http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/307/o ... h%2B.shtmlA. Michael DeSisto, founder of school for troubled youth
By Emma Stickgold, Globe Correspondent, 11/3/2003
About 25 years ago, A. Michael DeSisto created a place where some of the nation's most troubled youth would be turned into success stories.
Now located on 275 rural acres in Stockbridge, the DeSisto School offers rigorous therapy programs to work with troubled students, some of whom begin attending just after their release from jail.
On Saturday, the school's controversial founder died from a cerebral hemorrhage after undergoing a kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was 64 and lived on the campus with his wife, Margie Bullock.
Mr. DeSisto, a Boston native, ''was not philosophizing about education and then sending people to go do his work,'' said Adam Mastoon, a teacher at the school. ''He was in the trenches working with kids, teaching them, opening their eyes to new things, and helping them revision their lives into new and better ways.''
The boarding school, which vows that no student will be expelled, was both loved and reviled for its methods of handling difficult students. The school does not punish students who step out of line, Mr. DeSisto told the Globe in a 1981 interview. Instead, they face ''hours,'' which often means manual labor on the school's farm.
''We tell them they'll never be expelled,'' he said. ''We say they can't do anything horrible enough to make us abandon them. Of course, they are going to test us.''
In addition to twice-daily dorm meetings to discuss student behavior and emotions, weekly group therapy, as well as regularly scheduled parent-to-student therapy, are required in addition to regular classes.
''We try to `scare them nice,' to let them know that they can stretch to do things that they've never done before, to live nicely, to take care of themselves and accentuate the positive things they do,'' Mr. DeSisto said in 1986.
One of the more controversial elements of the school's methodology was the practice of forcing some students who break the rules to face a wall until they confess to their wrongdoing. Until recently, the transgressors were not permitted to eat until they admitted to their misdeeds. Refusal to face the wall often resulted in physical restraint.
''These are acting-out kids,'' Mr. DeSisto said. ''What we do is very, very benign. You're not going to `corner' someone unless they've really been a pain in the neck.''
Envisioning a national chain, he also started a DeSisto School in Howey in the Hills, Fla., that includes a two-year college.
Although some have called the DeSisto School a ''therapeutic boot camp,'' Mr. DeSisto insisted the description was too harsh.
''You're not supposed to want to be there,'' he said in a 1983 Globe story. However, he added, ''The more they're here, the more they want to be. They begin to experience feelings they never had in their lives. It's scary.''
Mr. DeSisto was always on call, Mastoon said.
''He worked 168 hours a week,'' Mastoon said, adding that Mr. DeSisto's cellphone rang ''literally 100 times a day,'' with calls from students, parents, and staff.
Mastoon said Mr. DeSisto was considered by many at the school to be an effective leader because he showed students how he had dealt with his own problems to demonstrate what they themselves could do. After joining Overeaters Anonymous, Mr. DeSisto would often talk to students about the discipline it took to lose 200 pounds.
He admitted that not everyone admired him.
''It depends on where the kids are at a particular time,'' he said. ''Some like me, some hate me. Hating is also a form of liking. It doesn't matter to me. I don't want to sound callous, but if a kid needs to be angry at me, it's part of my responsibility.''
The school's unusual methods occasionally brought lawsuits, and it was investigated by the state Department of Social Services, which upheld a neglect complaint in 1996 against the school. Last year a Suffolk Superior Court judge ordered the school to obtain licensing from the state, in addition to the license it held from the local school didstrict.
In the early 1990s, Mr. DeSisto published the book ''Decoding Your Teenager: How to Understand Each Other During the Turbulent Years.'' In it, he wrote, ''A real talking relationship with a teenager always begins with caring.''
Mr. DeSisto grew up in West Roxbury and earned a bachelor's degree from Stonehill College in 1962. He was director of the Lake Grove School on Long Island for 11 years before he was dismissed and created his own school.
In addition to his wife, Mr. DeSisto leaves a sister, Jacque; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service is being planned.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
