Elan School

Elan School is a private, residential behavior modification program and boarding school (beginning with 9th grade and extending beyond high school completion) in Poland, Androscoggin County, Maine.

Elan School was founded in 1970 by psychiatrist Gerald Davidson and Joseph Ricci. It specializes in helping teenagers with behavioral problems. Students attend year-round. [http://www.state.me.us/education/Elan%20Report90302%20Final.htm Basic School Approval Report Pertaining to the Elan School] , Maine Department of Education, September 3, 2002] As of 2007, there were about 95 students enrolled. Kevin Wack, [http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070325elan.html New York seeks change at Elan School] , "Maine Sunday Telegram", March 25, 2007] The school is located on a convert|33|acre|ha|adj=on campus.

The school's treatment methods are based on the "TC" or therapeutic community modality popularized in the 1950s at facilities such as Synanon, and later at Daytop Village.

The school achieved some notoriety during the 1990s when former classmates of Michael Skakel, who had attended Elan in the 1970s, testified against him in his trial for an unsolved murder that had occurred about two years before he enrolled at Elan. [ [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200301/kennedy-skakel/5 A Miscarriage of Justice: Reform-School Witnesses] , "The Atlantic", January/February 2003]

Notable alumni

* Ben Weasel

References

External links

* [http://www.elanschool.com/ Elan School]
* [http://www.elanalum.com/ Elan School Alumni]
* [http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives/1992/6/visit01.html Elan School Visit Report] , by Tom Croke, "Struggling Teens", June 1992