History question

[Anonymous]

Joe left first.

I'm a former student from the early 1970s. I obviously wasn't there at the time, but from what I heard from students who were, Ed engineered Joe's departure in a sort of coup d'état. This quickly backfired and the whole place imploded with a professional headmaster brought in and the Hyde philosophy jettisoned.

My personal view was always that Joe was absolutely crackers with an enormous ego, but sincere. Ed Legg was highly intelligent, but power hungry, arrogant and insincere.

Subsequently, I worked in Hong Kong in early 1985 with a recent college graduate from Bowdoin, small world, who's mother was brought in by the Board in the early 1980s to help evaluate Hyde School. Her surname was Ring and I believe she was a professor of education at Bowdoin. In any event, as I recall from several conversations with her daughter this individual spent a great deal of time interviewing Joe and Ed. She and the board concluded that Hyde was enormously destructive and if it wasn't shut down then Joe had to to go.  She viewed him as unstable and thought the Hyde environment was extremely unhealthy for children of any description.

I would have to agree with that accessment.  Joe and Ed were like reverse image harliquins of each other.   I personally like Joe, but I knew how to tip toe around him.  Some of the people that did not got slammed pretty hard and hate him.. I can not blame them for that.  Ed was/(is) an asshole in my book.  I had a very bad experiance with his duplicity.  He was a user par excelance.

 Please flame me for my spelling.  It is 7:00am CST( c as in china) and i just ran 6 miles. too lazy to spell check.

sorry I mean Ring

This assessment sounds like it's right on the money, that is that the consultant "and the board concluded that Hyde was enormously destructive and if it wasn't shut down then Joe had to to go.  She viewed him as unstable and thought the Hyde environment was extremely unhealthy for children of any description."  I don't know the date of this report, but it seems remarkably relevant to the Hyde of today.  It sounds like people recognized years ago that Joe is unstable and destructive.  That's not news to me at all, nor to many other people associated with Hyde.  I'm amazed that the implosion hasn't yet happened.  Maybe Hyde is sinking under its own weight.

any body got a copy?

[Anonymous]

No but maybe someone can get in touch with this woman and ask her for either her report or her personal assessment.  I agree that Hyde is very destructive.  It is quite frightening that there are families who buy into it and become "Cult like" members of the "Hyde community." They even have meetings in their own communities to try to recruit more members.  This doesn't seem to me to operate as a school, does it to you?

[Anonymous]

No but maybe someone can get in touch with this woman and ask her for either her report or her personal assessment.  I agree that Hyde is very destructive.  It is quite frightening that there are families who buy into it and become "Cult like" members of the "Hyde community." They even have meetings in their own communities to try to recruit more members.  This doesn't seem to me to operate as a school, does it to you?

By self definition Hyde is not a normal school.  I think the question that has been raised is whether it lives up to the hype.  "Cult like" .. Any group that draws a line between it self and the society at large is going to be "Cult like"  Christians are "cult like"  Jews are "cult like"  FreeMasons are "cult like"  Is it harmful to be a FreeMason? I don't know.  Grown men that dress like clowns and drive midget cars in parades ... I don't know  ... maybe there is an agument that the Shriners are a harmful cult.
Joe was always a polarizing figure.  I would be interested in learning what was in the Ring report and the events from around that time period.  I am working on a book about a kid that goes to a school like hyde in that time frame.  The facts would be nice so I can bend the in order to make the claim : "Any resemblensce to persons living ...."

Niel Loughjizm

[Anonymous]

No but maybe someone can get in touch with this woman and ask her for either her report or her personal assessment.  I agree that Hyde is very destructive.  It is quite frightening that there are families who buy into it and become "Cult like" members of the "Hyde community." They even have meetings in their own communities to try to recruit more members.  This doesn't seem to me to operate as a school, does it to you?

By self definition Hyde is not a normal school.  I think the question that has been raised is whether it lives up to the hype.  "Cult like" .. Any group that draws a line between it self and the society at large is going to be "Cult like"  Christians are "cult like"  Jews are "cult like"  FreeMasons are "cult like"  Is it harmful to be a FreeMason? I don't know.  Grown men that dress like clowns and drive midget cars in parades ... I don't know  ... maybe there is an agument that the Shriners are a harmful cult.
Joe was always a polarizing figure.  I would be interested in learning what was in the Ring report and the events from around that time period.  I am working on a book about a kid that goes to a school like hyde in that time frame.  The facts would be nice so I can bend the in order to make the claim : "Any resemblensce to persons living ...."

Niel Loughjizm

What I find remarkable about Hyde is that these serious concerns have persisted for decades.  I have met many people who are horrified by Hyde; yet, each year Hyde manages to attract a new crop of desperate and vulnerable parents.  Some buy in but many merely tolerate Hyde until they can leave or leave in disgust.  What a sad, sad story Hyde is.

[Anonymous]

As a former student at Hyde in the mid 1970s, I find this thread particularly interesting. Does any one have any information on what happened to Ed Legg and what he's been doing since his departure from Hyde?

[Anonymous]

As a former student at Hyde in the mid 1970s, I find this thread particularly interesting. Does any one have any information on what happened to Ed Legg and what he's been doing since his departure from Hyde?

  Every thing I know about Ed I learned from google.  He was/is the PR guy for Southern Maine University.

  This tread has a paradox: those that know don't talk, those that talk don't know.  I posted before I am interested in the period of the Legg-Gauld war and the Legg amputation.  I really think is would make a fascinating plot.


 Niel

[gary eskow]

What a fascinating set of stories you people tell!  If you haven't checked other wings of this site you might not know me. My name is Gary Eskow, and I'm a journalist and former Hyde parent.  After being banished from the school one dark Fall night my Malcolm, I wrote up the account of my experience at Hyde.  THE JEKYLL SIDE OF HYDE is all over the 'net; those who would like me to send it directly as a Word document can e mail me (www.garyeskow.com) and you'll see that I've interviewed tons of people, which I mention as a preamble--- talking to you on the phone and getting your essential story should be painless for those who are interested in the endeavor.

GE

[Anonymous]

Hey,

  If you know who Elliot Sharp is you can't be all bad.

  Niel

[gary eskow]

Elliot's a good guy... good player as well. I don't know how far in the way back machine you go, but I'm interviewing The Ventures right now!

[Ursus]

Legg spent some time doing some type of consulting work (?) for some company down South prior to coming back to Maine.  I seem to recollect that the company was affiliated with petroleum, perhaps in Georgia?  And there must have been other stuff, but I don't know what.  Ed and Anne then "retired" back to Maine...

[Anonymous]

After leaving Hyde, Ed Legg did development work (fundraising, planned giving, lobbying) for Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy.  He and Ann retired to Maine, where they became involved with the University of New England in Biddeford.  Ed served on the board for a time, then accepted the position of V.P. for Development. He recently re-retired.

I was a Hyde student in the late 70's-early 80's.

[Anonymous]

gary...or mr. eskow...i haven't finished your article. i think i got throug hthe first two pages. i can tell there's a little bit of that fiery passion behind it, but it did not seem, so far, to contain the usual "hyde bashing". but i like the idea of giving the info over to someone who has no tie with the Hyde Schools in the sense to get as fair a perspective as possible. also, we have about 40 Hyde D.C. juniors up here to learn about the senior prep process and see how a hyde boarding school runs. i've also learned how different, and similar, the process can be in the two different environments. hearing from the charter school students is a definitely good idea (there are mixed views there as well as here). i went with 3 other seniors here, 3 of the d.c. kids, some faculty to go meet with some students and faculty from bath up in new hampshire. we talked about the change in the senior eval process as well as graduation (i.e. the grad. designations and speeches) and how we'd like to change it. i'll try to post more details about that later (i think some of you will be pleased with some of the changes most likely being made to senior evals). so yea, i think the whole giving-the-story-to-a-more-dispassionate-writer is a good idea. let us know how that goes. i also talked to some bath kids about this site, one came up to me and said "i've read some of your posts on fornits"...and we talked. we had some of the same ideas about this site and the majority of the posts on here. biggest agreement: more respect for those that just shared their stories in a non-bashing way. it was easier for us to see some of the things that went on at hyde without all the bitching behind the story. we both thought of the same post too: the "i lost my virginity at hyde" thread. we even reacted to it the same way after we had read it: we both emailed it to mr. bragg. idk where i'm going with this. i'll fill ya'll in on the meeting when i've got some time to sit down with the notes and doodles i made during this 4 hour meeting and write a post.
- Bill(y) Procida '07

ps....i finished the college process with 11/12 acceptances...graduation t-minus 61 days

[gary eskow]

Billy--- feel free to address me in whatever manner you're comfortable.  Your continued postings on this site give you the opportunity to hone your powers of deductive reasoning, which, if they are ever to be sharp enough to compete in the market place of ideas with real players, must be dispassionate.

When you get past the first couple of pages of my paper, do let me know how you feel about it.  Your are in an interesting position to judge its veracity, since we seminared together during our overlapping time at Hyde.

Of course I'm bashing noone.  Candidly, however, I must say that in retrospect I find Joe Gauld's treatment of me- and others- and, more importantly, the failure of staff to address his transgressions openly, extremely disturbing.  Duncan McCrann behaved in a manner that was thoroughly unprofessional, and in my opinion, cowardly.  I refrain from indulging in wit for wit's sake and therefore will not refer to him as the "cravenly Mr. McCrann," though I find the phrase apt. I'm sure he has fine qualities as well.

Keep challenging those who, in your judgement, shoot from the hip on this site and attack only for the sake of striking out!  Who does that enterprise serve? I continue to be impressed with your impartiality... it takes courage to swim upstream- keep up the good work!

Gary Eskow

[gary eskow]

Billy--- feel free to address me in whatever manner you're comfortable.  Your continued postings on this site give you the opportunity to hone your powers of deductive reasoning, which, if they are ever to be sharp enough to compete in the market place of ideas with real players, must be dispassionate.

When you get past the first couple of pages of my paper, do let me know how you feel about it.  Your are in an interesting position to judge its veracity, since we seminared together during our overlapping time at Hyde.

Of course I'm bashing noone.  Candidly, however, I must say that in retrospect I find Joe Gauld's treatment of me- and others- and, more importantly, the failure of staff to address his transgressions openly, extremely disturbing.  Duncan McCrann behaved in a manner that was thoroughly unprofessional, and in my opinion, cowardly.  I refrain from indulging in wit for wit's sake and therefore will not refer to him as the "cravenly Mr. McCrann," though I find the phrase apt. I'm sure he has fine qualities as well.

Keep challenging those who, in your judgement, shoot from the hip on this site and attack only for the sake of striking out!  Who does that enterprise serve? I continue to be impressed with your impartiality... it takes courage to swim upstream- keep up the good work!

Gary Eskow

[Anonymous]

Billy, thanks for your post, but I am a bit disappointed that you have completely ignored the questions that were posed to you on other threads.  These were very sincere questions [posed directly to you, and yet you have ignored them.