The Home’s New Home

When The Home for Little Wanderers and move to its Longview Farm property in Walpole, many in JP wondered, “Why Walpole?”

Patch traveled to Longview Farm to find out, and to see how The Home's new home is coming along.

A low, rambling white clapboard building nestled on a grassy hill in a rural area of Walpole houses sits the Clifford School, The Home’s special education school for youth aged 10 to 18 who are emotionally disturbed. The other buildings on the site include the current student residence and a former house, which is used for clinicians’ offices. The property is 160+ acres in total with a natural pond and wetland on one end.

Jackhammers shatter the bucolic quiet over and over as they chip away a rock ledge that sits in the footprint of The Home’s new school building.  This first phase of construction includes a new three-story building that will house both Longview’s Clifford School for high school-aged students and the elementary and middle school-aged students now at Knight Children’s Center (KCC) in JP. In a subsequent phase, the existing school building will be renovated to house meeting space, clinicians’ and administrative offices (the current clinicians’ office building will be razed) along with the existing gym.  The new facility is being built to accommodate 100 students, though The Home is anticipating that, typically, there will be 80 between the two schools.  

Like the historic JP building, the buildings at Longview are worn.  The existing residence building — which recalls old-style camp buildings and houses only boys— will come down in favor of four new cottages scattered around the site. New construction will allow for the use of improved materials, but more importantly, will reflect and support The Home’s modern methodology in caring for its residents.  Smaller groups and more home-like quarters will help foster relationships and help prepare students for life in their own homes — the goal for all students.

Edie Janas, Program Director for The Home, spoke to Patch about The Home's move and its mission and role in its new community. 

Of the JP facility she said, “KCC was built a long time ago.  It’s time to have a residence that looks like a home.”  

The new cottages will have mostly single rooms, which contrasts with the KCC boarding situation. “It’s enough to live in a place that’s not their home.  To be told who you’re going to share your room with is a lot.

"[Longview] is a great space for this plan,” Janas said, referring to The Home’s plan to consolidate the two campuses.  “These are kids whose behavior prevents them from functioning in the wider community.”

At The Home, those kids can participate in intramural soccer and baseball with other similar schools.  A Project Adventure ropes course allows students to work on team-building and pro-social behavior.  Some kids are on a college track and some are in a vocational one. 

“Everyone gets a job here—in the garden, the kitchen, landscaping, or facilities maintenance," said Janas. "The next goal is off-campus work. We partner with a pet shelter, the housing authority, Watson’s Candy, Leo’s Pizza.” 

The Home pays the students, but the businesses supervise them. “We want everyone to be a good productive member of the community when they leave here,” explained Janas.  

Staff members work to capitalize on opportunities to activate the students’ interests. Bowdoin Construction, the contractor working on the buildings, is an example of how this has served to benefit the kids, the business and the school.  “Bill Walsh from Bowdoin emailed me asking whether the kids would want to be involved [in the construction]. Three boys showed interest, so it’s been integrated into their vocational learning.  [Bill’s] been really great.”

As is the case with both schools currently, when the project is finished some of the students will live on site and attend school at The Home, some will be day students but continue to live in the community and some will live in the residence but attend school in the community.  The core of the work of both the school and the residential treatment team is to provide a structured environment, promote awareness and labeling of behaviors among the students themselves, and to encourage pro-social behavior that will serve them when they leave. 

“The goal is to have kids educated in the least restrictive environment,” said Janas.

Though there is, by design, a focus on behavior and treatment, academics are important too.  “Many of our students are far behind due to their behavior issues," said Janas. “We want everyone to have at least one year of solid academic growth.”   

The new facility is being built to support that growth. “We want everyone to be a reader,” Janas said.  To that end, the school will continue to have its own library.  Students will continue to visit Walpole’s library regularly. The Clifford School is already utilizing Smart Boards—essentially giant iPads on the walls.  Amongst the features of a Smart Board, the teacher can print out whatever she’s written on the board and hand it out to students.

The new school building will be even more up-to-date technology-wise. Each school will also have its own devoted art space.  Art is an elective along with music, Spanish, auto shop and wood shop.  Currently in wood shop, one project students engage in is maintenance on the town’s holiday decorations.

“Whenver there is a volunteer opportunity, we make a point of volunteering," said Janas. "Our boys need to be able to give back.  We don’t believe in shame and we don’t believe in pity. Some of the reasons they’re here are incredibly sad and horrific but we can’t dwell on that.”

It is unclear whether it is this philosophy of the staff, the character of Walpole, or the topography of the farm itself—which sports a sledding hill that draws children from the community and Home youth alike—which makes Longview successful.  One thing is for certain:  the place seems to offer a unique mix of seclusion and integration with the community that is healing for the kids who live and study at The Home.