This sounds like an interesting situation. I cannot fathom for one second that a school would actually have a room like this set up in order to discipline children. It seems... so stupid.

Well, what the hell are schools supposed to DO? The slightest discipline can get them sued these days. When I was a kid the worst punishment you could get is an in-school suspension; you sit in a room watched by a teacher all day and do your homework. This punishment was assigned to a kid with Asperger's (before it became the trendy thing to be diagnosed with) and his parents sued the shit out of the school. That was nearly 20 years ago. Imagine how bad it is now.

An unsupervised room filled with school children? I think we know where SPud will be heading...

#2 - But this seems fucked up:

Disturbing allegations have surfaced of teachers locking students in closet-sized concrete “scream rooms” for punishment.

"Kids come home and they cry, because they're afraid to go to school. And it's often," parent Brian Robillard said.

"She can hear the kids screaming at the top of their lungs, while she's trying to read and she asks her teacher what's going on and they never give her an answer. They tell her to ignore it," said Liz Archer, the sister of one Farm Hill student.

Parents said their children have witnessed teachers placing unruly students into the tiny "time-out" rooms to calm down.

"From what I heard it's more traumatizing for the child than it was as a help," parent Jeff Daniels said. "Kids were hitting their heads on the concrete wall. Kids were urinating in the room."

"From what I heard it's more traumatizing for the child than it was as a help," parent Jeff Daniels said. "Kids were hitting their heads on the concrete wall. Kids were urinating in the room."

#4 | POSTED BY BRUCEBANNER AT 2012-01-12 11:45 AM | REPLY | FLAG

Any kid whacking his head on the wall and pissing on the floor is either a serious discipline problem or in need of medical help.

#5 or claustrophobic? there's something fishy with this story

We need an expert on the reactions of children after being forced in to a dark scary place.
Spud, any comments?

#5 or claustrophobic? there's something fishy with this story

#6 | POSTED BY BRUCEBANNER AT 2012-01-12 11:54 AM | REPLY | FLAG

There certainly is, and even if they've done nothing wrong, the school's gonna get sued. Now look at it from the other side, the one that doesn't auto-magically state anyone in authority is instantly wrong. Put yourself in the kid's place. Never been disciplined successfully, used to getting your way. You get sent somewhere with no supervision and told it's a "scream room". Ha ha, here's your chance to show them. Scream room? You'll show them what "screaming" is. Think of people like Tosser, who, even as an adult, can't leave anything the hell alone and just dig the hole deeper. You think little child Tosser couldn't scream and scream and scream all day, and piss on the floor, and whack himself bloody to "show them"? After all, what can anyone do to him... put him in the room again?

Not a bad idea for DR---instead of condemning recalcitrant posters to the internet "outerspace", condemn them to a "scream room" where they can "scream" at each other and open it to the rest of posters to observe. What do you think, "warriorhead"?

Most parents these days suck. If your kid comes home and whines about being made to sit in a room by himself (gasp!), the 1st question should be "What did you do to get put in that room?". And then you should punish your fucking kid for acting up at school. If your kid feels comfortable whining about minor punishments dished out at school, its because you obviously don't discipline the little turd yourself.

The thing people need to know about 101 is you should never invite the guy over to yer place cos he might ask to use yer bathroom and then yer in serious trouble.

The thing is, the guy beefs, 5 or 6 forearm length logs of the worst most foul smelling shit on the planet and never even a courtesy flush.

Worst of all is if he uses yer shower.

He has a tendency to shit in the shower too and then heel it down the drain.

Never quite gets it all.

Wafflestomper they call him.

Avoid.

Be Well.

If your kid feels comfortable whining about minor punishments dished out at school, its because you obviously don't discipline the little turd yourself.

#10 | POSTED BY SULLY AT 2012-01-12 12:15 PM | REPLY | FLAG

Yep. And now the parents become unglued with the school teacher, go to administration, who then disciplines the teacher instead of backing the teacher to get the parent to shut the hell up. Kid learns it's great to tattle on their teachers, and continue to do so even to the point of making shit up or embellishing the story. They'll make wonderful employees someday, I'm sure.

But, there does seems something awfully fucked up about having a scream room. I hope we get the whole story.

He has a tendency to shit in the shower too and then heel it down the drain.

Never quite gets it all.

Wafflestomper they call him.

Avoid.

Be Well.

#11 | Posted by dethspud at 2012-01-12 12:15 PM | Reply | Flag: Seems to know a little too much about this kind of thing. That's not dirt in his potato eyes.

unsupervised "scream rooms,"

They won't let the kids play Tag cos someone might get hurt but locking all the problem kids together in an UNSUPERVISED ROOM where they can beat their heads on concrete and piss themselves is somehow cool?

Someone hasn't thought their cunning plan all the way through here.

Be Well.

"(before it became the trendy thing to be diagnosed with)" shows disturbing lack of understanding. (I believe that special education is overdone in this country, but Asperger's is real. Very, very real. The spectrum presents interesting challenges; granted, we don't fully understand it...)

"If your kid comes home and whines about being made to sit in a room by himself (gasp!), the 1st question should be "What did you do to get put in that room?". "

I agree with the parental intent here: respect those in authority enough to ASK who did what? Then kick the authority's ass if they overstep. I gotta say, this situation sounds pretty damned fucked up. It deserves serious investigation. However, I have known parents who would say distressing things about a school that were either leaving things out, presented in a biased way, or outright lies.

12--First paragraph spot-on. (I remain blessed in never having parents come after me. But then, I am pretty even-keeled even with fucked-up kids.)

I would hope that readers here and elsewhere do not automatically assume they're getting the whole truth, especially given that many of htem would assume they weren't in many stories praising a school...

"They won't let the kids play Tag cos someone might get hurt but locking all the problem kids together in an UNSUPERVISED ROOM where they can beat their heads on concrete and piss themselves is somehow cool?"

If a kid can't be left alone in a room without banging his head or pissing on the floor, then he probably needs to be in special ed. Criticizing the teachers over this only makes sense if it is reasonable to expect an average unsupervised kid to engage in these activities. Teachers expect that the kids in their class belong there. If a kid has special needs and the parent pushes the school to put him in regular classes anywway, that too is the parents' fault.

If a kid can't be left alone in a room without banging his head or pissing on the floor, then he probably needs to be in special ed.

This should be standard testing. I can't agree more Sully. A dark room too. Small enough for them to stand and sit but not lie down. Quiet. Sound-proof.

If a kid can't be left alone in a room without banging his head or pissing on the floor, then he probably needs to be in special ed.

Then put the kid into a special ed class.

Do not put the kid into a regular class and for god's sakes wotever you do don't lock the kid into a room with other troublemakers and then just shut the door.

That's a sure fire recipe for disaster.

Criticizing the teachers over this only makes sense if it is reasonable to expect an average unsupervised kid to engage in these activities.

Point is kids aren't supposed to be left unsupervised at school.

The parents here need to sue the shit out of the school district to get the point across that this type of shit is simply unacceptable.

Sorry you don't feel the same way.

Be Well.

"Point is kids aren't supposed to be left unsupervised at school.

The parents here need to sue the shit out of the school district to get the point across that this type of shit is simply unacceptable.

Sorry you don't feel the same way."

Agree to disagree then. After kindergarten, I was never supervised for the entire school day and I went to a strict Catholic school for primary school.

"This should be standard testing. I can't agree more Sully. A dark room too. Small enough for them to stand and sit but not lie down. Quiet. Sound-proof."

Is being alone in a room boring and unenjoyable? Yes. Consequences for misbehaving are not supposed to be fun.

Is this traumatizing? Not unless the kid in question is mentally challenged due to a medical condition or abuse at home.

#20 Firstly, being locked in a closet is not good for anyone.

This is especially wrong if the kid is misbehaving. They need to cool down in a supervised area. They need to learn how to calm themselves without damaging themselves or property.

They claim students are being locked in unsupervised "scream rooms,"

That is a BIG problem; HUGE!

#20 Firstly, being locked in a closet is not good for anyone.

#21 | Posted by BruceBanner at 2012-01-12 02:12 PM | Reply |

Bruce, our condolences. I'm more worried about that closed mind you're locked into.

I was in 4th or 5th grade (1968). My class was doing something, that required us to learn square dancing, all week. I didn't want anything to do with it, so I refused to participate. I wasn't rude, and I didn't do anything other than refuse to dance.

At the end of the day, I finished taking the flag down, in front of the school, and took it into the office to fold it and put it away. The Principle called me into his office, and chewed me out for not square dancing. Then he gave me a spanking, bare handed, not with the paddle.

When my mom picked me up, I was enraged. She had never seen me that mad at anyone before, she got a kick out of it, but didn't do anything.

The next day in class, there was no more square dancing for some reason, and we never did anything like it again.

Helluva story Roy.

So what happened behind the scenes to lead to the change, Roy?

#15 | POSTED BY PRAGMATIST AT 2012-01-12 12:40 PM | REPLY | FLAG

Asperger's is absolutely real. Unfortunately they're diagnosing anyone who's slightly awkward with it, even adults, and they can then use it as an excuse to be an asshole.

So what happened behind the scenes to lead to the change, Roy?

#26 | Posted by pragmatist at 2012-01-12 06:41 PM

I don't know. I prefer to think that my protest and passive resistance, caused them to reconsider.

My teacher probably just thought, it wasn't worth the effort.

.

Instead of a scream room why not just taze their little heads with s defibrillator? I doubt they would remember much so the parent wouldn't find out. Of course then there would be a lot more Axes' and truthtellers' out there, but they're harmless attention getters.

Re: #24 - I was in fifth grade in the '83 and my parents, who had no qualms about whoopin me themselves, would have been pissed if any adult at the school touched me over something like that. Today's parents would sue for sure and such an incident would make the 5 o'clock news.....