Six middle school boys are scheduled to move into a Secret Harbor group home on South Fidalgo Island in early August as the program completes its move to staffed residential homes for behavior-challenged students.

A neighborhood open house will be held in late July before the home is opened at 6076 Highway 20.

The school plans to leave its Cypress Island facility in the fall.

Brian Carroll, Secret Harbor president and CEO, said the renovation to add two bedrooms is done and the home had its licensing visit June 25.

“It’s all on schedule and going very well,” he said.

Secret Harbor leaders decided to change the program’s focus and house students in staffed residential homes. There will be a maximum of six boys in a home.

The Fidalgo Island home is one of four in the county. Secret Harbor purchased the house at 6076 Highway 20 for $459,000 in November 2007.

A Burlington home opened in early March. Two more homes in Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley are also scheduled to open in early August, but there are problems in Sedro-Woolley.

Carroll said opening the next three homes simultaneously is really the only way they can do it with staffing.

“It’s going to be a very hectic and chaotic time but we’re gearing up for it,” he said. “It’s a busy time for us.”

Staff started meeting in late June for scheduling and to get acquainted, Carroll said.

Staff are also working with the Anacortes School District to prepare for the incoming students. Carroll said they plan to provide staff to support the middle school.

“We’ve been working with the Anacortes School District gearing up for the school programming,” he said.

Maggie Thompson, district director of special programs, said the school is ready to accommodate the boys.

“We’ve rearranged some of our middle school special education programs to accommodate the students. We have a self-contained environment when it is needed and we have staff that is trained to work with them,” she said.

Thompson said they hope to integrate the boys into general education as much as possible and help them fit in at the middle school.

“We feel we are capable of offering them the services they need and we want them to have a successful experience here,” she said.

Secret Harbor has a program model that includes staff who will support the boys as they progress toward living in foster care, with their family or independently.

Secret Harbor’s residential facility on Cypress Island has served about 25 middle school- and high school-age boys who were abused and neglected and often grapple with mental illness or substance abuse.

Some neighbors of the new Fidalgo Island home are leery about having the boys move in.

“The community at large is very concerned,” said Dave Putnam, who said his kitchen overlooks the Secret Harbor home’s backyard. “These are problem kids. I didn’t work all my life to come here and retire and have problems.”

He said the neighborhood used to be rural but not anymore. He said they understand what Secret Harbor is trying to do, it just doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood.

Some neighbors are frustrated because they don’t believe the home fits the zoning and they say there was no community involvement during the process.

“We just don’t like the way it’s been handled. It’s a long stretch to fit the description with what is intended to go in here,” Putnam said. “The idea of it sliding in without the community being involved in any way, shape or manner rubs us the wrong way.”

According to information from the county Planning and Department Services, the Secret Harbor home qualifies as a family for zoning and building code purposes. That means the boys and staff can be in single-family homes. No special permitting or public meetings are required.

The county code defines a family as including two or more people who are related by blood, marriage or court-approved process. The department “feels the residents of these homes fit within the definition of family because they are placed in the facility as part of a state-regulated process.”

Tim DeVries, county commercial plans examiner, said the county researched state Supreme Court cases to make the determination.

“The courts of the state rule in favor of not discrimnating against a group,” he said.

Carroll said Secret Harbor provided information for a community meeting of Dewey Beach residents.

“They were glad we were going to have an open house,” he said.

Neighbors near the Burlington home were also concerned about that facility, which opened in early March.

Carroll said there have been no problems at the home and he is happy with how things are working.

“It’s going very, very well,” he said. “All the changes we’ve implemented have gone smoothly.”

Eight Burlington property owners attended an open house before the home opened.

“I think the biggest thing that helps is when folks actually see the facility and talk to us and know the kids are under our supervision at all times,” Carroll said.

The Mount Vernon home, on McLean Road, is being remodeled now.

A Sedro-Woolley hearing examiner recently denied Secret Harbor’s conditional use permit application for its final home in the city of Sedro-Woolley. The decision can be appealed.

The change to residential homes came after several unsuccessful attempts to site and construct a residential campus similar to the Cypress Island model on 36 acres of land east of Bellingham in Whatcom County.

After Secret Harbor leaves the Cypress Island property in the fall, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources plans to demolish the structures and restore the site to its natural state. DNR added 135 acres to the existing state-owned conservation areas on the island with the purchase of land from Secret Harbor.

The Anacortes School District has overseen instruction at Secret Harbor since 1989.