By Mr. David Wallace, Executive Director
A new graduate of LaSalle School receives his diploma from Mrs. Jon Healy, RN, Board chair, as Mr. David Wallace, Executive Director of the school, waits to shake his hand.
LaSalle School, Albany, is celebrating 170 years as an agent of healing for youth! We have come a long way from our humble beginnings as an orphanage in 1854. As one of the six unique ministries in this District known as the Lasallian Association for Youth and Family Services (LAYFS), LaSalle School has evolved to provide specialized educational and therapeutic programming for youth with complex needs. What hasn’t changed in 170 years is that it still takes a community of dedicated Lasallians to care for kids, who without us, might never reach their full potential.
Youth development and nursing staff in our Residential Treatment Program (RTP) provide around-the-clock support to residents. Youth enrolled in RTP come from across New York in need of specialized care for any combination of issues such as complex trauma, medical/mental illness, intellectual/developmental delays, and delinquency.
The Juvenile Reporting and Family Center (JRFC) team provides after-school recreational and vocational support to Albany youth as an alternative to detention. Successes in this program have led the NYS Office of Child and Family Services to use the JRFC as an aftercare option for youth returning from incarceration, to ensure safe and successful reunification with family and community.
Faculty in our Day Educational program provide departmentalized, special education (grades 6–12) for residential youth and for an additional twenty-four day students bused from districts within a one-hour radius.
With concern for refugee children becoming lost in the system, LaSalle opened a federally funded program, the “Brothers House,” to provide temporary shelter and family reunification to refugee boys. Since opening in June 2023, staff have already reunited over 150 youth with their families, already residing in the U.S.
Off campus, social workers and case managers in the Counseling Center at LaSalle (CCL), provide behavioral healthser vices to over 200 youth daily. The CCL is the only behavioral health clinic in the Capital District dually licensed by the NYS Office of Mental Health and Office of Addiction Services and Supports to specialize in the care of youth and families. Recently, LaSalle also created the Ulster County School Support Team, an innovative new program designed to address the effects of trauma, increase school engagement, and bolster mental health resources for youth in the county’s nine school districts.
LaSalle School students experience fun, growth, and teamwork during summer excursions.
