By Dan McDonald/Daily News staff

MetroWest Daily News

September 19, 2009 

FRAMINGHAM — Two lawsuits, $26 million, several years and immeasurable controversy later, the Wayside Youth & Family Support Network has its new campus.

Wayside officials say the 14-acre campus, tucked into the leafy Lockland Avenue neighborhood just off Rte. 9, was well worth the wait.

In many ways, the Frederick Abbott Way complex has the feel of any boarding school. During a tour yesterday morning, adolescents happily bounced basketballs around a gym. Other students hunched over desks, intently toiling away on an art project.Incense in the meditation room waited to be lit. A sloping green ballfield stretches along the rear of the property. Black Dells dot the computer lab.

But there are subtle reminders that the students who often come to Wayside have an ample education from a different kind of institution: the school of hard knocks.

Many of the kids at Wayside have problems in school or come from broken homes. The 12- to 18-year-olds are sent there through the state Department of Children and Families.

Wayside says it offers six residential programs that support adolescents, help them control their worst impulses and bolster their academics.

The campus is also home to Wayside Academy, a special education program. The facility also offers help for adolescents with psychiatric and substance abuse problems.

About 60 adolescents are in residential programs and about the same number in its day programs.

One-third of the youths will stay between eight months and a year. The other two-thirds are there for two- to six-week stints.

About 20 percent of the adolescents are from Framingham, 30 percent are from other towns in MetroWest, the remaining 50 percent are from other parts of the Greater Boston.

There are no doors to the rooms for the kids who live there,just curtains. Doors would allow students to barricade themselves in their rooms, said Dennis Miles, the campus residential director.

Students have to earn privileges for things like televisions and ice cream.

Pushbars for some of the doors have a 15-second delay to prevent students from running through or out of the school.

Many doors need a security card to open, while others leading outside trigger an alarm.

The facility has a "timeout room," a cell with tan walls that are bare save for a glass globe in the corner - that's the security camera that records what goes on in the room.

"Kids will be in there just to relax, to take a step back," said Miles.

Sometimes counselors will review the tape with the center's clients and talk about their behavior.

Staff at the facility wear green polo shirts, a practice which distinguishes them from the students. Neighbors had complained previously that they had a hard time telling them apart.

Wayside declined to allow the Daily News to interview any of the youngsters.

Wayside says it is filling a need, and that the effort to get the project moving was worth it.

"If we don't intervene and teach them skills, it's just going to get worse," said Marisa Timmins, Wayside's development director.

Some neighbors, like Town Meeting member Tom O'Neil, have fought the project relentlessly.

"The state, in its infinite wisdom, has said, 'It's wonderful, they can mix with the neighborhood.' I wouldn't want my grandchildren mixing with them," said O'Neil, who lives on Lockland Avenue.

O'Neil contends that Wayside has depreciated home values in the neighborhood.

"People are not going to buy a house in this neighborhood and pay 70 percent of what the home is worth," he said.

Frosted windows block neighbors' views of the students and vice versa. Wayside plans to plant new evergreens to boost screening.

Others, like Town Meeting member Bill Haberman, who lives several blocks away, say the campus is not that much of a problem.

During a regular fire drill, three kids tried to run away, two of whom were arrested.

Since it opened April 25, police have gone on calls to the facility 55 times.

Police have been involved in six more events that are tied to the campus in some way, like report of a runaway or a disturbance, without responding directly to Wayside with officers, said police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany.

In May 2006, Wayside sued the town, alleging discrimination and arguing that the town's demands regarding the project were unlawful. Ultimately Wayside dropped its suit and agreed to pay $80,000 for improvements to the property.

In 2005, the Sucker Pond Neighborhood Association appealed the town's decision to issue a building permit. A land court judge ultimately sided with Wayside.

To foster good relations, Wayside meets with police and the School Department once a month.

For house managers like Gregory Jean-Joseph, Wayside's mission remains vital."Most of them know the difference between right and wrong," he said. "We help them when trauma clouds their judgment."

(Dan McDonald can be reached at 508-626-4416 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)  

By Julia Spitz

MetroWest Daily News

September 12, 2009

FRAMINGHAM —

With the scent of pizza wafting from the table and a gleaming cutlass poised above their shoulders, eight boys knelt to be knighted in the Framingham Housing Authority office yesterday afternoon.

"I figured if they were doing good deeds, they should be knighted for it," said Dominick Tolson, vice chairman of Wayside Youth & Family Support Network's board of directors and the driving force behind the Knights of R.I.C. 

The R.I.C. stands for respect, integrity and commitment, qualities his father instilled in him, said Tolson, and qualities the program nurtures in local boys by encouraging them to do good deeds.

The collaborative effort of Wayside, the Framingham Police Department and the Housing Authority has made a difference at the Musterfield complex, said Timothy Brady.

"When we first came here, they were all fighting," Brady said of the tweens and teens. "Everything they've learned here shows in the neighborhood."

"They've learned to respect each other," said Diane Rockwood, and "they've learned to respect girls."

Rockwood and Brady's sons, Tyler and Bailey Brady, were among the eight new Knights.

"It's awesome," Timothy Brady said of the program whose code of conduct includes kindness and honoring commitments.

It's also fun, said Ramon Batista, 14, a freshman at Framingham High who is proud of his good grades.

When the new Knight of the second order, who earned the recognition for completing 50 good deeds, was asked what he liked about the program, it was because "I could do fun stuff and be with my friends."

Fausto Rosario, also 14, earned a third-order rank yesterday, for deeds such as "cleaning my room, helping my mom" and "I was shoveling for people" at the housing complex last winter, although, since honesty is a Knight virtue, he added, "but I got paid" to shovel the snow.

"I helped freshmen at our school," said Justin Dyer, 16, who earned first-order knighthood yesterday.

Like Dyer, first-level Knights Keffry Rosario, Jonathan Avelino and Gui De La Zerda were dubbed by program director Gissi Cruz. Two members of the Worcester-based 344th Military Police Army Reserve conferred second-degree honors on Ramon Batista and Bailey Brady.

Tolson bestowed third-level knighthood on Fausto Rosario and Tyler Brady using the cutlass Tolson received during his 21-year Navy career.

Daniel Martins, Wilson Martinez, Jovanni Rosado, Giovanni Ortiz and Ernesto Nichols also earned knighthood awards but were not at the ceremony.

"We figured that each level would be about 25 good deeds, and then we'd move them to the next level," said Tolson. Each level requires a bit more commitment and community involvement, he said.

After realizing "we weren't doing a good job, as a society, at raising young men," he and other members of the board of directors decided to form the program in 2006 for youngsters in lower-income households. After meeting with police and local clergy, they decided the 7-14 age group "was where we figured we could do the most good."

As a reward for their achievements, new Knights' names were put into a hat in a drawing for six bicycles.

When Avelino drew his own name, he said he wanted to give the bike to another boy.

"Jonathan's giving up his bike for someone else? Now that's what Knights do," Tolson said with a smile.

(Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

After years of court fights and legal wrangling, a new program to provide mental health care for Medicaid-eligible children rolled out statewide last week.

The Children's Behavioral Health Initiative includes efforts that connect families with teams of support staff to coordinate services between state and local agencies. The program also provides for a single case manager to work with each family.

The purpose is to give children facing mental health problems a chance to remain at home and in their local schools rather than being treated in hospitals or institutions. The program also includes mobile crisis teams, which families can call on for immediate help if a child is experiencing emotional difficulty.

"That's a critical service and the front door to the whole thing," said Steven Schwartz, executive director of the Northampton- and Newton-based Center for Public Representation, a public advocacy law firm, which represented the plaintiffs in a 2001 lawsuit which brought about the initiative.

In January 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor ruled in the case, Rosie D. v. Swift, that the state violated federal law by not providing in-home behavioral services to children with severe psychiatric issues.

In his ruling, Ponsor said, "The result of (the state's) failure is that thousands of Massachusetts children with serious emotional disabilities are forced to endure unnecessary confinement in residential facilities or to remain in costly institutions far longer than their medical conditions require."

The ruling led to years of negotiation and discussion on how the state would comply with the court order. June 30 was the deadline to make changes needed to comply with the law.

Though the state made significant cuts to this year's budget before Gov. Deval Patrick signed it on June 29, the children's mental health initiative will get $65.7 million, which is shared by the 32 community service agencies hired to administer it, including Wayside Youth and Family Services.

Schwartz said the figure of 15,000 children across the state who will need psychiatric care is conservative.

"We're certainly talking about tens of thousands of children...over time," he said.

Emily Sherwood, director of the state's children's behavioral health inter-agency initiative, said the program encourages parents to be active participants in determining the care needed for their kids. By bringing case workers, family partners and experts together with families, the process is more efficient, she said.

Many of the new initiative's efforts are based on measures already used by Wayside, said its vice president of community services Bonnie Saulnier.

"The idea is to bring services to the families, instead of asking something impossible of them," said Saulnier.

Under Wayside, crisis teams are assigned to Framingham, Natick, Marlborough and surrounding towns, plus there are back-up members, said Saulnier. These teams are available at all hours, in case a family calls for assistance.

"I think it will have a bigger impact on parents," said Saulnier of the newly implemented program. Participating parents, she said, can devote more time to their children's mental health instead of navigating different state and local agencies for help.

Riverside Community Care of Arlington is the community service agency for Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Millis, Weston, Dedham, Norwood, Westwood and Walpole, among other towns. Y.O.U., Inc. of Southbridge is the community service agency for Milford, Franklin, Bellingham, Mendon, Upton, Hopedale and a number of other area towns.

More information about the Rosie D. decision and implementation can be found at www.rosied.org.

Spirit of Teamwork: Amy is always thinking of her colleagues and offering assistance before anyone asks. She is easy to collaborate with, and continuously compromises to put her colleagues’ needs with hers, is not before. Amy also goes out of her way to work on behalf of clients. Her clients are well served, and for Amy, it’s not just a job.

Spirit of Positive Attitude: Jamal is an unusually upbeat person that sets a humorous tone and builds strength in the community with his commitment to positive thinking.  He demonstrates his commitment to the clients by spending quality time conversing about life and what’s important to them, allowing them to speak freely and express all their thoughts and opinions.  Jamal appropriately challenges the youth to reach their individual goals and does not back off setting boundaries and enforcing values, even when this appears to be less than upbeat and positive to them.  Jamal is a favorite for most clients and staff!

Spirit of Positive Attitude: Liora is genuine, warm, empathetic, and intelligent.  She is a unifying force that allows her team to feel good in her presence.