The former principal told the School Committee in March that the room would be used for students exhibiting violent behavior, such as hitting, kicking or biting.
This is one of three 'cubbies' inside Old Mill Pond Elementary School's pink room where violent students are sent to calm down. The school is in Palmer.PALMER - Just five months after it opened, the "pink room" at Old Mill Pond Elementary School is closed after an anonymous letter was sent to the state complaining that misbehaving children were being subject to "prison-like conditions" because they were being locked inside its "tiny rooms."
Interim Superintendent Thomas Charko said that the use of the room has been disbanded, and said he has begun an investigation into exactly how it was used during the last school year.
"The pink room is not going to be used as an educational tool ... It is not going to be used for any kind of disciplinary action in any way shape or form," Charko said.
Charko said the new principal, Jacqueline A. Haley, agrees with the decision to disband it.
School Committee Chairwoman Maureen R. Gallagher said as soon as she heard about the allegations, she told Charko to remove the locks and doors on the three "cubbies" inside the room. The removal happened this week.
"I have never been a fan of the so-called pink room," Gallagher said. "I don't feel locking a child in a room is the way to handle discipline issues. If a child is that out of control, call the police."
Gallagher said she feels that sending a disruptive child to the office would be a more effective punishment. Gallagher said she felt Charko made the right decision to get rid of the pink room.
The room, painted a light pink, opened after February vacation, and former principal Susan J. Farrell, now the district's special education director, explained its purpose at a March School Committee meeting, saying it was being used for students exhibiting violent behavior.
Farrell, who could not be reached for comment, said in March that it featured three separate closet-like spaces with doors on them, where students could settle down.
She told the School Committee that students viewed it as a "safe, quiet place" and said it had been used a "handful" of times. The students sent there may have attacked adults, and kicked, hit or bit them, she has said.
At the time, a few School Committee members expressed concerns that students could hurt themselves inside the spaces, as they are built out of plywood and have a back wall made of brick.
Farrell also has said an adult stays with the child the entire time they are in the room, and that there is a window on each closet-like space, so the adult can see what the child is doing.
In addition to the enclosed spaces, the room also featured several desks and an open area, as well as books. Parents were notified if their child was sent to the room, she has said, adding the longest amount of time a student spent inside a stall was 15 minutes.
Darlene Lynch, director of program quality assurance services for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the letter "makes serious allegations about the treatment of students at the Old Mill Pond School."
"While anonymously written allegations such as those included in the letter are always difficult to substantiate, the department believes that any allegations concerning possible safety of students must be taken seriously," Lynch wrote in her June 30 letter to the Palmer schools.
Lynch requested that the investigation results, along with any corrective action taken, be provided to her department no later than July 20.
The anonymous letter states that "we are a group of concerned grandparents" and states that children are frightened of the pink room. It states that they (the grandparents) are "horrified" that "prison-like conditions" are being used for 5- to 9-year-old children.
Farrell has said she was disheartened to hear people describe it as a "jail" and said the room was designed after staff visited places such as the May Institute and New England Center for Children, which provide services for autistic children. May also provides services for behavioral disorders.
"This is no different than sending your child to their bedroom," Farrell said in March.