Trinity School in Ukiah to close - update

These stories are just the ones reported this year. I was born & raised in Ukiah and also was an employee for a a year & a half and believe me, not all kids are bad. Alot of their outbursts and assaults are provoked by the staff members, because they like that power kick. These children are always looked at differently when we use to take them on outings, and ever since the girls were brought to that facility it seemed to get worse.
It's sad to see the school closing because we had alot of children who changed their lives for the best, and there are some excellent workers who "really" do care about the kids... even through the rough/tough times!

Sounds like the the staff had zero control of the kids and the cops were tired of chasing the kids around town.

So now maybe the other trinity facilities will see that the whole lets get all the kids interacting with each other was a bad idea. keeping them gender separated was working just fine until trinity got a slap on the hand and decided oh well now the kids can date and have social time all that did was allow more drama to ensue and make it harder for the staff who were already short and having to somedays work five fifteen hour days. granted not all the kids were horrible there but the problem was with the administration. they were so scared to piss off licensing that they just folded anytime they were threatened. trinity is not a happy place for dating socializing and just being a kid it is a treatment facility and should have been ran like one. Now what are the staff supposed to do about their jobs way to go guys good managing.

Mema wrote:

Sounds like the the staff had zero control of the kids and the cops were tired of chasing the kids around town.

What else are the cops going to do? Drive around menacing citizens?

Just a thought.

UPD had nothing to do with Trinity closing. So UPD filed a complaint, big deal. This has been going on for years and years. It became unprofitable for Trinity to stay open. I am sure there is more to the story.

Yet another state program closed. Ukiah is a small town and Trinity employed over 100 of its citizens. What a loss for our community and the troubled youth. Perhaps they could have bolstered Trinitys security measures rather than shutting it down.

Some of the above comments are right on...bringing the girls a doorway away from the boys was a bad idea...not keeping trained and caring staff another...bringing in a kid they could yet another...the management could have done better in all the above situations...as someone in the know...Trinity was not a nice place for kids...and the staff had no control...management would undermine them and there were abused and undermined by management...I'm sorry for the people that lost their jobs...but the writing was on the wall and I think the kids will find a much better place to live and work through their issues. Bravo to the UPD for finally saying, enough is enough!

I worked at Trinity for many years. I can say without a doubt that good things have happened there. I have seen lives change for the positive. Once upon a time, Trinity was a great place for kids who are running out of options.

But that has been going downhill for a long time. Honestly, I am surprised it lasted as long as it did.

What an impossibly difficult job for those staff to deal with. Very few people could do it and keep a cool head. I feel for the staff that are losing their job.

Goodbye Trinity!

It does not matter what provoked the kids to run away. what the real story is that has been totally missed is look at all the jobs lost!! i personally know two people who have worked there for many years and now one is relying on his wife who just had a baby to work extra and make enough for their family.. and the second just moved into a new house and now is looking for another cause she will not be able to afford it when trinity closes!! what are we going to do??

Who says there aren't "throwaway" children? When will we ever learn?

What a great paper you have here. Looks to me you have all your facts straight, especially surrounding the 4 youth who have the attention of these 'reporters', your community, and have proven to be the bane of the Ukiah P.D. I'm certain the thriving Ukiah economy can absorb the 100+ who now seek employment. Trinity was the second largest employer in the area, behind Masonite, for years. I marvel at the abandoned slabs of concrete left behind at the Masonite site, maybe the forward lookers in this community have the foresight to acquire that concrete, process it into aggregate and extend the airport runway in this town to accomodate the expectant surge in commercial air traffic. I'm certain all of Ukiah's local vendors are greatful for the closure of this facility, which, if you can possibly imagine, really did help some kids over the past 3+ decades.

just sad wrote:

It does not matter what provoked the kids to run away. what the real story is that has been totally missed is look at all the jobs lost!! i personally know two people who have worked there for many years and now one is relying on his wife who just had a baby to work extra and make enough for their family.. and the second just moved into a new house and now is looking for another cause she will not be able to afford it when trinity closes!! what are we going to do??

They could conversate with others and grow their "so called" medical marijuana like alot of the employees do on the side. About 1/2 of your employees really cared about these children, but there were soooo many problems that alot of people weren't awae of. Employees on a power trip (especially the males)or females wearing tight clothing knowing that there were sexual comments always being made, or the best was when the girls unit was opened how many times they would take out the garbage w/student and they are smoking or having conversations about what they have planned or what they did over the weekend. Come on, still to date I have alot of friends who are employed there & they complain how you can't get coworkers on the same page to care/watch over the children there. Alot of excellent employees will be losing their jobs, but alot of them (even a few supervisors) needed to be fired or let go a long time ago!!!!!!!

They could conversate with others and grow their "so called" medical marijuana like alot of the employees do on the side. About 1/2 of your employees really cared about these children, but there were soooo many problems that alot of people weren't awae of. Employees on a power trip (especially the males)or females wearing tight clothing knowing that there were sexual comments always being made, or the best was when the girls unit was opened how many times they would take out the garbage w/student and they are smoking or having conversations about what they have planned or what they did over the weekend. Come on, still to date I have alot of friends who are employed there & they complain how you can't get coworkers on the same page to care/watch over the children there. Alot of excellent employees will be losing their jobs, but alot of them (even a few supervisors) needed to be fired or let go a long time ago!!!!!!!
Geez sounds like you know whats going on there quite well.... My fiance works there and in so many words thats NOT the BEST to work at!!! Assaults are a normal accurance... almost every couple hours really! Although there have been a few kids that have made it threw the program, there isnt many. Many times that I have gone up to Trinity, there has not been one time that I havent heard the kids talking to the staff like crap! When I asked why the didnt say anything ... I was told "They COULD'NT"????
But dont let everyone fool you there are BAD STAFF, but THERES PLENTY OF GOOD STAFF.... there the ones helpig the kids (even after they;ve been assaulted many, many times(not everyone hears about all those) Thanks to all the Wonderful Staff, that didnt think they wee hot s*** and/or wore the tight clothes!!

Concerned Friend wrote:

These stories are just the ones reported this year. I was born & raised in Ukiah and also was an employee for a a year & a half and believe me, not all kids are bad. Alot of their outbursts and assaults are provoked by the staff members, because they like that power kick. These children are always looked at differently when we use to take them on outings, and ever since the girls were brought to that facility it seemed to get worse.
It's sad to see the school closing because we had alot of children who changed their lives for the best, and there are some excellent workers who "really" do care about the kids... even through the rough/tough times!

I think if they got rid of a few BAD supervisors.. they wouldnt have such a problems!!! and those kids do need a few more rules out into place!!!

the staff are not to blame, they were put in a dangerous and chaotic situation where the clients had more right and protections than the adults. How would you feel if a 6'2 220lbs 17 yr old male came up to you over and over again threatening to attack you, cursing you out and getting the other clients to join in...and there is really nothing you can do about it, other than quit. In my opinion many of the clients belonged in a mental health institution or a lock down facility. All of this could have been dealt with...yet the management was purely concerned with filling their beds. Any group home needs to bring in clients that it can actually help. Any facility working with kids with this degree of care needs highly trained and experienced staff. Most facilities are either all male or all female...having them living and sleeping down the hall from each other is not gonna work, especially when you have a 'lord of flies' atmosphere which developed.

Over the last 10 years there have been at least six different female employees that have been terminated and investigated for having inappropriate sexual contact with various boys at the facility. Trinity did a very good job of keeping this hush hush. Many of these women also supplied the boys with alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and cell phones. At least one was prosecuted and convicted. Although, because of the secretive and paranoid nature of the management it was impossible to follow up on this issue. I thought considering all of the talk around town related to Trinity, this was one issue that the public should have been made aware of. I am sure that if it had been a male staff engaging in sexual activity is would have been national news.

My daughters friend currently works here, for a few more days anyway. She is the best person to be working with at risk youth, she really cared about her clients, no matter what society thought of them. It is really sad for these kids to be thrown away again when someone as caring and compassionate as my daughters friend is willing to try to help these kids. Too bad our Governor feels nothing for them(they are not his kids, so why should he care.)

she may wanna try redwood children services...I know a lot of people who love working there...if she has a Bachelor's degree she can take the cbest and be a substitute teacher or a substitute assistant teacher if she has a associates.

thankful2FEW good staff wrote:

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I think if they got rid of a few BAD supervisors.. they wouldnt have such a problems!!! and those kids do need a few more rules out into place!!!

Oh yea... The bad supervisors were really really really REALLY bad. Can you say Cl**** or Be****? I'd spell it out, but then this post would be deleted. Most of you will catch on.

Nearly three years ago Trinity got the best supervisor they ever could have hoped for. For a year he earned the trust of the clients and tried to make changes toward the better--but was stonewalled at every turn by pettiness and bickering, until he eventually went back to the county he came from where he could make potentially an active difference.

What can you do... Small town. Small minds.

I'd love to be able to say I didn't see it coming. It's too bad, really. Some of the kids there were able to grasp that their way of thinking about and approaching life were in need of change, and they began the process, one day at a time.

Trinity was reduced to "group home" status several months ago, which destroyed its ability to provide a controlled, safe, potentially healing environment for at risk youth. Despite this, Trinity continued to attempt running the PASSE program, which strives to help sexually abused children overcome their traumas and develop social and mental skills necessary for healthy relationships. Many such children were teetering at--or over--the edge of sexual predation. PASSE was often successful in pulling such youth back from the edge, and in some cases even managed to throw down a rope to those who had gone over, and hauled them back up to some semblance of hope and sanity. When Trinity was reduced to a "group home", and no longer allowed to run as a treatment center--all effectiveness for this and other programs designed to help at-risk youth was lost. These programs are designed to carefully establish and build a new self-identity around a set of beliefs and values that can help pull at-risk youth through their own abuses and losses and prepare them a life based on a positive outlook and self-efficaciousness.

Many problems contributed to the eventual demise of Trinity--not the least of which were the wages. Throughout the region, all other organizations providing residential services to at-risk youth paid their staff an average of $2 more per hour. More than likely higher.

In three years, staff who qualified for the maximal raise at Trinity each year could hope to make 9.99$/hour. Meanwhile the cost of living rose like towers around their ears, leaving those who did not have a more successful counterpart to rely upon to grovel in holes and hovels, often going without the most basic of amenities.

This is before the economic crunch and cutbacks. Many have often overheard talk of the Trinity board members having multiple vacation homes, a garage full of cars worth over 100k each, of impossibly wasteful living--and wondered at the validity of such claims... Meanwhile Trinity staff in Ukiah received but a pittance for pay. It's difficult for one to feel pride in his work when he is never paid so much as enough to live on. The heartiest of constitutions is bound to crack in time. The most caring of staff have been known to lose their cool and bark out a few harsh words.

(cont.)