Sheppard Pratt Health Systems expands in Montgomery County

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 17, 2003 by Patrice Dickens

Sheppard Pratt Health System officials said they have acquired the Frost School, a Montgomery County special education school for students with emotional disabilities, and plan to open another school in Southern Maryland in April.

The Frost deal was finalized on Feb. 28 but was announced Friday.

The acquisition of Frost makes this the second school for students with emotional disabilities that Towson-based Sheppard Pratt, the state's largest provider of mental health and special education services, will operate in the county. There are about 65 students at the Frost School.

Furthermore, unlike the Lodge School -- Sheppard Pratt's first school in Montgomery County -- which only offers services to middle and high school children, Frost will serve elementary through high school children, said Bonnie Katz, vice president for corporate business development at Sheppard Pratt.

"Montgomery County is a strategic area for us," Katz said.

She refused to give specific information on how schools in Montgomery County are doing in comparison to schools in other counties, but emphasized that all the schools are doing well.

Sheppard Pratt operates schools similar to Frost and Lodge in Baltimore, Frederick and Prince George's Counties.

The Lodge School is located in the Family Services Agency Inc. facility in Gaithersburg.

Family Services Agency, a subsidiary of the Sheppard Pratt Foundation, operates Montgomery House, a housing and rehabilitation program for the mentally disabled as well as a Head Start program and a healthy families program for at risk mothers.

The mental health organization even has plans to open a therapeutic preschool for children ages 2 through 4 in Calvert County in April.

The company had responded to a request for proposal from the three Southern Maryland counties -- St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert -- to operate a therapeutic program for preschoolers with developmental and behavioral problems.

Financial terms of the Frost transaction were not released. However, Katz said Pratt acquired Frost's staff of 35, in addition to Frost's "program, expertise and reputation."

Katz said a blending of synergies, and the fact that both companies seem to have things in common, motivated the acquisition.

Frost's four founders were thinking of an organization that would carry on their work after they retire, Katz said.

"We are delighted to be part of the Sheppard Pratt family, as we know they share our philosophy regarding the value of a therapeutic community in the special education setting," said Sean McLaughlin, Frost School director and one of the school's four founders in a prepared statement.

"As the founders of the school, we wanted to be certain that the program we have built will continue as part of a larger organization with like-minded values."