Published: September 11, 2008 01:27 pm      

Oldtown alternative school closing today

Three Springs New Dominion ends run serving at-risk youth

Tim Snyder's April 2008 report on Three Springs New Dominion Maryland



OLDTOWN — An alternative school is closing its doors today after more than 27 years of serving at-risk young men ages 11 to 18 in Allegany County.

Three Springs New Dominion Maryland, located on Wagner Cutoff Road in Oldtown, transferred the last of about three dozen youth from the secluded 330-acre campus to another facility on Friday. Melinda Roark, school administrator, said the corporate decision was made “officially about three weeks ago.”

The facility is licensed to care for up to 72 youth in an outdoor treatment program. In recent years, the school has had only three dozen students or less at any given time. As much as 88 percent of those students were court-ordered through the state Department of Juvenile Justice.

Aida Porras, vice president of marketing for the Alabama-based company, said the decision was not a financial one but “we just decided we wanted to go in a different direction.”

Roark said workers had until Sept. 25. However, Porras said Wednesday night that all the employees were "surprised" with a farewell recognition ceremony Wednesday afternoon and told they were not to report to work on Thursday.

She said Three Springs, which operates 24 programs in 22 locations across eight states, has two basic focuses within the company. Those two specialty areas include a publicly funded program such as the Oldtown location as well as a private pay basis, in which families refer loved ones and pay for treatment themselves.

It was unclear late Tuesday afternoon just how many employees will be out of a job in less than two weeks. However, Porras said the corporate office is providing transition assistance. She didn’t know whether any workers would be asked or eligible to transfer to other Three Springs locations. Administrative details are being cleared up in the final days.

“We’re doing the clean-up right now,” Roark said. “After it closes, there will be some of the employees that remain here for 24-hour security of the facility and the grounds.”

Porras said the corporate office has formed an exploratory committee to make decisions for the future of the buildings and grounds.

Roark, new to the Oldtown facility since former administrator Gary Wolz left about three months ago, said the closing shouldn’t overshadow “all the hard work (the employees) have done and the many years” they’ve served.

“The school has helped an awful lot of kids,” Roark said. “It’s been very fulfilling for the employees here.”

The transition, while smooth, isn’t easy, she said. Actually, “it’s pretty difficult.”

The closing comes after another public outcry earlier this year from nearby residents concerned for their safety should a student “walk off” or escape from the confines of the facility.

Safety and security has long been an issue. Tim Snyder, a juvenile justice monitor for the state Office of the Attorney General, issued a report in April that cited instances of escapes during which the escapee “caused neighbors distress as they ventured onto their property, in some cases took items from cars or homes and in at least one occasion assaulted a neighbor.”

A meeting with area residents in March resulted in the forming of a community safety committee and an expedited, voluntary automated call system that alerted neighbors to incidents at the school. In January, Snyder said, a youth “was able to take car keys from the jacket of a teacher and subsequently steal (the) car.”

Roark said those complaints were not the reason the school is closing. Tim Carder, who lives less than a quarter-mile from the school grounds, is experienced in juvenile services. Carder worked at Bowling Brook Preparatory Academy in the 1990s and in adult detention for 10 years as well as at Backbone and Savage Mountain youth programs in Garrett County.

In the last three years, he’s had encounters with escaped boys on four occasions. He doesn’t begrudge the campus or its mission. But he felt the facility, as it moved from helping wayward youth in the 1980s to adjudicated youth in recent years, should have updated its program to reflect the clients it served.

“That was troubling to me, that they haven’t changed their program,” Carder said. “I didn’t think that was going to be successful.”

He said the students walked off “anytime they wanted” with little direct supervision from campus staff.

“Everyone around here is concerned for their safety and the safety of their families,” Carder said. “If there’s no kids there, they won’t escape.”

Carder said he supported having a camp in the community to help children as long as the program and staff members were capable of caring for the clients.

“I would like to see them helping youth,” Carder said. “I think it’s unfortunate that this program didn’t work out, ‘cause there are troubled youth ... there’s a lot of them in the state. It would be nice to have a place that’s helping them out.”

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.