeSisto school. Kids are supposed to go to high school to learn enough to get into college; the garage is for the band. Even Mike admitted himself how the academic program was not up to snuff, and in an article said it started as a "fourth rate boarding school". He was referring to the Lake Grove program pre-1978, and just imagine how it went down since then. Everyone looks at the DeSisto school and sees something different. There are however facts and truths that cannot be denied, no matter how individuals want repress their memory or outright lie. You want to know what was going on in Margie and Mike's bed. There was a guy who lived on campus in Mike's apartment , I shit you not, named George Lay. He, Margie and Mike shared a bed for the better part of a year or so. In 1980 Mike also had his  chinese sex therapist "Tiger Lily" living on campus so he could learn how to attempt heterosexual relations. Mistress Lily gave classes in masturbation to staff members.

[Anonymous]

I went to Desisto at Howey in, I'm gonna say, 82 & 83.  If you were there at that time, please tell me your name.  Mine is Sherri Pierce, Gibson now.