The residential youth facility will continue to provide services for males 13 and older
By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald
Kirkland Institute, which has been in operation in Harney County since 1992 under the direction of Craig and Donna Smith, now has new ownership and a new name.
Dawna Sue Nyman and Craig LaFollette are the new owners of the facility, which is now Eastern Oregon Academy.
The academy is a 24-hour residential youth facility that provides a Behavioral Rehabilitation Services program for males ages 13 and older. The youths who reside at the academy are referred by both the Oregon Department of Human Services and the Oregon Youth Authority.
The academy’s Executive Director, Rich Streeter, said the young men who arrive at the academy do so for a variety of reasons. “It may be for adjudicated crimes, such as vandalism and lower end assaults, or maybe they’ve been through multiple foster care treatments,” Streeter said. “Some of them have no records though. They may be runaways, have a history of substance abuse, were victims of fetal alcohol syndrome or born with drugs in their system — ‘drug babies,’ if you will.”
Both LaFollette and Streeter said there are no sex offenders currently residing at the academy.
The facility is housing 13 youths at this time, and is licensed to house 23 youths. “We’d like to get that up to 15 kids now, and eventually back up to 23 kids,” LaFollette said.
The average length of stay for a student is 14 to 18 months, but the staff at the academy would like to see that drop to 12 months.
During the academic year, the youths are transported to Steens Mountain Academy on East Washington, which was included in the purchase, for school classes. They also undergo counseling, and attend programs aimed at improving relationships, social skills and emotional building.
Joining the owners and Streeter on the the administrative staff are Program Manager Justin Boone and Chief Counselor Sarah Fisher. The academy has a total of 27 employees, making it one of the larger in the community at this time.
“Being one of the larger employers, we want to have a good partnership with the community,” LaFollette said. “We can provide jobs. We buy all our groceries here, visit the local doctors and dentists, and have a working relationship with Harney Behavioral Health. All that has an economical impact on our community.”
LaFollette added they plan to be more visual in the community by supporting different events, having people volunteer to help at the facility and partnering with different agencies. As an example, LaFollette said the Forest Service is providing wood for the kids to build bat boxes.
Streeter agreed that partnering with different groups could benefit everyone. “As a group, we could identify needs of the community and how these kids could help out,” he said. “The experience would help the kids with social skills, while getting a project done. These are decent kids who have made some mistakes.”
LaFollette stated that he and Nyman are excited about their new endeavor, and are looking forward to continuing their work with the youths. “It gives us a chance to make a daily impact on these kids’ lives. Not every job does that,” he said.
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July 29th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I am so pleased to see that Kirkland is gone and a new start is beginning! These boys need a POSITIVE enviroment..Kirkland was not. As an ex-employee I am glad there is a change and hopefully it can be a reputation of goodness and not of harm. It is sad when kids would rather be at any other facility than be at Kirkland..it should have been shut down 10 yrs ago.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I worked at Kirkland for a number of years. Craig and Donna used those kids as financial gain and never really seemed to care all that much for the children themselves. It was a sad, VERY sad situation. I don’t know how it survived, i was fired when I started bringing certain situations to light. I have been out of Burns for a number of years but i am SO GLAD Kirkland is GONE.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I am the mother of a current resident and having visited for the first time on Halloween, all I can is that I feel very confident that my son is being taken care of. I was hesitant at first, but working with the staff and even the director, my questions have been answered and my concerns were addressed. I hope that this program is able to serve many more youth in the future and that their successes would help turn these boys’ lives around.
November 7th, 2010 at 5:35 am
I was one of kirkland’s first residents. And i lived at the “facility” when it was in the former hospital and when it moved to the mill. Donna and Craig Smith are scumbags. After Kirkland I went to maclerin and i can tell you that Hillcrest did nothing but damage to anyone who was there in the early years of its existance. I saw the whole crew who was at kirkland locked up later in life. No one left that place in a better situation than when they arrived.
December 17th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
i think this place is a good place for kids cause i went there not to long ago i didnt grad. but i left home cause i stayed out of trouble enough and long enough to have them to throw me out and “say buy have a good life” so any one who wants to critisize about the place dont cause i have only had 2 outbrakes of anger and that was 8 months ago i left.
February 24th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
My husband and I also worked at Kirkland for a number and years and did all we could to make positive changes to the facility, but we too had to deal with Craig and Donna Smith. Dan was finally let go when he went head to head with them about issues at Kirkland. When we took the position at Kirkland the Smith’s had promised the sun and moon to get us there and it all turned out to be lies. Oh, well. Hi to all we worked with and to the young men who we worked for.
April 13th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
it is not that bad
April 21st, 2011 at 8:39 am
I was an old resident there and it really helped me out a lot and influenced me to do good.
April 21st, 2011 at 8:40 am
I am an old resident there and it really helped me and influenced me to do good.
February 5th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
i just want to say kirkland institute changed my life in so many ways.i remember craig and donna and everyone there i was there for mistakes i made and ican honestly say i miss a everyone so much
April 30th, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Eastern Oregon Acadamy was a very helpful program it has helped me acomplish things in life i was unable to do in the past. thank you Craig, Donna Sue, and Rich
May 1st, 2012 at 2:09 pm
“You don’t want to [deleted] Tom off”…”You know what happens if you [deleted] Tom off”…”You end up in BIGBOY JAIL – CRYING!!!! This is staff member TOM;s Motto!