I attended the DeSisto School and graduated from the establishment. I graduated in 1997. Funny to see this thread, years later after the fact there are still so many strong views about the school and what went on there. Was it a "Normal" school? Well we all know the answer to that!
I attended Desisto for nearly 5 years, and it was probhably the toughest 5 years of my life (92-97) As far as abuse going on at the school, or negligence? I never saw any one staff individual directly abuse or neglect a student. The entire philosophy of the school was based on nurturing. However anytime I did see a student abused it was from other students or themselves, and I, having attended the school and doing a post grad tenure will tell you that everything possible was done to prevent this at the time I was there. Abuse was not tolerated at all on any level. Most stories that I have heard now from my era are grossly exaggerated.
Michael DeSisto def had vision and determination, and walked to the beat of a different drummer. The school was not for everyone. As a student, or parent for that matter the school was not an easy place to be part of, even if you liked the place.