This is the History of and Reporting Guide for F.L. Chamberlain aka Chamberlain International School in Middleboro, MA
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Name |
Unit/Position |
Additional Information |
| William Schulpen Doherty aka William J. Doherty | Founder/Executive Director | Doherty is not a licensed mental health nor social work professional in MA. Source: http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=blue HEAL has e-mailed the MA Department of Education and is awaiting their response regarding whether any of Chamberlain's staff are licensed educators. |
| Paul G. Doherty | Staff | Doherty is not a licensed mental health nor social work professional in MA. Source: http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=blue HEAL has e-mailed the MA Department of Education and is awaiting their response regarding whether any of Chamberlain's staff are licensed educators. |
| Lawrence Mutty | Clinical Director | Lawrence H. Mutty is licensed solely as a Licensed Independent Social Worker in VT and has only been so licensed since 2008. Mutty formerly worked for confirmedly abusive and now closed Bromley Brook School. HEAL has e-mailed the MA Department of Education and is awaiting their response regarding whether any of Chamberlain's staff are licensed educators. |
| Diane Wilson | Program Director | Wilson is not a licensed mental health nor social work professional in MA. Source: http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=blue. HEAL has e-mailed the MA Department of Education and is awaiting their response regarding whether any of Chamberlain's staff are licensed educators. |
| Colleen Quaile | Therapist | Quaile is a licensed mental health counselor and has been since 2001. Source: http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=blue |
| Melissa Connors | Staff | Connors is not a licensed mental health nor social work professional in MA. Source: http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=blue |
| Alberto Neder | Psychiatrist | Neder is a licensed psychiatrist and has been so since 1997 in MA. Source: http://profiles.ehs.state.ma.us/Profiles/Pages/FindAPhysician.aspx |
| John Kersting | Psychiatrist | Kersting is a licensed psychiatrist and has been since 1974 in MA. Source: http://profiles.ehs.state.ma.us/Profiles/Pages/FindAPhysician.aspx |
| Mike Ford | Staff | |
| Anita Offley Cohelo | Staff | Reportedly no longer works for this program. |
| Deborah Winston | Staff | |
| Melissa Doherty | Staff | Related to owner. |
| F.L. Chamberlain aka Chamberlain International School initially opened in 1976. It operated with no proper licensure nor oversight from 1976-1988. In 1976, Frederic L. Chamberlain Center, Inc. incorporated as a non-profit. It is not licensed by the Department of Mental Health because the Department of Mental Health contracts with Chamberlain and cannot regulate it as a result of the conflict of interest. It held no treatment nor educational licenses until 1988. Its license was revoked by the Secretary of State in 2012. There is no reasonable explanation as to why this program is still open and harming children. It is our preliminary opinion that Chamberlain should be closed immediately. To file a complaint against Chamberlain, | ||
| Cash flows via multiple channels to executive at special-education school By Jenifer McKim and Koby Levin - October 11, 2016 0 Facebook Twitter Print Email Reddit The Chamberlain International School, a private residential school facing allegations of student abuse, paid more than $800,000 to entities controlled by its executive director, raising questions of whether he uses the nonprofit for personal gain or misspends public funds, according to legal experts and a state lawmaker. The Middleborough, Massachusetts, school which enrolls many students with psychiatric histories, pays Executive Director William Doherty a salary of $325,880, and also makes payments to a real estate trust he oversees and a Netherlands-based company he owns, according to the school’s financial reports. Chamberlain, registered as a charitable organization with the state, also employs Doherty’s ex-wife, her sister and his brother in senior management and administrative positions. The questions about Doherty’s financial arrangements come after The Eye and WBUR public radio reported in August that the school has regularly violated state regulations in instances where students were harmed, including a death and alleged cases of sexual misconduct. The Disability Law Center, a federally designated advocate, also issued a report in August that found excessive use of force in restraints, abusive staff threats, and failures to prevent suicide attempts, runaways and self-harm at the school. Explore executive compensation at other Massachusetts special-education schools Chamberlain says it’s compliant with state regulations, reported most issues itself and worked with the state to resolve any problems. School officials describe the center’s report as “flawed” and “biased.” With revenues of more than $13 million, the school has about 114 students from ages 11 to 22. Doherty, who co-founded the school in the 1970s, is both trustee and beneficiary of a trust that received $722,622 in rent payments from Chamberlain in the year ended August 2015, according to the school’s state filings and attorney. The Dutch company owned by Doherty received $103,903 that year from Chamberlain to recruit international students and increase enrollment, school records show. Doherty’s ex-wife Jeanne Edwards, also a co-founder of Chamberlain, was paid $210,592 in the 2015 fiscal year as its chief operating officer, records show. Sarah Norfleet, her sister, earned $156,612 as program development director. Doherty’s brother Paul earned $88,550 as the school’s technology administrator in 2013, according to Chamberlain’s latest filing with the Internal Revenue Service. Paul Doherty’s LinkedIn profile says he still works there. The Eye asked former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to review Chamberlain’s financial filings. Harshbarger said the “various income channels that funnel to the executive director and his family” raise issues that deserve more scrutiny by state regulators. “Are they using the charitable entity for their own benefit?” asked Harshbarger, senior counsel in the litigation and nonprofit departments at the Boston law firm Casner & Edwards. Plans for hearings Rep. Alice Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat who co-chairs the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, said that Doherty’s salary and other income streams from the school raises the question of how public money is being spent at Chamberlain — about a third of whose students have their tuitions paid by local school districts and the state under special education laws. Peisch said she plans to hold hearings on alleged abuse and neglect and other issues at state special education schools, including Chamberlain spending. Doherty declined multiple requests for an interview through school representatives. Eric MacLeish, an attorney at the Boston firm of Clark, Hunt, Ahern & Embry who represents the school, said that Doherty’s business transactions with Chamberlain are publicly disclosed and legal. “You would have to be pretty foolish in this environment right now to try to take advantage of a non-profit corporation,” he said. The transactions “have to be disclosed and they must be fair. They are fair.” Doherty’s salary is the third highest among the top executives at 26 comparable Massachusetts residential, special-education schools qualified to receive taxpayer-paid tuitions, according to an Eye review of schools’ financial filings. His 2015 total compensation, which encompasses benefits, ranked fourth at $343,732, including $17,852 from Chamberlain to cover personal use of a Mercedes Benz that he drives as a perk from the school. Attorney David Szabo: Is Chamberlain a charity or a family business? David Szabo, a partner at the Boston law firm Locke Lord, said that Doherty’s multi-sourced revenue stream raises the issue of whether the school’s board is doing its job. “Is it a charity under the supervision of an independent board or is it a family business?” asked Szabo, who advises non-profits on governance and tax issues. Chamberlain declined requests to interview board members to discuss school governance and Doherty’s financial arrangements. A statement issued by the school and attributed to Edwards said that she, Doherty and Norfleet were all founders and the fact that they are still at Chamberlain is “testament to their dedication and hard work.” She said Doherty’s brother Paul, as well as Daniel Vanderlip and Melissa Doherty, two other relatives who work at the school, are “important contributors” with fair salaries. Salary cap She said Chamberlain in 2009 began training board members and is “continually looking to areas where it can improve” governance. The Dutch company has never earned a profit and Doherty hasn’t received a salary payment from it, according to the statement. William Doherty’s total compensation as Chamberlain’s top executive has more than tripled from the $98,820 reported in 1997 in the school’s filing with the Internal Revenue Service. His raises since then came during a period in which the school violated state regulations 33 times, mainly related to alleged abuse and neglect at the school. Chamberlain’s enrollment and revenues also expanded during the period. Some parents have praised the school, others say their children were mistreated or neglected. Last year, two sets of parents filed suit alleging the school failed to protect their troubled teenage daughters, who were said to have suffered severe injuries in separate incidents of jumping from a second-story bathroom window. Claudia Russo, of Worcester, Massachusetts, said she pulled her learning-disabled son out of Chamberlain after a troubled four-month stay there in 2012 as a day student. She said the school is “a cash cow” more interested in collecting tuition than caring for students. Russo said her son begged to leave because classes were out of control, with students throwing furniture and swearing. He was introduced to drugs, she said, and offered “protection” from older students who asked for money. She said she spoke to Chamberlain officials, but they dismissed her concerns. Chamberlain’s Norfleet said in a statement that the school disagrees with Russo’s account. Massachusetts students who board at Chamberlain are charged $120,176 a year; out-of-state students pay about $137,000. About 70 percent of its enrollment comes from other U.S. states or abroad, MacLeish said. Non-state students play an important role in William Doherty’s compensation because of a Massachusetts cap on the public funds used to pay executives at nonprofits that provide services to the state. The tuitions paid to the school by non-state students allow the school to exceed the $173,697 cap. This means Chamberlain’s payments to the Dutch student-recruiting company owned by Doherty stand to benefit him twice – once by improving the bottom line of his company and a second time by bringing more non-state funds to the school, giving it leeway to pay him more. Auditor’s scrutiny Chamberlain’s finances and transactions with its leader have been scrutinized by Massachusetts before. In 2008, the state auditor found the school was controlled by Doherty and other staffers “without the necessary independent oversight,” and recommended fewer insiders on its board, according to the audit report. The school responded by expanding its board and limiting inside directors, the report said. The audit prompted scrutiny from the Massachusetts attorney general. Emily Snyder, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said the AG’s office worked with the school “on a variety of governance issues” which “appeared to have been resolved” in 2013, “and we concluded our ongoing dialogue with the organization.” Chamberlain rented 34,622 square feet in eight properties – or “the majority of its campus facilities” — from a trust overseen by Doherty in fiscal year 2015, according to the school’s financial filings. MacLeish confirmed that Doherty is one of two of the trust’s beneficiaries that are directors at the school; he declined to name the second. Chamberlain rents most campus properties from “related party” 1 of 9 A dorm for 18 students, some administrative and therapist offices. Appraised value for two buildings: $699,400. The “Barn,” including reception area and cafeteria. Appraised value for two buildings: $699,400. Dorm for 12 students as well as offices. Appraised value: $561,700. Dorm for 15 students as well as classrooms and an office. Appraised value: $584,900. Dorm for five students and a nurse’s station. Appraised value: $314,200. Dorm for 18 students, about 10 miles off campus. Appraised value: $299,700. Dorm for 18 boys and two classrooms. Appraised value: $441,100. Dorm for 10 students and a classroom. Appraised value: $463,200. Dorm for six students and admissions office. Appraised value: $283,100. Sources: Town of Middleborough, Chamberlain International School The school has disclosed that $348,263 of the rent payments exceeded actual costs such as mortgage payments and taxes. That’s allowed if non-state funds pay for the excess, which the school says is the case. Fair-market value is among the measures the U.S. Internal Revenue Service uses to determine whether related-party transactions at nonprofits pass muster under the tax law. Several real estate agents in the Middleborough area said the $722,622 annual rent Chamberlain pays Doherty’s trust appears to be above market prices. Based on the average monthly rents per square foot of $1.27 for 55 Middleborough rentals surveyed by broker Kim Thomas of Realty One Group, the space leased by the school should go for about $527,600 a year, or $195,000 less than what it is paying the trust. Middleborough town records list eight properties with nine buildings that appear on Chamberlain’s campus map and are owned by a trust in William Doherty’s name. On Friday, the school released a 2013 appraisal of the eight properties, finding an annual rental value of $617,000 that year and a projected $648,200 in 2015. A school spokeswoman said Chamberlain pays a “premium” because many students “suffer from mental illness and have behaviors that can lead to being destructive.” The appraisal counted a small tenth building on the properties not listed separately in town records. Kate Lanagan MacGregor, owner of Mattapoisett-based Bold Moves Real Estate, which handles property in Chamberlain’s region, said the rent that Doherty’s trust charges for the campus buildings far exceed anything else in Middleborough. She said new three- to four- bedroom colonial houses in the town typically bring about $3,500 a month. The rent Chamberlain is paying averages $6,691 per month for each of the nine buildings, or $6,022 for each of the 10. Numbers like those “don’t make sense,” MacGregor said. Intern Emily Hopkins also contributed to this report. Source: http://eye.necir.org/2016/10/11/cash-flows-via-multiple-channels-executive-special-education-school/ | ||
| School’s payments to leader’s trust raise questions E-Mail Share via e-mail To Add a message Your e-mail Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn 13 Comments Print The Boston GlobeTweet Share 13 Comments Debee Tlumacki for The Boston Globe Chamberlain International School in Middleborough rented most of its campus facilities, including this building at 1 Pleasant St, from a trust overseen by Executive Director William Doherty. By Jenifer McKim and Koby Levin The Eye October 07, 2016 A private residential school in Middleborough, which is facing allegations of student abuse, paid more than $800,000 to entities controlled by its executive director, raising questions of whether he uses the nonprofit for personal gain or misspends public funds, according to legal experts and a state lawmaker. The Chamberlain International School, which enrolls many students with psychiatric histories, paid Executive Director William Doherty a salary of $325,880 in 2015, but also made substantial payments to a real estate trust he oversees and a Netherlands-based company he owns, according to the school’s financial reports to the state. Chamberlain, registered as a charitable organization with the state, also employs Doherty’s ex-wife, her sister and his brother in senior management and administrative positions. Advertisement The questions about Doherty’s financial arrangements come after The Eye and WBUR radio reported in August that the special education school has regularly violated state regulations in instances where students were harmed, including the death of a teen in a car driven by a speeding staff member and alleged cases of sexual misconduct. The non-profit Disability Law Center issued a report in August that found excessive use of force in restraints, abusive staff threats, and failures to prevent suicide attempts, runaways and self-harm at the school, which has about 114 students from ages 11 to 22. Chamberlain officials say they comply with state regulations, report most issues themselves and work with the state to resolve any problems. They described the center’s abuse report as “flawed” and “biased.” Get Fast Forward in your inbox: Forget yesterday's news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email. Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here Doherty, who co-founded the school in the 1970s, is both trustee and beneficiary of a trust that received $722,622 in rent payments from Chamberlain in the year ended August 2015, according to the school’s state filings and attorney. The Dutch company owned by Doherty received $103,903 that year from Chamberlain to recruit international students and increase enrollment, school records show. Doherty’s ex-wife Jeanne Edwards, also a co-founder of Chamberlain, was paid$210,592 in the 2015 fiscal year as its chief operating officer, records show. Sarah Norfleet, her sister, earned $156,612 as program development director. Doherty’s brother Paul earned $88,550 as the school’s technology administrator in 2013, according to Chamberlain’s latest filing with the Internal Revenue Service. Paul Doherty’s LinkedIn profile says he still works there. “Are they using the charitable entity for their own benefit?” asked former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, who reviewed Chamberlain’s financial filings at The Eye’s request. He said the “various income channels that funnel to the executive director and his family’’ raise issues that deserve more scrutiny by state regulators. Advertisement Rep. Alice Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat who co-chairs the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, said that Doherty’s salary and other income streams from the school raises the question of how public money is being spent at Chamberlain -- about a third of whose students have their tuitions paid by local school districts and the state under special education laws. Peisch said she plans to hold hearings on alleged abuse and neglect and other issues at special education schools. Doherty declined multiple requests for an interview through school representatives. Eric MacLeish, an attorney at the Boston firm of Clark, Hunt, Ahern & Embry who represents the school, said that Doherty’s business transactions with Chamberlain are publicly disclosed and legal. “You would have to be pretty foolish in this environment right now to try to take advantage of a non-profit corporation,’’ he said. The transactions “have to be disclosed and they must be fair. They are fair.” Doherty’s salary is the third highest among the top executives at 26 comparable Massachusetts residential, special-education schools qualified to receive taxpayer-paid tuitions, according to an Eye review of schools’ financial filings. Once benefits are added, Doherty’s total compensation ranked fourth at $343,732, including $17,852 to cover personal use of a Mercedes Benz. A statement issued by the school and attributed to Doherty’s ex-wife Edwards said that she, Doherty and Norfleet were all founders and the fact that they are still at Chamberlain is “testament to their dedication and hard work.” She said Doherty’s brother Paul, as well as Daniel Vanderlip and Melissa Doherty, two other relatives who work at the school, are “important contributors” with fair salaries. The Dutch company has never earned a profit and Doherty hasn’t received a salary payment from it, according to the statement. William Doherty’s total compensation has more than tripled since 1997, a period in which the school violated state regulations 33 times, mainly related to alleged abuse and neglect at the school. Chamberlain’s enrollment and revenues – now more than $13 million annually -- also expanded during the period. Some parents have praised the school, others say their children were mistreated or neglected. Last year, two sets of parents filed suit alleging the school failed to protect their troubled teenage daughters, who were said to have suffered severe injuries in separate incidents of jumping from a second-story bathroom window. Massachusetts students who board at Chamberlain are charged $120,176 a year; out-of-state students pay about $137,000. About 70 percent of its enrollment comes from other U.S. states or abroad, MacLeish said. Chamberlain’s finances and transactions with its leader have been scrutinized by Massachusetts before. In 2008, the state auditor found the school was controlled by Doherty and other staffers “without the necessary independent oversight,” and recommended fewer insiders on its board, according to the audit report. The school responded by expanding its board and limiting inside directors, the report said. Edwards said that Chamberlain in 2009 began training board members and is “continually looking to areas where it can improve” governance. Chamberlain rented 34,622 square feet in eight properties – or “the majority of its campus facilities” -- from a trust overseen by Doherty in fiscal year 2015, according to the school’s financial filings. MacLeish confirmed that Doherty is one of two of the trust’s beneficiaries that are directors at the school; he declined to name the second. Edwards said the school hired an independent appraiser to determine the rent does not exceed market price. The school has declined to release the appraisal. Last week, the school released a 2013 appraisal finding rental values should be $617,000 that year and $648,200 in 2015, amounts considerably below the $722,622 paid to the trust. A school spokeswoman says Chamberlain pays a “premium” because many students “suffer from mental illness and have behaviors that can lead to being destructive.” The appraisal counted a small tenth building on the properties not listed separately in town records. However, several real estate agents in the Middleborough area said the rent Chamberlain pays Doherty’s trust appears to be above market prices. Based on the average monthly rents for 55 Middleborough rentals surveyed by broker Kim Thomas of Realty One Group, the space leased by the school should go for about $527,600, or $195,000 less than what it is paying the trust. And Kate Lanagan MacGregor, owner of Bold Moves Real Estate in nearby Mattapoisett that handles properties in Chamberlain’s region, said the rent that Doherty’s trust charges for nine individual buildings on campus far exceed the next highest rents in town. She said new three- to four- bedroom colonial houses typically bring in about $3,500 a month. Chamberlain is paying Doherty’s trust an average of $7,527 per month per property, or $6,690 for each of the nine buildings. Numbers like those “don’t make sense,’’ MacGregor said The Eye is the online news site of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit based at Boston University, working at the offices of WGBH public radio. Eye intern Emily Hopkins also contributed to this report. Jenifer McKim can be reached at jenifer.mckim@necir.org. For more information on this story, please go to eye.necir.org. | ||
| Group criticizes school for students with psychiatric issues | FOX25 Report: Therapeutic school didn't stop bullying, self-harm by: DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer Updated: Aug 15, 2016 - 4:08 PM 0 Share this with your friends! From To Compose your message Report: Therapeutic school didn't stop bullying, self-harmhttp://www.fox25boston.com/news/massachusetts/group-criticizes-school-for-students-with-psychiatric-issues/423630352 BOSTON (AP) — An advocacy organization for people with disabilities has released a report alleging a school for children and young adults with psychiatric issues has failed to prevent and properly respond to student suicide attempts and other acts of self-harm. The Disability Law Center's report on the Chamberlain International School in Middleboro, released on Monday, says the school also has failed to investigate and stop bullying and says some staff members have verbally harassed students. The school's chief administrative officer, Sarah Norfleet, said the investigation by the law center was "designed to discredit and defame the school and put it out of business." "The idea that our school is neglectful and abusive is in complete contrast to the experience of the vast majority of our students and parents," Norfleet said. Chamberlain has been operating since 1976 as a nonprofit day and residential private school serving about 100 students with educational and psychiatric needs. The law center, in its report, said it interviewed current and former students, parents and school staff during a 15-month investigation. It cited seven students who had attempted to kill or harm themselves, including one student who ingested bleach and others who found broken glass and other sharp objects to cut themselves. Lawyer Eric MacLeish, who represents the school, said many of the students expressed suicidal thoughts and had multiple psychiatric hospitalizations before arriving there. "Virtually all of these kids have showed suicidal ideation before going to Chamberlain," he said. "What this school does is provide a therapeutic community for them and turns them around." Chamberlain is licensed by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Early Education and Care. In a joint statement issued Monday, those agencies said they required Chamberlain to take corrective action "in instances where it was found to be out of compliance with regulations or policies." They said the school's approval status and group care licenses are in good standing. The agencies said their staff will continue to review the law center's report. Source: http://www.fox25boston.com/news/massachusetts/group-criticizes-school-for-students-with-psychiatric-issues/423630352 | ||
| FOX25 Investigates: State school investigators phoning it in by: Eric Rasmussen, Erin Smith Updated: Nov 18, 2016 - 5:46 PM 0 Share this with your friends! From To Compose your message FOX25 Investigates: State school investigators phoning it inhttp://fox25.com/2gony2T BOSTON - State school licensing investigators – charged with probing abuse and neglect at daycares, after-school programs and residential schools – have often been conducting their school investigations by phone, FOX25 Investigates uncovered. When Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen looked at more than two dozen investigations of abuse and neglect at two residential schools going back to 2014, he found state investigators with the Department of Early Education and Care rarely visiting these schools in person. For more than three months, FOX25 Investigates has been looking into how the state monitors residential schools, which receive taxpayer dollars and serve kids with learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral issues. While the state Department of Children and Families shows up to investigate individual allegations of abuse, FOX25 found EEC inspectors often are doing their investigations by phone. Sue Meyers told FOX25 Investigates she filed a complaint after her daughter, Ivey, said she was abused in a dorm at Chamberlain International School, a residential school in Middleboro. She told FOX25 DCF couldn’t verify those allegations. But in a separate investigation of the school, the Disability Law Center found multiple reports of neglect and abuse, including “inadequate supervision” and “excessive force” – allegations the school strongly denies. Meyers said she was concerned to hear EEC inspectors were phoning in their investigations. “I think it's very serious. Something really bad could happen,” said Meyers. Investigations “via phone” Documents obtained by FOX25 Investigates show nine EEC investigation reports on Chamberlain over a year and a half but just one in-person visit by an EEC investigator during that time. Those reports detailed allegations of abuse, a school staff member meeting “fully naked” with a student and another student “dizzy and disoriented” and hospitalized after taking the wrong medication – all incidents EEC investigated by interviewing the school’s assistant director “via phone.” EEC Commissioner Tom Weber told FOX25 Investigates his staffers make on-site visits “as necessary.” “We make a decision based on the nature of what has been presented to us and we make a decision about how to best approach the inquiry that we're going to make in that investigation,” Weber told FOX25. But records for another residential school – Evergreen Center in Milford – show a similar pattern. Out of 17 reported incidents, it appears an EEC investigator only visited the school once after police filed felony criminal charges against a staff member accused of abuse. Evergreen declined to speak on-camera but told FOX25 it over-reports safety issues in an abundance of caution and said other state agencies also reviewed the allegations and dismissed the majority of them. Lawmakers raise questions Webster and EEC bosses are also facing questions from Beacon Hill lawmakers. At a State House hearing last week, the agency revealed it has just five investigators to oversee more than 9,000 programs across Massachusetts, including day cares, after-school programs and residential schools. “That's akin to telling the New York City police department you only need 100 cops,” Rep. Paul Tucker, a Salem Democrat, told EEC bosses at the hearing. Tucker said he’s concerned about what FOX25 Investigates uncovered – that state school investigators are doing so much of their work by phone. “This is a very vulnerable population that's being served and I would think that there's no substitute for going, on the ground, being there, seeing it with your own eyes,” said Tucker.” Meyers told FOX25, “It didn't seem like there was much oversight going on at all.” Sue Meyers’ daughter is no longer at Chamberlain. In an email to FOX25, the school said, “her commentary is irrelevant to the cases” reviewed by FOX25 Investigates because her daughter left Chamberlain three years ago. And in each of the allegations, the school said, “the proper state agency investigated the report on site.” Meyers told FOX25 Investigates that hasn’t changed her concerns for students across the state. “They deserve a lot better than what they're getting,” said Meyers. “There aren't enough people involved in overseeing what the school is doing and there should be. It's inexcusable.” In some of the cases where EEC investigators made phone calls they found no evidence of wrongdoing. The state’s Child Advocate is now leading a review of how the state monitors these schools and EEC is promising to do annual visits for all residential schools beginning next year. An EEC spokeswoman said in an emailed statement the agency “is actively participating in a working group led by the Office of the Child Advocate to review public and private residential school programs and improve students' experience at residential schools in Massachusetts.” The state agency said it requires all residential schools cited for problems to come up with a corrective action plan. An EEC spokeswoman told FOX25 Investigates, “The Commonwealth takes its responsibility to monitor the safety and educational quality of residential special education schools very seriously.” Full statement from Evergreen Center: “As a residential and day school supporting a population of students with complex and challenging issues, Evergreen takes our reporting obligations seriously. We are required to report any observation which may have the potential of being considered abuse or neglect to multiple state agencies, including EEC, DCF, and DDS. By design, we over report in an abundance of caution to assure the safety of our students. "Eleven of the cases identified in this report were reviewed by investigators (representing different agencies) who were on site at Evergreen and the majority were dismissed as unsubstantiated. Each case where there was physical injury to the student – no matter how mild – was subject to an in person investigation. Whenever Evergreen makes a report to a public agency, we undertake a thorough investigation and pursue every opportunity to improve staff training, oversight and policies to assure a safe, supportive environment for our students.” Full statement from Sarah Norfleet of the Chamberlain International School: “Chamberlain International School has faith in the state reporting and licensing agencies. Your claims are misleading and incorrect. Chamberlain self-reported to DEEC cases filed over the two-year period your station has investigated. Of the nine, three were supported by the state agency, four were not supported (meaning they were found to be without merit), one, which involved a student who was over 18 years old remains unresolved and one was not an abuse or neglect investigation, but rather a DEEC review of policy and procedures after a significant incident to ensure compliance with regulations. "In each of the cases, the proper state agency investigated the report on site. Your claim that the state licensing agency did investigations by phone only is incorrect. It is the role of the DCF to investigate 51a reports and then share that information with the DEEC. In each case, the DCF did a proper investigation on campus. In one of the cases, the DEEC conducted a second investigation on campus and produced a corrective action plan, which the school followed. "Finally, the parents who are the prime sources for the DLC’s investigation, one of whom you have interviewed for this story, have been found to provide information that was discredited by the DLC, DCF and the police department. The parent interviewed for this story had a child enrolled in our school for four months, three years ago – before any of the reports that you have investigated were filed. Her commentary is irrelevant to the cases you call into question.” Source: http://www.fox25boston.com/news/fox25-investigates-state-school-investigators-phoning-it-in/468287081 | ||
| Middleborough school employee allegedly sexually assaulted student | Boston.com Middleborough boarding school employee sexually assaulted cognitively disabled student, police allege Phillip Houtman turned himself in to authorities Friday afternoon, police said. SHARE TWEET By Christopher Gavin updated at 3:09 PM Phillip Houtman —Middleborough police A 28-year-old New Bedford man who police allege raped and sexually assaulted a cognitively disabled adult student while working at a Middleborough boarding school has turned himself in. Authorities issued an arrest warrant Thursday for Phillip Houtman, who officials say sexually assaulted a 19-year-old student at the Chamberlain International School, a private school for adolescents and young adults with cognitive and developmental disorders and disabilities, according to a statement from Middleborough police. Officials said Houtman turned himself in at Wareham District Court Friday afternoon, a day after police called for him to do so and asked for the public’s help in finding him. Advertisement Houtman faces charges of rape, assault to rape, open and gross lewdness, and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person with an intellectual disability, police said. He was expected to be arraigned in district court around 2 p.m. Friday, officials said. According to officials, police were notified on Sept. 30 of an allegation that Houtman sexually assaulted a student. Houtman is an overnight staff member at the boarding school and has been employed there for less than a year, according to the statement. In a letter to parents, school officials wrote that Houtman “was removed from the schedule and (is) not allowed back on campus during the investigation,” WHDH reports. The school is also reviewing its policies and will make any recommended changes in light of the allegations, the letter says. “The school is fully cooperating with all agencies throughout the process,” the letter says. “As a school, we wish to make it clear that the well-being and safety of all students is our top priority.” According to its website, the Chamberlain International School, founded in 1976, is a “co-educational therapeutic boarding and day school,” and accepts students between the ages of 11 and 22 from around the world. Source: https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2019/10/11/middleborough-boarding-school-employee-allegedly-sexually-assaulted-disabled-student | ||
| Update: Chamberlain International School appears to be involved in three lawsuits. William Doherty (founder/owner of Chamberlain International School) and some of his financial holdings appear to be listed as defendants in a case filed by TD Bank NA for violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The three suits have been filed with the Land Court in Massachusetts under the following case numbers: 19 SM 004811, 19 SM 004809, and 19 SM 004810. HEAL does not have further details about these cases at this time, but, for more information please click on the hypertext in this paragraph. | ||
| External Link: https://medium.com/@pinkjkd/the-truth-about-therapeutic-boarding-schools-475303864762 | ||
| External Link: https://medium.com/@strawberryheadachemanagement/i-was-emotionally-manipulated-and-gaslit-by-my-teacher-for-2-33d9ecfdaa12 | ||
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THE TRUTH: All segregated congregate care providers, including those on our watch-list, are welcome to contact us to correct any information or provide additional data that may assist with delivering the whole truth to the public. The HEAL Mission of COPE (HEAL) found in many cases where this offer has been abused or resulted in revealing additional basis for our concerns. For some examples see feedback. Now, we are willing to look at the facts and may have questions or require documentation backing up any claims. We do verify licensing, academic backgrounds, and other qualifications when investigating and researching programs on our watch-lis/enrolled in the Conversion Program to assist consumers seeking additional information on such programs or victims requiring assistance with getting corroborating evidence of their claims. We do that in order to make sure the information we provide is accurate and verified and cite our sources. In the event any information we've posted is in error, we're happy to make a correction. HEAL does not support segregated congregate care for many reasons which include that many such facilities are abusive, exploitative, fraudulent, and lack effective oversight often as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation coupled with the ignorance of those seeking to enroll loved ones in such facilities, programs, schools, or centers without a valid court order and involuntarily. In the United States such involuntary placements done without a court order are apparently illegal as they either violate the Americans with Disabilities Act community integration requirement or due process rights of those involuntarily placed. Now, in regards to parents, in the United States parents have the right to waive their own rights, but, not the rights of their minor children. See https://www.cope.church/legalarguments.htm for more information. Now, most facilities on our watch list include waivers, indemnity clauses, and sworn statements legal guardians must sign assuring the program that the parents/legal guardians have the right to make the placement involuntarily and without due process in a segregated congregate care environment, however, California and federal prosecutors as well as settled law appears to suggest that is not the case. In fact, in the David Taylor case found at https://www.cope.church/provocases.htm , Taylor sued Provo Canyon School and his mother as co-defendants. His mother was found liable for 75% of the damages awarded to Taylor as a result of multiple complaints including false imprisonment, while the program was found only 25% liable because the mother owed a duty of due diligence to investigate anyone to which she would entrust care of her child and she failed to do so. Now, HEAL opposes segregated congregate care and we find most placements are happening illegally in the USA which if the youth understood their rights would result in unfortunate outcomes for the parents, particularly when they don't exercise good judgment and support the fraud and abuse rather than their own children when they need remedy and justice. And, HEAL supports all victims of fraud and abuse in seeking remedies at law for any crimes or torts committed against them. And, that's true whether or not the program or victims are in the USA. HEAL has a 5 point argument against segregated congregate care we'd like you to consider: a. Segregated care is unconstitutional and a civil rights violation. It is only permissible if a person is unable to survive independent of an institutional environment. For more on this, watch the HEAL Report at https://youtu.be/C4NzhZc4P0A. Or, see: http://www.ada.gov/olmstead/ which includes in part: "United States v. Florida – 1:12-cv-60460 – (S.D. Fla.) – On April 7, 2016, the United States filed an Opposition to the State of Florida’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. In the Motion, the State had asked the Court to rule, on a variety of grounds, that the United States could not recover damages for unnecessarily institutionalized children to whom the State had been deliberately indifferent." b. Institutionalization is always dehumanizing and coercive. Institutionalization always harms the institutionalized and deprives them of protected civil rights. Dr. David Straker, Psychiatry Professor at Columbia University's School of Medicine (Ivy League) explains this in detail at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sociology/articles/institutionalization.htm. "Many institutions, from prisons to monasteries to asylums, deliberately want to control and manage their inmates such that they conform and do not cause problems. Even in less harsh environments, many of the institutionalization methods may be found, albeit in more moderated form (although the psychological effect can be equally devastating)." (See website linked in this paragraph for more info.) c. Institutionalization is not in the best interest of children. Institutions are not ever better for a child than living with a loving family. Source: http://www.unicef.org/cambodia/12681_23295.html d. Reform schools, residential treatment programs, and other segregated congregate care settings have been shown to be ineffective and harmful. Best source on this currently is: https://www.acgov.org/probation/documents/EndoftheReformSchoolbyVinny.doc e. Boarding Schools, even the "good ones", result in a form of social death, isolation, and cause both anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is clearly not in the best interest of the youth subjected to those environments. Sources: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/08/boarding-school-syndrome-joy-schaverien-review and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/11662001/The-truth-about-boarding-school-syndrome.html Beyond the above arguments against segregated congregate care, we have reports from the NIH, Surgeon General, Yale University Studies, and much more showing the methodologies of behavior modification are damaging, harmful, and ineffective. You can request these documents via e-mail. In addition, for such programs offering academic services or claiming to offer diplomas, certifications, or the like, it is important to check to see if it is a diploma mill with no accredited academic services. Please see article: "Avoiding Scams: What You Need To Know" for important information on how to avoid education/training scams. If you'd like to see what HEAL suggests rather than segregated congregate care (i.e. committing a crime or tort against your child if done against their will without a court order), please see articles: "Fix Your Family, Help Your Teen" and "Emancipation Guide". |
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REPORTING GUIDE FOR VICTIMS, SURVIVORS, AND WHISTLEBLOWERS: In Massachusetts, the criminal statutes of limitation are 6 years on misdemeanors, 10 years on most felonies, and no statute of limitations on more serious felonies including rape of a minor under age 14 at time of rape and murder. For civil suits in Massachusetts, the statute of limitations is 3 years. Here are your options: 1. Report crimes such as fraud, assault, battery, false imprisonment, rape, labor trafficking, and child abuse to law enforcement in Massachusetts. You can call the Middleboro Police at (508) 947-1212 to inquire about filing an official complaint which when filed may provide the probable cause needed to get a warrant for investigation and/or prosecution. 2. File a consumer complaint with your home state's attorney general against Chamberlain International School and include your request for compensation for any harm done to you. If your home state is Massachusetts or you'd like to file with the Massachusetts State Attorney General as a non-resident, here is that link and form: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/file-a-consumer-complaint 3. If you do not wish to file a consumer complaint, you can contact a private personal injury attorney and look into suing in tort/civil court. However, if you can't afford the retainer, you should expect to settle out of court with a non-disclosure agreement which may bar you from speaking publicly about the incident because you've agreed (even if with a grumbling assent) to the terms of the settlement. 4. You may send a new e-mail to rev@cope.church with subject "Post My Feedback" and we will post your feedback (e-mail printed to .pdf disclosing your name and e-mail address and any information in your e-mail with that subject) to https://www.cope.church/feedback.htm and add a direct link to those .pdf files to this page . 5. You may also wish to provide a guest sermon. Guest sermons are posted at https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm , under Progress Reports/Guest Sermons at https://www.cope.church/conversion.htm where appropriate, and on program info pages when applicable. So, one provided by you on your program would also be placed on this page . Guest sermons should be written into the body of an e-mail and sent to rev@cope.church . Your first and last name will be disclosed (contact info will not be unless you expressly request disclosure). For sermons available on our site see https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm (and sermon archives linked on that page). If you have questions about this option, please contact rev@cope.church. Please see https://www.cope.church/givetoday.pdf to get an idea what your sermon may be worth. |
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| May 12th, 2021: COPE CONVERSION PROGRAM PROGRESS REPORT: Chamberlain International School AKA FL Chamberlain | ||
Return to https://www.cope.church/conversion.htm
