Posted on 12/15/2025 1:43:24 PM PST by Morgana
Four teachers at a Wisconsin school have been accused of locking children in a pitch-black 'dungeon' as a cruel punishment tactic.
A lawsuit launched by the furious parents of three children at Thurston Woods Public School in Milwaukee accuses the staff members of traumatizing their children.
Filed on December 8, the legal document alleges that between 2022 and 2024 the teachers would routinely place young children in a boiler room to scare them.
'When asked about 'the dungeon' by their parents, some students would become so scared, stressed and upset that they would begin to cry,' the lawsuit reads.
'Students experienced sleep issues, nightmares and waking up crying during the night because of fear of 'the dungeon,'' the complaint seen by the Daily Mail said.
Parents Monica Webb, Korettea Cooper, Porsche Cosey and Vedonte Olden Sr. have named four teachers in the lawsuit - Terrence Graham, Darlene Lucas, Carolyn Watson, and Joann Johnson - along with leadership staff members.
Represented by Milwaukee attorney Drew DeVinney, the parents allege that teachers at the pre-K-8 school sent their children to the boiler room for misbehaving.
Video shows one male staffer, a former male paraprofessional, locking three different students in the 'dungeon' several times, according to the lawsuit.
Images from inside the basement show a room full of heavy-duty machinery, ladders, boilers, buckets, and dirty rags strewn across hard cement flooring.
The room smelled strongly of harsh chemicals, and was used for storing cleaning agents, according to the lawsuit.
Children were allegedly locked inside 'with the lights turned off so that it would be pitch black,' according to the lawsuit.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I have read all your posts.
Now answer my question.
Oh do tell what would justify what the teachers did.
Kevin is about to feel the same way actor Richard Shatner (The Canadian) felt in the scene from a Twilight Zone, where a passenger sits on a plane in flight. He just happens to glance at the window. Outside is an exceedingly ugly face staring dead at him. But, how can that be? Who’s standing outside of a plane in flight? That’s impossible!! ....Right?
I am trying to imagine the reaction of the school’s insurance carrier upon learning of this. Pretty sure certain areas of the school are deemed off limit for any student for any reason.
No, samiam5, you haven’t. You haven’t read #37. You haven’t read #46.
Read them.
Slowly.
Word for word.
If, after you have done that, you still think I condone this punishment, the problem is with you.
It sounds like a time out for bad behavior.
Children need discipline so as not to ruin the learning of others.
That’s right, what could these children have done to earn such a punishment?!
I get it.
The part where you talk about prison conditions as if you’ve been there.
Then the part about where you blame the parents for the bad decisions of these teachers.
The question remains:
What would an 8 year old have to do for you to find it appropriate to put him in the dungeon?
Well, you’re right that my kids have done well - all degreed except for the two in college now and I’m proud of them. But like I’ve said, we did our part.
The three biggest problems of educational system are:
1. Everything is aimed at the lowest common denominator- no more separated curricula for Honors, College Prep, and General Education. Everybody Is lumped together, including emotionally disabled kids.
2. The teachers unions are corrupt, Leftist, and powerful - and infested with perverts.
3. Parents are not held accountable. They should be the ones to feel the wrath of the law if their kids don’t behave.
Probably not the dungeon, though.
Sixth grade. Dowel stick….. ruler with a metal edge…… kneeling in front of the class and saying the rosary. I turned out okay. I guess.
I don't understand your point in the slightest.
Personally. I believe that the biggest short term problem in our schools is a lack of student discipline, which can very quickly lead to the destruction of the learning environment. And I say that as someone who has guest-taught in inner city schools. More suspensions and expulsions are desperately needed.
That being said, I have no idea why exactly what the kids in this story did that led to them being locked in a pitch black boiler room matters in the slightest.
It’s no problem, you are the insurance carrier, and we all know you have bottomless pockets...
The vice principal was the heavy with the paddle and would dole out “licks” from time to time. Problems were rare.
< golf clap >
Well played.
No, you don't. And your "question" does not remain, because I answered it before you asked it.
Now go read what I wrote to you.
Probably not the dungeon, though.
In posts to someone other than you, I described confinement to the boiler room as "inappropriate", "ad-hoc", and "poorly considered". Heck ... I described it as "inappropriate" in a post to you.
I can't help you with that; that's a personal problem.
I have no idea why exactly what the kids in this story did
Of course you have no idea ... the authors of this rage-bait article didn't tell you. They obviously don't want you to know. Funny how it works that way.
You can be sure they did something that deserved punishment ... and the lack of official channels for meaningful punishment inevitably leads to unofficial punishment ... in this case, punishment that is ill-advised and inappropriate.
I believe that the biggest short term problem in our schools is a lack of student discipline,
Well ain't that something ... you see the problem. What do you suppose might be the solution? The "right" solution?
“Father’s today.....if there is one....I don’t know.”
Given recent trends, likely no fathers around. The article says “parents” a couple times but in these times what does that mean?
Sure, that makes sense. But what does the general lack of discipline and of appropriate punishments have to do with exactly what the kids kid? Did they not shut up when told to? Fight? Be disrespectful? If the issue is the general lack of available punishments, then the issue you want discussed is making better punishments available for teachers.
But that still has nothing to do with whatever it was those kids did. You could write the article to focus on the lack of alternative punishments available to teachers. And still not need to know the details of the offenses.
And that's leaving entirely out of the issue the fact that you are trying to dictate what subject the author wanted to write about. The article was written based on a lawsuit filed by parents, which is where the author would have gotten their facts. The lack of appropriate alternative punishments is some things that the individual teachers might raise in their defense, but we have no idea whether or not that was done, or whether that information was even available to the author.
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