The Extraordinary Spirit of Green Chimneys by Samuel B. Ross Jr

Author:Samuel B. Ross, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781557535801
Publisher: Purdue University Press

I had to laugh; it made sense. But there was another way to look at it, I explained. Since we all live on campus and use the facilities, we should all pitch in and help maintain them. I don’t think that I convinced him or the other two that day, but somewhere along the line they accepted the idea. And as they got older, all three worked summer vacations and winter breaks at Green Chimneys. David worked in the maintenance department. Donald started in the kitchen and gradually worked his way up to being a cook. Lisa also worked in the kitchen and helped out in the office. Years later during college she worked as an outdoor educator, and after completing college, she came to work at Green Chimneys full time. This was somewhat paradoxical since Lisa was the one who wanted to leave and go to another school.

In the fall of 1969, Lisa began fifth grade and suddenly was no longer happy. She complained that the other children didn’t like her, that they said unkind things, that they resented her, and that they were going to hurt her. Myra and I tried to reason with her, but to Lisa everything the other children said and did had menacing overtones. She wanted to go to another school, and with good reason.

I wasn’t very sympathetic. There always had been a certain amount of teasing and taunting that went on among the children, and I was sure it was nothing more than the usual. David and Donald had held their own and never complained. Lisa, I thought, could be overly sensitive.

I did not take her seriously until the day she came to me and told me she did not want to go to school because a boy had threatened to punch her. “No one’s going to punch you,” I assured her. Later that day I learned I was wrong; the boy had indeed hit her.

At Green Chimneys we were doing what we always had done: accepting children who needed our help the most. Increasingly, however, the children arrived with serious behavioral problems in addition to other troubles. Tempers easily flared, and acts of verbal and physical aggression followed. They were angry children who were mad at the world.

The faculty, staff, and I were learning how to deal with such outbursts and working to modify the children’s behavior, but it was not something we could change overnight or expect our children to tolerate. In the meantime, Myra and I could see the situation was taking its toll on Lisa. She began to stick close to home. She was increasingly anxious. She often was afraid to walk on campus alone. She had fewer and fewer friends. For the first time, Myra and I considered sending one of our children to another school. For months we discussed the pros and cons. Myra felt we should enroll her elsewhere; I was optimistic that things would work out.

Eventually, we consulted the superintendent of the local public school district; he was a friend of ours and knew Lisa.

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