Parents Outraged Over School 'Scream Rooms' At Farm Hill Elementary School In Connecticut (VIDEO)

Parents in Middletown, Conn., are protesting the use of what they're calling "scream rooms" by Farm Hill Elementary School as a way of disciplining misbehaving students, NBC Connecticut reports.

According to NBC, school staff have been putting children, including students with special needs, in what the district officially refers to as "time out rooms."

Parents opposed to the use of the rooms voiced their concerns at a recent Board of Education meeting, arguing the practice was causing more problems than it was solving.

"The building custodians had to go in and clean blood off the walls and clean urination off the floors," one parent told NBC Connecticut.

In a letter to the schoolboard, Farm Hill PTA President Apryl Dudley said the children are brought to the "scream rooms" to calm themselves down when they are out of control, but that she worries for their safety.

"My fear is that a child is going to get severely hurt," she wrote, according to the Hartford Courant. "... Three parents called me after they witnessed two staff members holding a door shut from one of these rooms with a child on the other side as they kicked and screamed uncontrollably."

In response, Superintendent Michael Frechette said he is aware of the issues and that they are being addressed, the Middletown Eye reported.

"Concurrently, we have been putting together a comprehensive plan to proactively address the issues at Farm Hill," Frechette told the paper. "Recently, we have formalized our action plan for Farm Hill which will be articulated to the faculty and staff on Friday, January 13th with Central Office in attendance."

Board of Education Chairman Gene Nocera echoed Frechette's response, telling NBC the board would be investigating the situation.

"We are looking at it very carefully -- location, how we implement the program, and if corrective actions need to be taken," she told the station. "We will be doing that quickly"

WATCH:

View more videos at: http://nbcconnecticut.com.

Comments

[saint bernard mom]

05:04 PM on 01/15/2012

I'm sure that teachers are not able to handle every kind of physical, medical, mental, or emotional disability that a kid could come to school with. Not even all Drs and nurses could handle an "across the board" variety of disabilities or impairments.  Many fields need specialized training and skills. 

If Drs and nurses have specialties, skills, training, etc, how can anyone expect a school or teacher to handle everything? 

[NDBob]

09:05 AM on 01/15/2012

I've watched this and other videos of the same PTA conference. One thing that strikes me as blatantly offensive is the screaming of some of the parents. Our children follow the example that we, as parents, set. How can a parent reasonably expect their children to behave respectfully when their reaction to a stiuation they disagree with is to yell, scream and become agressive toward other parents?

This video is all over the news. Children watch it and see Mommy charging across the room. pointing her finger, yelling and screaming at the other parents. Then, when they do the same thing, they get sent to the 'scream room'.

I submit to all of you that perhaps the parent, by presenting such a horrible example, is the one responsible and should be put in the scream room instead of the child!

[SpedWorker]

09:53 PM on 01/14/2012

I work at a school for students with aggressive tendencies. We only use them when the students are continuing to pose a danger to themselves or others. The doors can be locked on the rooms, but only by holding down a button, so there must be a person there at all times. If these students are left to their own devices, they will continue to be aggressive and unsafe until they are removed. We use these rooms to give them a chance to calm down and check in with them to make sure they are ready to go back to class. I can't tell you how many times we have had to stop or move class because a student was being unsafe. Often times, these students are in complete control and are having an issue with something as simple as the teacher did not call on them quickly enough, so the student threw a sharpened pencil at her. I understand that for the general population the thought of putting any child in a "scream" room is horrifying. But the reality is much scarier, that if we were to leave them to their own devices, there would be much more violence. If you think that the rooms are a terrible idea, I urge you to spend a day in this setting. We don't hide the rooms from parents on tours and most are well aware that their child may at some point require time in these rooms.

[Hlynn]

03:15 PM on 01/14/2012

If one of these rooms is used for a student, there is supposed to be an aversive therapy plan or official behavior plan in place. Are these rooms used specifically as therapy or are they used routinely for any students who the staff decides to put in one of these rooms? Why aren't the reporters asking these questions?

[whadauexpect]

03:38 AM on 01/15/2012

Good question, why aren't the reporters asking these questions?

[ooooliver]

08:16 AM on 01/14/2012

Perhaps the school should disrupt the parent at work every time their child disrupts the class. If they get called out enough and have to stop working to take the call, they will have a better understanding of what the teacher is going through. The teacher has to stop teaching (their job) in order to address the disruptive behavior of someone else's kid. Every student has a right to an education. Incorporating disruptive students who don't know how to act in a classroom setting is a mistake. Some children with special needs can be incorporated in the classroom, but those that can't should not be forced on students who can sit still and learn.

And what about the students who aren't acting out, but are deprived of their education because the teacher has to stop teaching to address the disruptive child's behaviour? Who speaks for them? How do the parents of these students feel? Why don't they speak up for their kids?

As a parent and an educator, I wouldn't want my kid in a class with a kid who continuously disrupts the class and doesn't know how to behave. While a disruptive student's behaviour is being dealt with, the other students have to wait for the teacher to discipline them. When the teacher is addressing the disruptive behaviour, the teacher is not teaching!! How are our kids supposed to become competetive in this global economy if they aren't getting the best education their teacher can give?

[bensmyson]

09:25 AM on 01/14/2012

What about the Federal Law that mandates that all children are entitled to a free and appropriate education, including children with disabilities such as the neurological disorder Autism? What about a teacher doing his/her job? All students deserve a stress-free environment, free of cruel punishment.

You asked, "How are our kids supposed to become competetiv­e (sp) in this global economy if they aren't getting the best education their teacher can give? " I'd suggest by accommodating the needs of those who suffer from various behavior issues related to a particular disability, I'd suggest finding the cause of autism, by funding proper early and aggressive therapies, I'd suggest legislation mandating that insurance providers cover children with autism and I would suggest getting ignorant bigoted teachers out of the schools. If that becomes too much of a burden on the budget, then do away with the athletic program and all extra curricular activities.

My kid has a right to feel safe in school, as does yours. Your son's tapping of his fingers on the desk top may be equally as disruptive to my son who is yelling "for no reason."

Welcome to the real world where postal workers carry the mail through the rain, firefighters choke on smoke and police officers knock on doors in the middle of the night. It's a job, you signed up for it, now stop complaining or get in line at the unemployment office.

[Hlynn]

10:47 AM on 01/14/2012

What about Congress fully funding IDEIA at the promised 40%? They have never reached even half of that.

Yes, students deserve FAPE (even if it wasn't a law, it's simply the right thing to do for ALL students), but schools cannot be held responsible for providing what they don't have the resources to provide. It is immoral and unethical for polticians to pass unfunded mandate laws when they don't even hold themselves to those standards. No one expects businesses to provide more than they can afford, but when it comes to schools everyone thinks they are entitled to any services they want, regardless of cost.

[Robert Cat]

05:16 PM on 01/15/2012

That Federal Law didn't take into consideration there are many children who are simply not educable. These children are mainstreamed into regular classrooms when they used to be put into their own special ed classes.

I've sat in on grade school classrooms in Nevada just to see what is it like to be a teacher nowadays. In one class, two special needs kids were disruptive a good 40% of the time, screaming, throwing themselves on the floor in a fit, throwing pencils, etc.

The rest of the class deserved to have a stress free environment, free from the fits and attention seeking of the special needs kids.

[Hlynn]

10:56 AM on 01/14/2012

Parents have no legal obligation to respond to a schoo. Sometimes we don't even have a working phone number. Sometimes parents block the calls from the school. And sometimes they just come out and tell us, "My kid is your problem from 8:30 to 3:45. Don't call me again." Parents don't have to come to conferences. Parents don't have to make sure their children come to school dressed appropriately for the weather. Parents don't have to buy school supplies. Parents don't have to do anything at all other than provide the barest necessities of life.

Thankfully, most parents do much, much more for their children, but there are too many who don't.

The LRE (least restrictive environment) law states students with disabilities must be educated with nondisabled peers as much as possible, and that time is determined by the IEP team, which consists of the parents and anyone who serves the student and administrators. Parents of other children have no say as to who is in their child's classroom or for how long. Teachers often have to provide for the needs of the child with disabilities in the classroom because there are not enough classroom aides.

Situations like that won't change until laws change (and schools must comply with the laws or risk lawsuits), and the laws imposed on schools are unfunded mandates, meaning the school has to follow the law even if it can't afford to do it.

[Kate Lynn]

05:52 AM on 01/13/2012

How about you parents teaching your little brats that it is not okay to disrupt or kicking and screaming because you didn't get your way?

I happen to be a former Special Ed student as well with ADHD and yes I acted out as well. I was reformed because of proper counseling & parental discipline throughout my minor years. I still have moments of frustration & anger but they have been less violent than in the past.

I am sure some of these kids urinating and self abusing themselves until they are bruised or bleeding are doing it so they would have more sympathy and essentially more positive attention. There were a few times as a child with emotional issues, I thought about getting even with people because of my punishments, so in a way I can see that being a case. I also threatened my own life every time I wanted attention and sympathy (never had the guts to do it though)

I wonder what these parents would prefer: Isolation of a possibly violent situation or seeing another child get hurt or possibly killed (it has been done) because the problem wasn't isolated?

Take it from someone who was acting out & with an emotional/learning disability: Scream Rooms & Isolation are better than seeing something happen to another that has done nothing wrong to begin with.

[Kathy Bergant]

01:35 AM on 01/13/2012

Special needs children do not belong in the same class rooms with children that don't have these issues.Mainstreaming special needs children was a big mistake.These children need qualified special education teachers.That is the only way these children can hope to progress and posibly EARN the right to be mainstreamed later.If the child is acting out and a disruption and danger to himself and other students the parent should be forced to pick up the child from school.The child should only be allowed back when they are well behaved.If children can not behave then they should go to a school especially for special needs children.In such a school these kinds of things would be expected and dealt with at a level a regular school can not give.

[Susan Pietras Smith]

05:23 PM on 01/13/2012

Earn? EARN? Special needs students have to earn the right to be treated just like everyone else? That is so much bull. Special needs students are people and have the same rights as any other students! That includes being included in mainstream classrooms and not treated as if they are lesser beings.

[irishdoc]

04:25 PM on 01/15/2012

They are people. But being part of a community requires that each person is able to abide by the rules of that community. A classroom is a community of students who need a safe learning environment in order to progress in their studies. If a child can not act appropriately in that community then they can not be a part of it.
They have the same rights as other students but with those rights come responsibilities. If the children can not be responsible for their actions then they can not stay in a mainstream classroom.

[Hlynn]

11:01 AM on 01/14/2012

That is the law. Students with disabilities are to be educated with nondisabled peers as much as possible. This is not something the school can decide not to do. It is the law. Most people in the public are unaware of education laws with which schools must comply or be in legal jeopardy--and that means tax payers will be paying the legal costs. People really should get educated about education laws and then they won't wonder why schools do what they do.

[Familia504]

11:43 PM on 01/12/2012

This is clearly a violation of the ADA Section 504. Dr. PJ Nickels Hughes travels the US helping schools and parents implement the 504 program. Most schools violate the law and most parents do not even know it exists. Dr. Hughes used the 504 Law in her schools, it did not cost any money, grades improved, test scores raised and disipline referals were down. www.teachingdoneright.com

[Hlynn]

11:07 AM on 01/14/2012

504 is an unfunded mandate. How is a school supposed to implement a law if it can't afford to do it? How is a school supposed to keep students safe (both the ones who act out and the ones who don't but could be hurt by the acting out child) if the school doesn't have enough people to monitor the students who act out? How is the school supposed to help a child who has issues beyond which the school is equipped to address? Schools don't "violate" laws because they don't care. Schools are found to violate laws when they are overwhelmed and there is no help. Training costs money. More people costs money. In a time of budget cuts, what can schools do? They're between a rock and a hard place. Does Dr. Hughes work for free? If not, who pays for the services she provides?

[Familia504]

12:28 PM on 01/14/2012

Money is not the issue if the proper track is followed. That is what Dr. Hughes has been able to show in her work.

Special Education students and those who qualify for 504 are different catagories. 504 students do not fall under the Special Education criteria, but Section 504 Children fall under the same broad umbrella of the 1973 American's With Disabilities Act. Under the Education Section of ADA, all children in the US have the right to a free and appropriate education, this does not fall under school opinions or Administration decisions, it is Federal Law. Students at risk of dropping out because of health, or number of other issues, must be considered and accomidated for. There are ways to do this and not spend money.

Today's classroom's are not only filled with the students that have disabilities, but also second language learners, a variety of racial, economic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Colleges, for the most part, do not address today's increasingly diverse classroom. Consultants, such as Dr. Hughes, teach teachers to teach diverse classrooms and parents to work with their students and educators. There is help available without spending thousands on special new programs.

I am not sure of Dr. Hughes' fees, but I do know that there are times when she came for travel and expenses. You would have to contact her office to see how that works. The only way I know to reach her is by going to the website www.teachingdoneright.com.

[Dede Eagleburger]

04:12 PM on 01/12/2012

This is one really big reason why I am glad to be teaching high school instead of elementary...

[dbishop76]

02:05 PM on 01/12/2012

When my autistic son was in 4th grade (he's now a sophomore in HS) he was placed in one of the"safe rooms" for an entire hour. At the time he was in a special ed class and we were in the process of mainstreaming him. One of the provisions was that he could choose to go to the mainstream class or stay in his special ed class to his work. It helped him with self-regulation and was designed to avoid problems that often arose from over stimulation in a traditional classroom.

One afternoon he decided he would rather stay in the special ed class to complete his work and the teacher made him sit in this room, no bigger than a closet, for the whole hour, claiming that was his "choice." These rooms are abused and are not used for the intended purpose, which is to remove children who are posing a threat to themselves or others. The should be a point of last resort and when you find that you are using them too often, it's time to look at other discipline techniques.

[capt hastings]

02:47 PM on 01/12/2012

And they are rarely monitored. A staff person should be viewing a student through a window or a door AT ALL TIMES if they are put into one of these Isolation Rooms.

Ever reduced funding for public ed continues to lead to less trained staff trying to work in an understaffed environment - all too often education is the last thing happening during some students' school day.

[mlaiuppa]

02:02 PM on 01/12/2012

Why is a child of elementary school age having an uncontrollable tantrum? Tell me, parents.

Should a child who is having a screaming tantrum be left in a classroom to disrupt the class and possibly injure other students? Tell me, parents.

If time out is not an acceptable way of dealing with out of control students, why don't you suggest an alternative way to deal with these students while allowing the other students to learn and the teacher to teach? Tell me, parents.

[dbishop76]

02:33 PM on 01/12/2012

I'd be happy to....often times it's a function of a disability. My Autistic son frequently had them when he was younger.

[mlaiuppa]

04:13 PM on 01/12/2012

That only answers number one and is only a partial answer. I'm sure not all of the students involved are autistic.

And what is your suggestion to a solution when a child is having a screaming hissy in the classroom? That all activity stops until he regains control of himself? No matter how long it takes? Even if other students are in danger of physical assault? Should teachers and students be held hostage to these out of control tantrums?

[frohbinich]

01:45 PM on 01/12/2012

My experience with poor behaved children involves the principal and/or guidance counselor bribing the child with candy, special time on the computer, spending time being an office helper, etc. The well-behaved children are usually baffled by these outcomes, and yes, start to act unruly to get the same reward. Public school should not be used as day-care for any misbehaving child--regardless of the reason why.

[dbishop76]

02:00 PM on 01/12/2012

You haven't the foggiest notion what you are talking about. The principle behind reward-based models is that we reward good behavior. When applied appropriately all children reap the rewards of good behavior.

[eceresa]

02:23 PM on 01/12/2012

...and the problem with it is that the people subjected to that model often fixate on the reward, rather than the behavior.

And the original poster is right. Schools sometimes have specific plans for badly behaved students whereby they can earn rewards that other students can't. That's rewarding bad behavior, and it's a bad idea.

[Ellen K]

02:23 PM on 01/12/2012

Sorry, but as a classroom teacher myself, you KNOW this isn't true. How else do you explain that parents can come into a school, be insulting and abusive, and get their children what they want even when they do not do the work. I've been in education long enough to see it increase tenfold. You are the one that is clueless. BTW, take that Texas moniker off your ID. You only represent Austin.

[Ellen K]

01:16 PM on 01/12/2012

As a parent, I would be disturbed if my child was held in a room by two adults against his will. That being said, we are not talking about everyday kids by and large. Our public schools have had put on them the responsibility for educating severely disabled and disoriented students within the general population. They are mainstreamed into classes often without aides in place, leaving classroom teachers to choose whether to address the concerns of one needy student over the needs of the rest of the class. And this is a common thread in every public school in the nation regardless of socioeconomic status or location. While the intention of ADA was to level the playing field and provide for students with some disabilities, it has become a costly bullying tactic where students who will never read, write, speak or live outside of an institutional setting are put into public schools as a method of what amounts to daycare. And this situation continues by law until the student is 21 years old. When you see classes that are hitting nearly 40 per class, one wonders if this is the best we can do with tax revenue.

[Karissa36]

01:41 AM on 01/13/2012

Very few parents of seriously disabled children really want their kids in public school. They are well aware that the schools do not meet their children's needs, and more often just control and warehouse them. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to get the public school system to pay for the appropriate care and education available in private schools designed solely for severely disabled children.

[Hlynn]

10:26 AM on 01/12/2012

Public schools are doing the best they can in untenable situations. These students need more help than schools can give them, but politicians have passed laws that makes schools ultimately responsible for the academic and emotional outcome of every child. If schools could focus on academics, test scores would be much better, but there are so many nonacademic responsibilities that academics get pushed aside.

Also, suing schools for what schools are not prepared to do or funded to do creates bizarre circumstances like giving some students much more than they actually need. These services cost a lot, but they are less expensive than a lawsuit, which most school administrators must be on guard from every day.

This article will shed some light on what schools are forced to do to placate parents, and this was from six years ago. It hasn't changed, it's gotten worse, thanks to politicians and judges.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-02-19/news/17282925_1_special-education-school-finance-expert-school-district

[Gerry Wong]

03:10 PM on 01/12/2012

I disagree. Public schools are doing the best that they know how...not the best that they can. My 35 years as a school consultant and behavioral health specialist in the public school system has taught me that:
1. Learning is a social experience that requires that all adults ( administrators, parents and teachers, etc.) continue to develop their social skills so that children have models for appropriate problem solving behavior.
2. Administrators, parents and teachers, etc. need to learn how to motivate and inspire children to want to learn.

America has bee in a cultural transition for all of my 70 years. I found out I had civil rights when I was 30. My teachers used to hit us with sticks and paddles when we didn't cooperate in school or at home. The police could beat you up and our parents would thank them.

We cannot have successful cultural (educational) change without adults learning behavior that reflects the current moral attitudes of society. There has been much research done in education and social learning that needs to be more widely disseminated and used by administrators to create and enact successful learning experiences for all students.

[caffeinedrone]

04:08 PM on 01/12/2012

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your comment here. Everyone here is under the impression one must take a side and I just don't see it that way. In addition to every thing you stated, I would like to say that education should be a joint effort, the parents, teachers, principals, community, and the right regulations. For this reason,it really grosses me out when each side blames the other and nothing gets done.

[Hlynn]

08:26 PM on 01/12/2012

People cannot do more than they know how to do. The public expects way too much from schools and not enough from community agencies. One of my students was very violent and went into a treatment program for three weeks. When it was time to transition him back into school, I went to a meeting to get the experts' diagnoses and make a plan for the student at school. There were medical doctors and psychologists and behavioral specialists at the meeting. When I asked what their recommendation was, they said they couldn't help the student and had no advice for me other than--and I'm not kidding--"roll with it". When I asked what they meant, they said the student didn't respond to anything they tried so the school should just do what they could do and know that some kids can't be helped. That was the extent of the "expert" opinion, and yet people expect schools to be able to do what experts cannot do.

[kitsmom1990]

09:49 AM on 01/12/2012

If these kids are so out-of-control that they are urinating and injuring themselves in a time-out room they have much bigger problems than the school establishing a time-out room. These kids need major psychiatric intervention and maybe some kind of in-patient or partial hospital program. This is not the school district's problem. This is a parent with a severely disturbed child problem. Perhaps the parents themselves are in denial about the severe state of their child's condition. Blaming the school district is way too easy and deflects from the real problem, the child's mental health issues.

[Hlynn]

10:13 AM on 01/12/2012

Politicians have made it the schools' responsibility by the laws they've passed.