The Seacliff School
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:33 am
The following is common knowledge about the Seacliff School. It is either official information, or else rumours that are so widely known and easily confirmed that there are no longer any attempts at concealing them.
The Seacliff School was founded in 1962 as a charitable project of the Browne and Wasser Corporation of New England. The Corporation’s CEO, Bradford Hastings, was the father of a mutant child who required special care. A kindly man by nature, he wanted to help not only his own son, but others like him. Thus the school was born. Like Saint Joseph’s, the Seacliff School’s primary purpose was to create an environment where mutant or otherwise unique children could learn to safely cope with their conditions and abilities, with the eventual goal of living lives as normally as possible.
The campus was built on a beautiful stretch of seafront property near the town of Conner’s Bay, Massachusetts. No expense was spared, such that all necessary facilities and amenities were available on the school grounds. This allowed the staff and students to maintain a low profile, and many of the nearby citizens remained unaware of the school’s special nature for years.
Conditions at the school began to decline in the early nineties. Browne and Wasser was facing bankruptcy, resulting in annual cuts to the school’s budget. Bradford Hastings had passed away in 1987, and the corporation had passed into other, less charitable hands. David Hastings, the boy for whom the school had been founded, now better known as the hero Thundertrap, remained on the school’s board of governors. It was mainly due to his hard work and influence that enough donations came in to maintain operations.
The budget cuts meant a number of the school’s non-essential facilities had to be shut down, primarily those intended for recreation. With less to occupy them on campus, the students began to look elsewhere for entertainment. Incidents of students wandering into Conner’s Bay began to increase. Since it was impossible for many of these students to hide their conditions, the nature of the school soon became apparent to even the most unobservant among the local populace.
By the year 2000, conditions had become dangerous. Incidents of delinquency among the largely unsupervised Seacliff students were increasingly common. These included everything from rowdy behaviour, to petty theft, to fights with local teenagers. Each incident brought with it a new wave of complaints from local residents about the presence of a “Freak School” in their community. Some of the locals were simply afraid, while others were actively prejudiced against mutants. The atmosphere around Conner’s Bay became tense and hostile. Students began to travel in packs for protection. The presence of “mutant gangs roaming our streets” made the locals even more nervous.
Rock bottom came in 2002 with the Rikti invasion. Browne and Wasser, already in deep financial straits, lost most of their assets in the war’s opening stages. Bankruptcy was the only option. This left the Seacliff School without an underwriter. It also made it an unwanted financial burden and political time-bomb for the state of Massachusetts.
That’s when the Crey Corporation stepped in with an offer to take over management of the school. This offer included the assumption of all the school’s accumulated debts, and a promise of significant investment in infrastructure and security. They also mollified the residents and town council of Connor’s Bay with a generous donation to its own public schools. In return, the Corporation acquired all Seacliff property, a series of tax exemptions, and a free hand to run things as they saw fit.
Crey lived up to its promises by pouring money into the school. Within months, all the previously closed facilities were re-opened, major renovations were begun on the dormitories and administrative buildings, and construction initiated on a new state-of-the-art athletic centre. Security around the campus was tightened to appease the locals, but students were mainly kept on campus through the introduction of new clubs and organized recreational activities.
Crey’s efforts didn’t end with bricks and mortar. New staff were brought in, including several former heroes to teach power-related classes. The curriculum was revamped and updated with a greater emphasis on practical applications. Finally, a recruiting effort was instituted which nearly doubled the student population, largely through the awarding of scholarships.
For almost five years, the school ran like a model of efficiency under Crey’s management. While the local populace remained wary of the school’s presence, the new security measures were largely successful in preventing problem situations. Such a positive turnaround could have been used as PR for the Corporation, but the administration chose to keep the school low-profile in the interest of protecting the students’ privacy.
The bubble burst in early 2007 when Physics teacher Ellen Girardi was revealed to be none other than the super-villainess known as Photeris. When a team from Hero Corps arrived at the school to take her into custody, a running battle ensued that eventually ended up costing the lives of three Conner’s Bay residents. Photeris managed to escape, taking with her four students who had fallen under her influence. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
The Photeris incident re-awoke all the old fears held by the local community. Calls for the school to be closed were once again heard in Town Council meetings. Crey put their PR machine to work on the situation, but it was difficult to combat the memories of three well attended funerals. Conner’s Bay was a small town, and almost everyone knew one of the victims.
The Seacliff School’s fate was sealed a few months later when half of the main dormitory collapsed and fell into the ocean. Two students and a maintenance worker were killed in the collapse and six more were injured by falling rubble in the part of the building left standing. There are no end of rumours about this event, ranging from the return of Photeris seeking revenge, to another teacher or student being revealed as a villain, to the ludicrous idea that a student lost control of his powers after being pushed too hard.
Whatever the incident’s cause, it spelled the end of Seacliff. Facing mounting pressure from frightened citizens, the Town Council refused to approve the necessary building permits for proper reconstruction of the dormitory. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Crey Corporation made the hard decision to close the school’s doors for good. As a final gesture of goodwill, a team was organized to find placements for each of the school’s 320 students. Many of these students ended up at the Saint Joseph’s School in Paragon City, Rhode Island.
The Seacliff School was founded in 1962 as a charitable project of the Browne and Wasser Corporation of New England. The Corporation’s CEO, Bradford Hastings, was the father of a mutant child who required special care. A kindly man by nature, he wanted to help not only his own son, but others like him. Thus the school was born. Like Saint Joseph’s, the Seacliff School’s primary purpose was to create an environment where mutant or otherwise unique children could learn to safely cope with their conditions and abilities, with the eventual goal of living lives as normally as possible.
The campus was built on a beautiful stretch of seafront property near the town of Conner’s Bay, Massachusetts. No expense was spared, such that all necessary facilities and amenities were available on the school grounds. This allowed the staff and students to maintain a low profile, and many of the nearby citizens remained unaware of the school’s special nature for years.
Conditions at the school began to decline in the early nineties. Browne and Wasser was facing bankruptcy, resulting in annual cuts to the school’s budget. Bradford Hastings had passed away in 1987, and the corporation had passed into other, less charitable hands. David Hastings, the boy for whom the school had been founded, now better known as the hero Thundertrap, remained on the school’s board of governors. It was mainly due to his hard work and influence that enough donations came in to maintain operations.
The budget cuts meant a number of the school’s non-essential facilities had to be shut down, primarily those intended for recreation. With less to occupy them on campus, the students began to look elsewhere for entertainment. Incidents of students wandering into Conner’s Bay began to increase. Since it was impossible for many of these students to hide their conditions, the nature of the school soon became apparent to even the most unobservant among the local populace.
By the year 2000, conditions had become dangerous. Incidents of delinquency among the largely unsupervised Seacliff students were increasingly common. These included everything from rowdy behaviour, to petty theft, to fights with local teenagers. Each incident brought with it a new wave of complaints from local residents about the presence of a “Freak School” in their community. Some of the locals were simply afraid, while others were actively prejudiced against mutants. The atmosphere around Conner’s Bay became tense and hostile. Students began to travel in packs for protection. The presence of “mutant gangs roaming our streets” made the locals even more nervous.
Rock bottom came in 2002 with the Rikti invasion. Browne and Wasser, already in deep financial straits, lost most of their assets in the war’s opening stages. Bankruptcy was the only option. This left the Seacliff School without an underwriter. It also made it an unwanted financial burden and political time-bomb for the state of Massachusetts.
That’s when the Crey Corporation stepped in with an offer to take over management of the school. This offer included the assumption of all the school’s accumulated debts, and a promise of significant investment in infrastructure and security. They also mollified the residents and town council of Connor’s Bay with a generous donation to its own public schools. In return, the Corporation acquired all Seacliff property, a series of tax exemptions, and a free hand to run things as they saw fit.
Crey lived up to its promises by pouring money into the school. Within months, all the previously closed facilities were re-opened, major renovations were begun on the dormitories and administrative buildings, and construction initiated on a new state-of-the-art athletic centre. Security around the campus was tightened to appease the locals, but students were mainly kept on campus through the introduction of new clubs and organized recreational activities.
Crey’s efforts didn’t end with bricks and mortar. New staff were brought in, including several former heroes to teach power-related classes. The curriculum was revamped and updated with a greater emphasis on practical applications. Finally, a recruiting effort was instituted which nearly doubled the student population, largely through the awarding of scholarships.
For almost five years, the school ran like a model of efficiency under Crey’s management. While the local populace remained wary of the school’s presence, the new security measures were largely successful in preventing problem situations. Such a positive turnaround could have been used as PR for the Corporation, but the administration chose to keep the school low-profile in the interest of protecting the students’ privacy.
The bubble burst in early 2007 when Physics teacher Ellen Girardi was revealed to be none other than the super-villainess known as Photeris. When a team from Hero Corps arrived at the school to take her into custody, a running battle ensued that eventually ended up costing the lives of three Conner’s Bay residents. Photeris managed to escape, taking with her four students who had fallen under her influence. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
The Photeris incident re-awoke all the old fears held by the local community. Calls for the school to be closed were once again heard in Town Council meetings. Crey put their PR machine to work on the situation, but it was difficult to combat the memories of three well attended funerals. Conner’s Bay was a small town, and almost everyone knew one of the victims.
The Seacliff School’s fate was sealed a few months later when half of the main dormitory collapsed and fell into the ocean. Two students and a maintenance worker were killed in the collapse and six more were injured by falling rubble in the part of the building left standing. There are no end of rumours about this event, ranging from the return of Photeris seeking revenge, to another teacher or student being revealed as a villain, to the ludicrous idea that a student lost control of his powers after being pushed too hard.
Whatever the incident’s cause, it spelled the end of Seacliff. Facing mounting pressure from frightened citizens, the Town Council refused to approve the necessary building permits for proper reconstruction of the dormitory. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Crey Corporation made the hard decision to close the school’s doors for good. As a final gesture of goodwill, a team was organized to find placements for each of the school’s 320 students. Many of these students ended up at the Saint Joseph’s School in Paragon City, Rhode Island.