Benedictine celebrating 50 years

By ABBY ANDREWS Staff Writer
Courtesy of Star Democrat, Easton, Maryland
Published: Sunday, November 22, 2009 4:38 AM CST

Left: At Spring Benefit 2009, Sister Jeannette Murray, director of Benedictine, displays a gift from keynote speaker Dr. Timothy P. Shriver. The T-shirt promotes a movement, supported by Special Olympics International, to stop derogatory use of the word "retarded." RIDGELY The Benedictine School in Ridgely is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, looking back at its beginnings as a school for privileged girls and ahead to its current mission of providing education and work opportunities for developmentally disabled children and adults. "Every child with special needs has a mission, and I have a moral obligation to make sure the obstacles are removed for each child to carry out that mission," said Sister Jeannette Murray, 84, executive director and one of the four founding sisters. The school sits on 500 acres of farmland outside Ridgely. Youth ages 5 to 21 receive individualized education, and many of them live in dormitories on the campus.

After graduation, some adults may be placed in one of Benedictine School's 27 group homes throughout Maryland and Delaware, where they live independently and hold jobs in the local area. Some work for local businesses, while others work in vocational programs on the school campus. Altogether, the school serves about 180 children and adults.

Murray said she joined the Benedictine Sisters in 1946, and in 1958, she was the principal of a school for inner city children in New Jersey. At that time, what would become the Benedictine School was known as St. Gertrude's Academy, a private school for girls. One of the sisters serving at the academy, Sister Augustine, noticed some of the students had mild disabilities, and got the idea to redirect the school to specialize in special needs children.

When Murray came to Ridgely for the holiday season, she said, Augustine was sad because no one had volunteered to serve at a school for special needs children.

"I didn't think anyone should be so sad at Christmas, so I volunteered," Murray said.

In June 1959, Murray thought she would be attending Seton Hall University in the fall to earn a master's degree in history. Instead, the superior sent Murray to Boston to observe a special needs school to prepare her to serve at the new Benedictine School.

That fall, the first class had only six students, including one boy, the first to be accepted at the school, after his father, a plumber, converted a music room into a boys' bathroom. Murray was assigned to teaching children with Down syndrome.

"It was very hard, and I told the superior I couldn't do the work," Murray said. She was sent to a school in Rehoboth Beach, Del. for two weeks to reconsider.

"When I came back (to the Benedictine School), all those feelings were gone," Murray said.

Murray is the only remaining founding sister. The other three had to leave for health reasons. But Murray, who was at first so reluctant to teach developmentally disabled children for fear she was doing more harm than good, has been at the school all 50 years of its existence and served as executive director for the last 47. And instead of living in the convent, she has her own room in a dorm with the students.

"It was not my dream at the beginning, but it was a dream I fell in love with," Murray said.

Throughout the years, Murray has been instrumental in expanding the school. In the early 1960s, the original German Gothic building that housed St. Gertrude's Academy was condemned, along with a couple of other buildings on the campus.

Murray got over her fear of public speaking to visit churches in the Wilmington Diocese asking for donations for new buildings, recalling how all she wanted was to have a heart attack before one speech. The building fund campaigns proved so successful, all of the buildings are fully paid for today.

As the campus grew, so did the number of students and the range of disabilities the educators were prepared to address.

"When this school first opened, we took kids with mild disabilities," said Barry Smale, director of the Benedictine Foundation. "We now take kids who would have been shut away in institutions many years ago."

Parents of students with disabilities work with local school jurisdictions to find a suitable school, if the local jurisdiction is not equipped to teach that child. The students at the Benedictine School range from local kids who live at home to kids who come from all over the country, or, in some cases, from other countries, and live on campus in semi-private rooms.

The teachers at the school use techniques tailored to each child's needs to teach them reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as life skills like washing laundry and preparing food.

Murray was a key player in the development of the school's vocational programs.

The first one, founded 26 years ago, was a cleaning service called the Busy Bees. At first, the Busy Bees cleaned only on-campus buildings. Murray was one of the sisters who trained and worked alongside the students on the cleaning crew.

One day, the sisters drove a van with the Busy Bees' logo on the side to a bank in town. A business owner asked about hiring the crew.

At night, when the rest of the sisters were asleep, Murray would load up the van and head into town to clean the business' office building.

Soon, the crew's reputation started spreading and it got so much work the student workers received salaries. Today, the crew has five vans on the road, and many of the adults living in the group homes work for the Busy Bees.

"I always felt they belonged in the community," Murray said. "Our goals here are gainful employment and a wise use of leisure time."

Other vocational programs soon followed, including a commercial greenhouse, a graphics and printing center that prints logos on apparel and promotional items for many local organizations and sports teams, and a laundry room that handles the laundry for the entire campus.

"The local businesses have been very supportive, and our kids are treated with a lot of respect," Murray said.

The group home program was a struggle to establish, Murray said. Many people did not like the idea of having developmentally disabled adults for neighbors, and voiced their concerns at town meetings attended by the sisters.

The first home was built on General's Highway in Annapolis. Three young men live there today, all gainfully employed in the laundry room at the U.S. Naval Academy.

All of the homes are built to look like any other in the neighborhood, and up until a few years ago, Murray personally oversaw the design, construction and furnishing of each home.

Murray said she has one more big task to establish a senior care center for her aging students, which would achieve her goal of providing care to developmentally disabled people throughout their entire lives.

"When that's built, I will accept the fact that my work is done," Murray said.

Despite her vision and influence, Murray believes the Benedictine School is what it is today due to the students and their families, as well as the community members who donate money.

"The Benedictine School is going to be a legacy for the common ordinary family, because they made it all possible," Murray said.

For more information about the Benedictine School, visit www.ben school.org or call 410-634-2112.

Copyright © 2009 - The Star-Democrat

About Benedictine Programs and Services

Located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Benedictine Programs and Services is a nationally recognized, accredited and cost-effective educational living and learning environment for children and adults with special needs.  The Benedictine School, established in 1959 and managed by the Sisters of St. Benedict, is a fully approved, non-sectarian school for 95 children, ages 5 through 21, with intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities and autism.  The Benedictine Open Community Program serves adults ages 22 - 60+, offering community-based group-home living and vocational training. The Benedictine Foundation secures the financial resources needed to ensure the future of Benedictine’s programs, services and other activities.

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