Hanna Boys Center teacher, staff terminations, board resignations reveal continued turbulence

Conflict over the culture and direction of Hanna Boys Center has resurfaced in recent weeks amid staff concerns about a “climate of fear” among employees and drug use, bullying and other dangerous behavior among students at the Sonoma home for troubled youths.

Deep internal strains within the organization as it attempts to modernize its approach to caring for traumatized boys have now reached the board that governs the institution, reflected in the resignations of two members from the now 17-member board of trustees in six weeks.

John Quinn, a retired San Francisco Unified School District administrator who served on the board of trustees for three years and the board of regents for four before that, said he was forced out because he questioned the treatment of staff and tried to engage fellow trustees to look into concerns about student safety.

“Any dissension is put down right now,” said Quinn, who was head of the youth services committee.

His July 12 resignation follows the May 29 departure of Sonoma real estate developer Tom Angstadt. Like Quinn, Angstadt criticized Hanna chief executive Brian Farragher’s decision to dismiss the entire teaching staff and require those who wanted to keep working to reapply for their jobs. Three of the 19 teachers left, and three who reapplied were not rehired.

A similar process is now underway with about a dozen nonteaching staff, most of whom can reapply for different jobs, at far lower pay. One employee said the actions are designed to rid the place of dissension amid intensifying turmoil over unsafe student conduct, a substantial decline in enrollment, rampant child care staff departures and licensing problems after Farragher’s arrival.

“Anyone who has spoken out or been to meetings to voice complaints knows that their days are numbered,” the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Farragher was brought on in mid-2014 as an expert in “trauma-informed care,” part of a national shift in mental and behavioral health care designed to address the lasting adverse impacts of childhood trauma. He acknowledged efforts to make fundamental change at the 74-year-old institution have been destabilizing - though not unexpectedly. And he said he regrets the situation “has become very adversarial.”

But Farragher said the organization has adopted research-driven principles that are now the standard in residential treatment, and they require a shift away from the old system of rewards and punishment that prevailed for decades at Hanna.

The tenets of trauma-informed treatment include ensuring an emotionally and physical safe space; promoting trust, connection, collaboration, choice and empowerment; and avoiding actions or circumstances that may trigger further trauma.

But it’s based on building relationships, and requires a “big shift” in thinking, he said.

“We have a lot of staff, and they’re good people, but I think they’re a little at sea trying to figure out how to work this,” Farragher said. “They want to be told what to do, and they need to figure it out. You can’t hand them a manual.”

He said a third-party, 2017 assessment of Archbishop Hanna High School at the facility turned up deficiencies that left Hanna students less prepared for the future than they should be. The Hanna board subsequently restructured and extended the school day, and introduced additional teacher responsibilities. Trustees decided months ago that it was only appropriate to give teachers a chance to recommit themselves to the new requirements, he said.

Three did not apply for the newly reframed jobs. Three of those who did were not rehired “because we felt there were realignment problems,” Farragher said.

The Hanna Boys Center home has made news in recent years for shocking stories of sexual abuse linked chiefly to former clinical director Kevin Thorpe, now serving a 21-year state prison sentence in connection with molesting four young victims, including three Hanna boys.

State regulators say Thorpe regularly abused seven residents of the facility over the course of 10 or more years. Two brothers among them recently reached a $6.8 million settlement with the boys home and the affiliated Santa Rosa Diocese of the Catholic Church, which contributed $400,000 to the settlement.

Mounting accusations also have been raised against Farragher’s predecessor. John S. Crews, a Catholic priest who served as executive director of the Hanna Boys Center for ?29 years, resigned in 2013 after allegations of sexual misconduct were raised by the widow of a former parishioner at St. Sebastian’s Church in Sebastopol. Crews has since been publicly accused of at least four cases involving former Hanna boys.

While those cases have made headlines, the turmoil behind the scenes has often been overlooked, despite signs it has taken a toll on a proud institution that has long symbolized hope for at-risk boys whose beginnings were especially difficult.

Many of Hanna’s clients, boys ages 13 to 18, suffered abuse or neglect in their childhood homes, in addition to poverty, family dysfunction and various other sources of toxic stress or trauma. Many act out as a result, displaying behaviors that may not respond to standard interventions, Farragher said.

“Most of these kids have had their fair share of punishment in their lives, and it hasn’t changed their behaviors, so they end up with us,” he said. “These kids who have trauma histories are disregulated, and they don’t always choose these behaviors.”

Several current and former employees say dispensing with the traditional disciplinary system has inspired students so inclined to run wild. Classroom disruptions are common, and both teachers and staff have encountered students who have created situations that are unsafe for themselves or other students, including dangerous drug use, violent assaults and fights.

“He calls the old program a ‘rewards and punishment program,’ and it was just the opposite,” said one employee, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It was a discipline and structure program.”

Both clients and child care staff have left as a result, forcing closure of several residential cottages. Though licensed for ?108 students, enrollment has hovered in the mid-60s in recent months, according to state Community Care Licensing records.

“I’ve been a vocal advocate about safety,” said the employee who spoke anonymously, explaining that he feared losing his job “just like Quinn” if he allowed his name to be used. “This guy does not want anyone around him who raises questions.”

Former Hanna clinical director Tim Norman, like other critics, noted that safety is the first pillar of trauma-informed care, and yet those who try to draw attention to issues that threaten children’s safety - like bullying, excessive drug use and physical aggression - find themselves in hot water.

Norman, who was fired in 2016, last year was awarded $1.1 million by a Sonoma County jury that found he had been wrongly terminated for speaking up about the very same issues that still trouble facility staffers. Several drew comparisons to his departure and the resignation of Quinn, who said board Chairman Tullus Miller told him to resign or be voted off the board.

The turbulence of the last five years also has drawn closer scrutiny from state regulators. After maintaining a pristine record for decades, the leadership transition at Hanna has been accompanied by a spike in licensing violations that now number 25, six of them deemed serious enough to pose an immediate health or safety risk.

Staff members say Hanna’s license already was on the line when Thorpe’s sexual predation was revealed in June 2017. The following December, state regulators moved to revoke the facility’s license, eventually choosing instead to put the organization on three years of probation with significant improvements in safety protocols, training and other corrective measures.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.