Penikese Island School
Woods Hole, MA
Featured News
	Executive Director's Annual Report
	In the year since mailing our last Annual Report, the Penikese Island School continues to grow financially stronger, more effective in its method, and to broaden its recognition, reach and influence. The following is a partial list of the school’s accomplishments in the last 12 months: ...completed construction of its 1000 square foot addition to the Main House, simultaneously expanding, improving, and renovating the school’s island home for its staff and students; ...finished its third consecutive year in the black, more than doubled the school’s small but growing endowment, secured ample funding for Penikese clinical and educational programs, and for the first time ever, established a Capital Reserve fund; ...in order to compete successfully with other schools in attracting and retaining talented and experienced island staff, Penikese increased island staff salaries by 15% across the board while beginning to offer a 401(3)(b) retirement plan with (for eligible employees) employer-matched contributions; ...reorganized the school’s ever-continuing Outreach and Aftercare efforts for school graduates by hiring David Ellison to direct its revised Aftercare Program. Establishing this position created a new resource solely dedicated to the task of delivering Aftercare services, thus increasing service delivery efficiency while freeing up other overburdened school personnel to better focus on their particular spheres; ...created an entirely new internet web site, www.penikese.org, an essential modern-day tool to promote school mission, broaden school recognition and marketing, keep in closer touch with friends, family, and alumni, and link up to philanthropic web sites. Penikese Island may still feel like the 1870’s, but the school is decidedly Y2K current! ...raised Penikese’s local profile and brought its 26 years experience off the island and into its neighboring communities by sponsoring a series of acclaimed community forums in Falmouth, Massachusetts to benefit parents and caregivers of troubled teens. These forums brought together diverse child care agencies and presenters, and featured a keynote lecture by Kevin Creedon, a former Penikese counselor who is now an expert on juvenile criminal offending. Penikese was saluted for its Forums in editorials in the Cape Cod Times and Falmouth Enterprise. Need we say more? Abundant thanks to all who continue to believe in the Penikese Island School and who have helped to make the above good news happen.
	Penikese Alumni Notes
	Rob Lopez (‘96): Many of us remember Rob with great fondness for his quick mind and playful personality. Unforgettable to staff was a show that occurred the night before homepasses every two weeks: Rob preening himself in front of his mirror while trilling songs in Spanish, the entusiastic and unrestrained male display of a colorful tropical bird. Since graduating in June ‘96, Rob has kept in close contact with the school during quite a roller coaster couple of years. After leaving the island, Rob returned to Worcester, fathered a child, then went AWOL to native Puerto Rico to be with the child and its mother. For a while, things went well until Rob was laid off from his job and had a falling out with his father. Rob called Toby (using 800-828-POPS, of course!), to say he was down, out, and tired of having his AWOL status eating away at him. Rob asked if the school would pay his airfare back to the States. Toby agreed to purchase a ticket for Rob to pick up at the airport as long as Rob turned himself into the DYS apprehension team when he arrived stateside. Rob flew back to Boston, turned himself in, served some time in jail, then entered the Job Corps and got his G.E.D. Rob is now married and working for Bose in Westboro, and still calls to check in and express his irrepressable gratitude. Mike Harper (‘97): Since his graduation, Mike has returned to visit the island twice, most recently about a month ago. He called to say he was joining the National Guard, and wanted to see the island before beginning boot camp. He arrived with his girlfriend Natasha looking more handsome young man than the angry boy we once new. Mike explained that he has been living in Framingham working as a security guard (yes, a Penikese boy working in security!), and with the combination of high ambitions to attend college with low pay, it seemed obvious that the service would provide the means to fulfill his dreams. As of today, Mike is at Fort Leonard Wood (AKA Fort Lost-in-the-Woods) in Missouri. Wish him well! Wayne Pena (‘98): Wayne-o writes back! Wayne began his tumultuous but oh-so-memorable time on Penikese two years ago, and during that time contributed as much to Penikese lore and lexicon as any other ten students combined. After Wayne graduated Penikese, he left for another special program to address some particularly troublesome issues that Penikese could not resolve. A year later, Wayne finally wrote us back, an entire page of neatly written handwriting, utterly devoid of so much as a single period or comma. To wit, Wayne in his own verse: “Dear Pam how are you I hope good and not bad so how has everybody been out on the island I miss alot of people out there and fishing So how has Pops been lately I herd hes ready to leave the job because they are given him a hard time and thats not good because he is too old for that stuff and dont need it at all So hows the pigs and guinea hens doing and the chickens I miss all the animals and the fishing and getting dived at from the seagulls Have you heard from Vinnie I heard that he was at the clam boil and asked for me I dont know why because we werent that cool I wish we were but life goes on I should be writing you all more often because I really think this program helped me out a lot and I mean that Penikese best program I ever seen and it probably will be all the time”
	Penikese Launches New Aftercare Program
	The Penikese Island School announces the return of David B. Ellison of Martha’s Vineyard as Director of its new Aftercare Program. The goal is to improve Penikese success rates by extending support to graduates, their families, and involved schools and agencies. Thanks to successful fundraising efforts, Penikese will provide Aftercare services at no added cost to agencies and schools paying student tuition to Penikese. Executive Director Toby Lineaweaver says: “we have always been keenly aware of the vulnerability of our students when they leave Penikese, only to return to the same pressures and circumstances that first brought them to us. Our best attempts to impact their home environment for the better often fail to match the progress students make while in the island program. “Furthermore, because our students have experienced many losses, they face graduation with great anxiety and trepidation. Penikese is often the safest home they have known, and losing it only adds further insult to injury. By consistently extending our resources to them, we can help preserve the healthy attachments upon which their growth and change is based. We are convinced of the necessity for aftercare, and in David Ellison we have someone with a known talent for working with these troubled boys.” Ellison is no stranger to Penikese, having moved from upstate New York to Martha’s Vineyard in 1996 to serve as Penikese’s Special Education Director. According to Lineaweaver, Ellison was instrumental in rebuilding Penikese’s academic program, making it a “credible school” in the eyes of referral sources. Ellison currently resides in Edgartown with his wife Elizabeth, a licensed social worker, and their 12 year old son Ryan. Ellison left Penikese in 1998 to teach in public schools, but soon found himself irresistibly drawn back to the island. Said Ellison, “I have always enjoyed the challenges of working with troubled youth, and Penikese is an ideal setting. The school’s small size and emphasis on relationships and personal choice has always clicked with me. Not to mention that the island location is beautiful! I am really looking forward to this latest challenge and to making this program a big success.” The Aftercare Program has received enthusiastic response from funding organizations, including a recent $40,000 grant from The Island Foundation of Marion, Massachusetts. Other gifts in support of Aftercare include the R.K. Mellon Family Foundation, the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation, and the State Street Bank Foundation. Penikese estimates Aftercare will cost the school about $75,000 per year, an amount that must be fundraised or borne some other way since such services are not calculated into the school’s state-set tuition. Said Lineaweaver, “The costs of aftercare are more than justified by the potential rewards. Anytime you give these juveniles the means to live life less destructively, you make the world that much safer and save taxpayer money. One recent publication estimates such savings over a lifetime to be almost $2 million for each youth successfully rehabilitated. Therefore, from the standpoint of our time and the foundations’ money, aftercare is a wise investment all the way around.”
	Penikese Featured in Catalogue for Philanthropy
	Penikese is elated to report that it has been chosen by the Ellis Phillips Foundation to be included in this year’s Catalogue for Philanthropy, a publication promoting philanthropic causes in Massachusetts and New England. Penikese’s inclusion in this year’s Catelogue represents yet another manifestion of the school’s growth in strength and visibility, and will help Penikese in its continuing efforts to win the confidence and recognition of significant givers locally and beyond.