Do you know what a “scream room” is?
A scream room is a term coined by students and parents in the at Farm Hill Elementary School in Middletown, CT. It is essentially a solitary confinement room, like in prison, except that it has a single school desk and chair inside. This is where the school sent children with “behavior issues” so that they could “calm down.”
So, if children are placed in the room for “time out” to calm down, as the school claims, then why are children reported to have banged their heads until bloody, screamed uncontrollably, and even urinated while confined in the room?
It was only after a heated Board of Ed meeting in Middletown, which pitted parents against each other and the school system, that the Board of Education released a statement that the so-called scream rooms will no longer be used on students who do not have legal individualized education programs (IEPs) in place. So essentially, the school board has decided not to abolish the use of screening rooms altogether, but to limit their use to students on whom they can legally enact such “discipline.”
While I am relieved that the majority of children will not have to endure scream rooms, I continue to be concerned about those children whom the school district can place into solitary confinement. The fact that this situation occurred in the first place is an example of how we respect authoritarian rule and how we socialize our children to do the same, regardless of the moral implications–”If the ‘authority’ said it, then it can’t be wrong. Don’t question the authority.”
Meanwhile, we sit there and watch those who are supposedly educational professionals, treat our children like prison inmates. Why is it that no one seems to acknowledge that children are people, and all people, including children, have civil rights that shouldn’t be violated?
If parents locked kids away while they kicked and screamed and wanted to get out, the kids could be taken away by the state. Yet, somehow it was deemed acceptable for the school — the authority — to do this and contine to do this to children.
Where is children’s services on this situation?
Sources:
SCREAM ROOM: Officials say ‘scream rooms’ common in Connecticut schools
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