Large Turnout For PTA Meeting on Farm Hill School's 'Scream Rooms'

Middletown School Superintendent Micheal Frechette led off a meeting here at Thursday night with parents on the controversy of by assuring the standing-room-only crowd that no students were ever in serious danger, to themselves or others, while kept in one of the locked rooms.

He acknowledged, however, that nine students were taken away by ambulance after being confined in one of the room at some point, six for attention of a medical problem and three for behavioral issues. None of the medical issues, he added, were serious.

He also sought to dispel stories that have circulated about what parents call the "scream rooms" and what goes on it. He said that on one occasion a student with a cut finger who was confined to one of the rooms wiped his finger across the wall, smearing blood on it. At three other times, he said, students kept in the room urinated in it.

Some students also have banged their heads against the wall, but they have never hurt themselves.

He also said he knows there are problems at the school and that the is trying to address it because, “quite frankly, it’s gone on too long.”

His comment drew swift applause and cheers from the audience.

The meeting is going on now inside the gym at Farm Hill, an elementary school that serves students in grades kindergarten to five. The meeting was called to address the controversy about the "time-out" rooms, small rooms where educators have taken students experiencing behavioral issues. Frechette said that both regular and special education students have been placed in the rooms for behavioral issues.