Principal: Farm Hill Time-Out Rooms Safe Place to Regroup

Principal Pat Girard is disheartened that has been , dubbed by some parents as "scream rooms," which drew attention after the PTA president wrote a detailed letter to the Mayor and Board of Education.

Time-out rooms are a safe place for children to calm down, regroup and then re-enter the classroom. Parents are always called to alert them, "Johnny is starting to escalate," Girard says, or "'Mom or Dad, this is what's going on.'" Sometimes it's done simultaneously, while the student is being brought to the time-out area.

"If a child is more elevated, more anxious and disrupting the learning environment," they may say, 'I need a break,'" Girard said Thursday, "they'll go in here for two minutes, put their head on the desk. They self-advocate" and then leave. "The child has easy egress," Girard says.

Only she and the janitor has a key to the room, which is kept locked on the outside only. Anyone inside can turn the door handle and open it. There is ventilation and it's lighted.

The main room is a former kitchenette on the second floor that has a desk and two chairs. Girard says she had the walls painted a baby blue color. It used to be a place with cabinets, but staff found some highly anxious kids would begin fiddling with the cabinets, opening and closing them, so Girard had them removed to keep children safe.

The time-out room on the first floor is used only when the former is occupied. It is a former utility room with painted walls and a bare floor. "We bring in those foam, padded mats that interlock with the alphabet on them," Girard says. Sometimes that room is used for in-school suspension, she says. "We bring in a desk and the parent sits outside and reads a book."

The only time, Girard says, that a child is prevented from leaving is "sometimes when we have child bolters," a student who would otherwise run out of the school, endangering themself.

Then, the teacher or other staff will stand against the outside of the door or hold the handle until the child calms down and can leave, Girard says.

And if a child is screaming, Girard says, others nearby can hear because they are not sound-proof. "It echoes," she says. "But if these were rooms where children were singing, would they be called 'sing rooms?"

Wednesday, Jeanne Milstein, state child advocate, called for an investigation into the time-out rooms. "From the information I've received so far, my office is deeply concerned," Milstein said. An investigation, Milstein explained, could involve record retrieval, visits to the school and interviewing people, and before doing so, "it's hard to know if [time-out rooms] even exist."

Her office oversees the state Department of Children and Families. Also Wednesday, Superintendent of Schools Michael Frechette released a to assist teachers and staff with student behavioral issues.

The public session at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting was dominated by Farm Hill parents who say behavioral issues among certain students have overwhelmed the educational process for the majority of students.

The Farm Hill PTA meets Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

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