Board of Directors
Frederic E. Greenman, Chairman
Richard H. King, Treasurer
James B. Newman, Clerk
Richard H. Backus, Ph.D.
Edward Doyle
Robert Fleming, Ph.D.
Gerald J. Holtz, C.P.A., M.B.A.
Ted Johnson
James Lloyd
Derek McDonald
John Mendelsohn, M.D.
T. Richardson Miner
James “Otto” Reber
Sherley Smith
Associates
Pennie Hare, President of the Associates
Eric Asendorf
Martha Asendorf
John Austin, Jr.
Toby Baker
John Bullard
Bruce Buxton
Beth Campanella
Andrew Clark
Jim Clark
Ben Coffin
Werner Deuser
Dennis Dinan
Dick Edwards
Chuck First
Mary Pat Flynn
Dick Friedman
Seth Garfield
Craig Gibson
Bob Hassey
Jim Hinkle
Jennifer Huntington
Meg Lilly
Winnie Mackey
Barbara Marcks
Shirley McIntire
John Moore
Ahmed Mustafa
Ginny Nicholas
Joel Peterson
Myles Slosberg
Phil Stanton
Tom Stetson
Jay Stroud
Freddie Valois
Penikese Island School has no household electricity and minimal indoor plumbing. Its buildings are heated with firewood the students chop themselves and kerosene lanterns provide light at night. In keeping with the school’s rustic atmosphere, Penikese students do not watch television, nor are they allowed personal radios, Walkmans, or other electronic games or gadgets.
Penikese Island is a state-owned wildlife sanctuary managed by MassWildlife for which Penikese provides stewardship in exchange for occupancy. Penikese owns and operates a USCG-inspected vessel, the M/V Harold M. Hill, to provide transportation to the island.Of all the Elizabeth Islands, Penikese has perhaps the most colorful and interesting history dating to 1602 when, along with neighboring Cuttyhunk Island, it was first visited by British explorer Bartholomew Gosnold. In 1873, Penikese was the location of Louis Agassiz’s Anderson School of Natural History. Although the Anderson School lasted only two years, it was the forerunner to Woods Hole’s Marine Biological Laboratory, established in 1888. From 1906 to 1922, Penikese was the location of the region’s only leper colony.
Today, at 30 years and going strong, Penikese is the longest-running modern day operation on Penikese Island and growing in its own historical significance.
Mission: The goal of the Penikese Island School is to prepare troubled boys ages 15 to 18 to succeed outside of restricted settings, in the “real world”, as law-abiding and productive members of society. Penikese seeks to foster long-term internal change in its students rather than imposing superficial and often temporary behavioral conformity.
Location: Penikese Island is located one mile north of Cuttyhunk Island at the end of the Elizabeth Island chain, about 12 miles southwest of Woods Hole and 8 miles south of New Bedford. Penikese’s administrative offices are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Our address is 565 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543. Driving directions can be obtained by calling the office at 508-548-7276, or toll-free at 800-828-7677.
Enrollment: Penikese enrollment is self-limited to 9 students. Since Penikese operates year-round, there are typically 7-9 boys and 4-5 staff living on the island at any one time. Penikese staff live, work, and play on Penikese family-style with their students for up to a week at a time. The average length of placement is 9-10 months.
Program goals: Penikese’s goal is to teach its students to learn to live their lives less criminally and violently to whatever degree possible, thus helping boys to function that much more safely in society, and who will cost that much less to society. This holds true even for those who will always lead at least somewhat troubled lives.
Penikese is a School: Penikese students attend school six days a week in a one-room school house, instructed by certified teachers from a curriculum emphasizing math, reading, and writing. Students earn academic credit just as they would in any school. Students perform daily chores, and are taught vocational skills in a professionally outfitted shop. Penikese features a strong reading program; many boys graduate having read their first books ever cover to cover. By graduation, some students have increased their grade standing by as much as two years per subject. Penikese does not, however, confer high school diplomas itself.
Measuring Success: Of Penikese's graduates from the last 5 years, about 40% have been re-arrested during their first 12-24 months after graduation. Of these, most were arrested for committing less serious offenses than than they had before treatment. Similarly, about 30% of Penikese graduates have been re-incarcerated for one length of time or another (from briefly held over pending a hearing to serving out a sentence), but of those that were, many were surrendered for technical violations (missing a probationary meeting, urine testing positive for substances) or for committing less serious offenses than before treatment (a property crime instead of a crime against a person). Less than 10% of Penikese's recent graduates are currently in jail serving sentences, and overall, very few Penikese graduates have gone on to commit new, more serious crimes.
Penikese financials: It costs about $60,000 in tuition to send a boy to Penikese for the average nine-month stay (compared to $30,000 to $45,000 per year for jail). Penikese's budget is about $1.25 million per year, of which tuition covers 55-60%. Penikese must fund raise the rest from private and organizational donors and foundations.