Wyoming Boys' School is last hope for troubled kids

The recent lawsuit against the Boys’ School is a blow to youth welfare in our state and cruel, destructive slander against some of our neighbors, in my opinion. As a former employee at WBS, I saw firsthand how dedicated WBS staff are to helping young men. The alleged physical abuse is so out of character for the men primarily mentioned as to be laughable if not so vicious. Those dorm staff put themselves in harms way each day, take grotesque verbal abuse and physical attacks, but still are dedicated to giving young offenders a last chance to build life skills and survive in the real world. The WBS staff have decades of service to troubled kids and have earned presumed credibility. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit, one a now convicted murderer and another a sexual predator, have not.

It’s true the young men come to WBS having experienced horrible abuse and neglect in early life. Some have severe mental disturbance. They disrupt and act out in kindergarten, attacking others, cursing anyone, hitting teachers, and storming around classrooms. Mostly our schools go out of their way to help and comfort these children, offering kindness, extra help, personal aides, and trying to coax and convince the kids into more productive behavior. The consequences are few for these kids, accommodations continue over the early years, because they are still children. Anyone who works with these kids aches for them, knowing what they suffer. But the time for soft words and stuffed animals runs out as they grow. Some just get bigger, older, more angry and destructive until finally, they do something, like a felony, and find themselves in the juvenile justice system.

Here’s when they encounter the Boys’ School if they are lucky. WBS gives the kids a last chance, as teenagers, to choose basic normal behaviors; getting up in the morning, doing schoolwork when asked, listening to teachers and authority figures, exercising, bathing on schedule, meals on schedule. Yes, it’s a lot like basic training. But these young men need these simple skills and haven’t been held to them. In a few years these boys will be eighteen, out of school, with no personal skills, no job skills, no future. WBS is their last chance. Some of the boys make the most of it; they graduate high school there, GED there, are befriended there. Those lifesaving results are why WBS staff spend decades trying to help young men. WBS is not perfect but it’s positive.

Deb Guest