Upon reading The Collegian’s story about The Manor in last week’s issue, senior Kathy Dirkson, a former Manor employee, said she was sad “that was the story everyone was getting.”
State officials have filed at least 34 investigative reports in the past several years regarding rule violations at the Jonesville special education facility. Many of these reports detail incidents between Manor staff and residents, or residents and other residents, involving violence, inappropriate physical contact, and neglect.
“There’s so much more to the story,” Dirksen said.
The Manor houses children ages 6 to 18 with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities. Due to the nature of their conditions, tantrums and “physical managements,” what Manor staff call dealing with the tantrums, are common.
Fred Prasser, chief executive officer of The Manor, said that, while The Manor does have more physical managements than most other agencies in Michigan, the staff was working on lowering those numbers.
“We made change after change, as far as program, to do what the state wanted us to do,” he said.
That included cooperating with the Michigan Department of Human Resources regarding physical managements, as well as other incidents, within The Manor. Most of what the DHS investigated was reported to it by The Manor. Staff found to be in the wrong were dealt with accordingly, Prasser said.
He said physical altercations between staff and residents are an unfortunate inevitability of The Manor’s work.
“It’s awful that it happens, but it does,” Prasser said. “That doesn’t mean anyone did anything wrong, but it’s just part of doing business when you have to deal with restraint. I don’t mean that to sound callous, because it’s not meant to.”
Prasser said that trauma – the cause of many Manor residents’ disabilities – causes a “malfunction” in the child’s fight or flight cognition. Staff constantly are watching the children for “triggers,” ensuring the children won’t harm themselves or their peers.
“We did the best we could to keep everybody safe: the clients came first, followed by staff,” said David Pitts, residential treatment specialist at The Manor. “If necessary, then the clients, the public, and then the staff.”
The job of a residential treatment specialist, also Dirksen’s position at The Manor, is to be with the children and help them through their day, while all the time keeping watch on them for their triggers.
“I’ve always seen [my job] as a mix between a big brother and a jailer,” Pitts said. “I definitely liked the big brother aspect better.”
The children have especial
difficulty with change, Dirksen said.
Last summer, the staff rotated the hallways in which the children were living. Although the same children lived together in the new hallways, Dirksen said they were very upset by it.
“The amount of times I had to repeat they were only changing hallways – I wish I had a nickel for every time,” Dirksen said.
Some have been in The Manor for more than 10 years, Dirksen said. For many of the children, The Manor is the only stable home they’ve known.
Prasser said the state used “bullying tactics” to close The Manor. A hearing was scheduled for sometime this spring to help sort out the differences between the state and the facility it contracted with.
“My opinion is we had a very good chance of winning it,” Prasser said. “I think the DHS might have had the same opinion.”
Prasser said the Michigan Department of Human Services decided not to renew The Manor’s contract before the scheduled hearing, rendering the hearing pointless.
The children are expected to all be moved out of The Manor by March 1. They will go to other institutions like The Manor, as well as foster homes and other facilities.
“They’ll have them all moved,” Prasser said. “All of them appropriately? Not a chance.”
