North River Collaborative Head Custodian Chris Poh stands in a classroom at the Rockland-based school. (Photo courtesy Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives)
In 2007, Bridgewater eighth grader Chris Poh, 14, was caught bringing a knife to school.
His subsequent discipline and removal from school could have put his educational success and prospects in serious jeopardy.
However, through what he learned at the North River Collaborative (NRC) in the years following, the incident launched a new beginning and provided him with the vital tools he has used throughout his life to control the temper and anger issues he has dealt with since he was young.
“I was angry all the time,” Poh, now 33 recalled during a recent interview at the school. “Constant outbursts and temper tantrums, you know, childish stuff.”
While trying to fit in at his old school, one day he brought a rusted antique World War II-era folding knife to school. He had no plans to use it. He didn’t threaten anyone. But he did show it off to other students and it was quickly reported to school officials.
The knife discovery wasn’t his first disciplinary scrape. He had been acting out, throwing tantrums, having difficulty with executive functioning and being unable to control a burning rage he felt building inside.
As a result, Poh was enrolled at the Rockland-based North River School, a program run by the North River Collaborative, which specializes in helping students with behavioral issues.
Fourteen years after graduating from the NRC, Poh is now the head custodian of his alma mater, a job he is truly proud of and passionate about. Every day he gets to maintain and care for the school that gave so much to him at such a crucial crossroad in his young life.
A History of Helping
The North River Collaborative is a multi-purpose educational organization formed in 1976 to serve as an extension of local school districts in southeastern Massachusetts. The school uses an embedded therapeutic approach throughout the day to help students proactively and reactively process academic, social and behavioral situations.
Students are given alternative strategies to utilize rather than engaging in behaviors that would impact their learning or future success. The school has a staff-to-student ratio overall of about 1:2, which allows for vital individualized clinical and academic support for students.
“Students who attend our school have mental health challenges that have prevented them from being able to access education in their mainstream public school setting,” said NRC Executive Director Paul Tzovolos. “Most of our students have average to high average cognitive and academic skills but may have developed gaps in their education due to periods of crisis or absence from school. Many of our students are also involved with state agencies such as the Department of Children and Families or the Department of Mental Health or have experienced hospitalizations due to mental health crises.”
The school’s primary goal is to assist students in developing behavioral, social-emotional and academic skills, with the eventual aim of returning to their hometown school districts. Students receive academic credits toward graduation from their home school districts by completing the North River School’s course of studies.
The NRC serves 12 towns including two regional school districts in Plymouth County — Abington, Avon, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional, East Bridgewater, Hanover, Holbrook, Rockland, Stoughton, West Bridgewater and Whitman-Hanson Regional.
Instead of Punishment, Parkour
During the normal course of a school day, if a student acts out, rather than traditional disciplinary measures, school staff may offer an alternative like hands-on activities and athletics to divert attention and focus their energy.
The school also offers a unique classroom known as the innovation laboratory, where students can use screen printing to design posters or clothing, engage in Lego and robotic-type activities and operate 3D printers.
“We offer several digital creative outlets. The innovation lab is our purest exploratory space for our students — it’s a great outlet for students,” Executive Director Tzovolos said. “We also definitely use sports — especially basketball. I’ve been known to mix it up a bit on the court.”
While team sports didn’t interest Poh, school staff encouraged his passion for parkour, an emerging sport in which practitioners jump, climb and balance their way from one obstacle to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, relying solely on one’s strength and personal athleticism.
“I did a lot of parkour at North River,” Poh said. “It was a good outlet for me. And the school helped me pursue it. My relationship with them was so good that they would let me practice in the gym. That was one of my primary outlets.”
Relationship-Driven Education
Above all else, Poh valued the close relationship he forged with his counselor Matt Morse.
“He and I developed a pretty good relationship. Whenever I felt like I needed to leave class, he would let me stay in his office. He could relate to me on the ground level, and he offered a lot of applicable wisdom. If taken properly, that can really put a kid on a trajectory for success,” Poh said. “They really do bring in people who care about the kids. I felt like all the people working here had a real genuine nature. I felt that every day I went to school.”
Executive Director Tzovolos credits the North River School’s tirelessly committed staff and overall therapeutic milieu for success stories like Poh’s. The school also aims to help students develop a vision for themselves in the future.
“We let them know they do have a chance at a productive and successful lifestyle after they graduate,” he said. “We work to get them out into the community to do some vocational exploration. Sometimes our students get linked up with local tradespeople who can provide guidance about potential career opportunities.”
Poh participated in as many hands-on programs as he could while at North River, including the culinary program, the small engine program and the graphic arts program.
Locking Up at Night
After he graduated from the North River School in 2011, Poh went on to join the U.S. Army National Guard. He served for several years, eventually earning the rank of E-4 Specialist.
Following his discharge from the Guard, he returned to the NRC as an assistant custodian where he learned under longtime head custodian George Terrill, who recently passed away after an extended illness.
The loss of his mentor weighed heavily on Poh. But thanks to the skills he has developed, he has been able to keep things in perspective and carry on Terrill’s legacy at the school as the head custodian.
“I still struggle with a set of issues that are just part of my character,” Poh said. “But now I’ve learned to control the emotions that I feel. I’m more than the emotions I feel. I’m more than the doubt that I feel. The educators here helped me find a wedge that I can use to separate my feelings from my actions.”
Poh is convinced he was destined for tragedy had he not found the North River School.
“Sometimes it still blows my mind,” Poh said. “I was just a little student here and now, I’m locking the building up at night. I’m so grateful to this school and its staff for all the relationships I’ve built. I truly feel that God placed North River in front of me as an option. This was not my last chance, but it was my best chance.”
Celebrating 50 Years of Special Education
In 2025, the Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives (MOEC) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of special education with a series of feature stories that will help to tell the untold stories of collaboratives to help educate the public about what collaboratives do and how they have evolved to serve the needs of our most vulnerable students over the past five decades.
In 1975, Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) to ensure that all children with disabilities have access to a free and appropriate public education. Congress changed the name of the law to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in a 1990 reauthorization — and IDEA was again reauthorized in 2004.
MOEC is the professional organization representing the Commonwealth’s educational collaboratives. Massachusetts Collaboratives are a statewide network of educational service agencies that work together with school districts and schools to implement direct educational services and programs to students and adults, develop programs and services to enhance school districts’ operating efficiency, and provide high-quality professional development and technical assistance.
Chris Poh, left, and North River Collaborative Executive Director Paul Tzovolos recently discussed the programs offered at the school that helped him turn his life around. (Photo courtesy Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives)
After graduating from the North River School, Chris Poh served in the U.S. Army National, eventually earning the rank of E-4 Specialist. This photo was taken in July 2014 at Hilton Field, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. (Photo courtesy Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives)
Chris Poh graduated from the North River School in 2011. (Photo courtesy Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives)