Middletown to Address "Scream Rooms"

Parents packed PTA meeting in Middletown; school says changes coming

By Jeff Saperstone
|  Friday, Jan 13, 2012  |  Updated 11:35 AM EDT
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Emotions ran high at a jam packed PTA meeting at Farm Hill Elementary in Middletown over parents' frustrations so-called "scream rooms" inside the school and the  Board of Education said on Friday that a news conference will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Felicia Roulajc said her 8-year-old son has behavioral issues.

“He tells me, 'Ma I don't want to be in the room,'” Roulajc said. “I told them that and they still put him in the room.”

School officials said the rooms are time-out rooms designed to calm troubled students down.

Some parents said they were never notified those rooms existed.

“It shouldn't be that you find out about this two years later,” one parent said.

Supt. Michael Frechette acknowledged that some students have banged their heads, urinated or had to be restrained in the room, but said they never needed medical treatment.

Some parents have raised concerns over blood found in the room.

“There was a student that had a cut finger and waved it on the wall,” Frechette said.

School administrators told the parents that changes will be made.

“We have issues here at Farm Hill,” school principal Pat Girard said.

The changes include re-training staff and adding a full time school psychologist.

Posted Jan 12, 2012
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