Posted on 11/28/2012 6:49:37 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
OLYMPIA, Wash. – An Olympia mom wants to learn why her 10-year-old son was placed in a padded room at his elementary school last Friday.
Melissa Gum's son attends Garfield Elementary, where she acknowledges he's been to the principal's office before.
The school says he was sent to the principal's office Friday for being disruptive in class.
But Gum said he’s never been sent to a room the district refers to as "the quiet room," which is described as the size of an office with gym mats padding the walls.
It gets worse, according to Gum. She said the principal forgot about her son after the end of school and she was frantically trying to find him.
The school district said the room was set up a few years ago for students with special needs. But Gum said her son is a typical 10-year-old with no diagnosed behavioral or developmental issues.
The district said the boy was acting out, but other resource rooms were unavailable, so the principal opted to place him in the quiet room. They also said the boy was released two minutes after the bell rang at the end of the school day on Friday.
The only reason that I learned about the disorder is because I was trying to help a friend of ours who was having a problem with her two year old. I told her that she needed to get better help than we have locally and found a clinic at Children’s hospital in Seattle that treated the symptoms that her son had.
Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, this week, they found out that the child has a cyst on the brain stem that might be causing the behavior problems, but that remains to be seen. Tomorrow they have an appointment with neurologist about draining the cyst. It’s one of those situations that you don’t know which alternative is worse, the disorder or the cyst. Maybe the doctors will have some answers tomorrow.
In elementary school in the early 1960’s, I often was locked in a “quiet” room because I was frequently not the perfect little drone that incessant indoctrination required. And said room wasn’t padded, either. It was some kind of combination storage room and electrical distribution room full of large electrical distribution panels and dusty shelves full of old text books and other dusty old crap. I was frequently told when locked in said room that if my behavior didn’t improve I was likely headed to the electric chair. I suppose the electric panels were supposed to play on my imagination in combination with such admonitions.
However, I was a tough little kid, so that kind of nonsense didn’t make too much of an impression on me, even at that those tender ages, and I found the quiet storage room was actually rather pleasant compared to being in class. I had no trouble passing the time, since I merely disappeared into a delightful fantasy world of my own making.
I would have never occurred to me to complain to my parents about these punishments, since of course they would simply have added their own whippings to top off the earlier school punishments.
Ah, the days of yore of government education in the deep South in the golden olden days.
I guess the Carnegie psychology keeps them docile... until it doesn’t. Maybe going wild is the only way they know of rebelling.
At least you didn’t get prankish and shut off all the school’s lights!
it appears that the violence and hate is all on the side of the kids...violent not violent later mom doesn’t know how to handle er kids...
I appreciate that dealing with the extremes is a trial. I couldn’t do it.
My only opinion is that most of even the mildly challenged shouldn’t be mainstreamed with normal schoolchildren who have some chance of learning something useful. Kids only get one shot at an education, and anyone and anything that distracts from that should be removed, and I include discipline cases in that, too.
The school was afraid that he would hurt himself.
Yup, if he had, guess who’d get blamed... it wouldn’t be the kid
In our school district they now place the headbangers in with the regular kids, and of course that means a second teacher needs to be in the classroom. Parents who love their children should do whatever they have to do to keep their kids far, far away from the government schools.
Mom needs a reality check.
My oldest boy came home from school last year absolutely mortified by the punishment the principle had handed down to him... she had made him spend his recess time in the kitchen doing dishes!
Of course, due to my son being an "impressionable young kid who watches TV", I ran straight to my lawyer because the school made him feel like "one of the help".
In reality, I called the principle and extended my appreciation for her unorthodox and VERY effective method of making sure my 7 year-old wouldn't be prone to throwing paper-wads during lunch anymore. Of course, this is what you get at a private, Christian school that not only lacks interest in seeking State accreditation, they outright shun it.
I have to tell you, when he came home that day and was telling me, in disgust, about his ordeal washing dishes at school... it was very difficult for me to not bust out laughing.
I was in grade school in the 70's and they still were using the paddle... it was the great intimidator and folklore was rampant about how fiery and evil that paddle was. Kids had even had technical discussions on the aerodynamics of those drilled holes and how it enhanced the brutal effects of it's use. Unfortunately, it connected with my butt on one occasion in 4th grade when I was caught throwing rocks at cars with a group of derelicts after school. My dad also took my back up to the school that weekend with a push broom and and shovel and made me sweep the ENTIRE parking lot.
And he didn’t need to be thrown in a rubber room to bring him back in line!
No one was thrown.
The room wasn't rubber.
He was put into an unlocked room with gym mats glued on the wall for lack of another empty place to put him in order to serve his detention or whatever.
In fact, that room no doubt didn't even exist until some other kid hurt himself and his parents sued the school...
Some of you are acting like they locked him up in a dark room for a week and poked him with a stick to keep him awake or something.
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Listen why not pick up a couple of bucks and Substitute in a SPED classroom for a couple of weeks, show us how it is done. Get back to me after you have actually taught some of these "little angels."
I suspect they have a number of teachers who should spend some time in a padded room.
EODGUY
wintertime please feel free to contact this "mother" and offer her your years of experience. Maybe you might consider taking this waif under your wings and demonstrating your theories for us. Oh wait that would require more than just bellyaching.
i guarantee you I would do better than that. I believe in being inclusive, and yes I have raised kids, boys, some of whom were a definite challenge. I do claim to have some insight into how to deal with kids and being nasty to them backfires.
In my experience, setting a proper example, teaching true principles as each is able to understand and rewarding good behavior have been a winning combination. (4 kids. None dead, addicted or in jail.)
“In my experience, setting a proper example, teaching true principles as each is able to understand and rewarding good behavior have been a winning combination. (4 kids. None dead, addicted or in jail.)”
It’s the “setting a proper example” these teachers can’t handle, preferring instead to have kids do like I say not like I do.
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