Residential school closes

 

A recent story in both the Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers caught my eye. The headline in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune stated end of an era for troubled boys. St. Paul’s century old boys totem town closes. I was there for two years while an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota. Basically as a volunteer supervisor/playground director every weekend. I got 2 college credits in the process as well as improving my resume to achieve my goal as a senior high history teacher.

Boys Totem Town  was a residential program for up to  adolescent boys age 14-18 who had been committed by the court to treatment for committing offenses and demonstrating risky behavioral concerns in the community. I learned a lot in my two years there and some of it stood well when it came to discipline issues in the my own career. I also think the reason for closing was well-founded. With better methods of dealing with delinquency have  less and less incarceration. Keeping families together, community support and so on as well as much less serious behavioral issues all were making a difference. At closing there were only two boys still in the facility.. That’s a good sign.

In a roundabout way the nostalgia that this newspaper item brought up reminded me of an interview I had with my principal in my first high school job in small town rural Minnesota. I would be teaching senior Social studies meaning my classes would be17 and 18 year olds. I was 22. In a fatherly manner to a young rookie teacher he noted my experience with delinquent boys that small town farm girls were not without their wiles. Be careful he noted and I did. What he didn't warn me about was a bunch of unmarried female colleagues. That included one who later boasted that following her girlfriends suggestion she admonished the superintendent to hire a single male to replace the departing senior social studies teacher. Or in her own words she had requisitioned me. I had no chance whatsoever. It was all for ordained.

Two retired teachers on their 50th anniversary