New York Report on Rotenburg

Posted by Greg Cruey Jun 15, 2006

The Globe article was a follow up to several pieces it did on the Rotenburg school in May, covered by us here, as well.

While the Rotenburg school uses electric shock as part of what it calls aversion therapy to shock students for bad behavior, the New York report found that students are sometimes shocked for infractions as petty as nagging a teacher. The report also questions the safety of Rotenburg's practice of having some students wear the electrodes in the bath or shower.

The report is pretty damning. Students at the school live with "pervasive fears and anxieties." Rotenburg school appears to be more interested in punishing bad behavior than encouraging good behavior. Over 65% of personnel at the school involved in caring directly for students hold only a high school diploma which often "is not sufficient to oversee the intensive treatment of children with challenging emotional and behavioral problems." And 11 of the 17 clinicians responsible for mental health at the facility are a licensed in psychology.

Concerns were also raised in the N.Y. report over student nutrition; Rotenberg sometimes withholds food from students as a form of punishment. And, finally, the Globe said that "a surprise inspection that showed the school's practices are a lot different from written treatment plans for students."

The Rotenburg Center's lawyer, Michael Flammia, dismissed the report, saying that the findings were a distortion of the truth and reminding the public that the center is a facility of last resort for students who haven't responded to other forms of treatment or therapy. He pointed out that less than a year ago NY State gave the center high marks for safety in an annual report. Flammia attributed the current situation to bad publicity.

A vote in New York later this month should determine whether the state will restrict the use of pain as a form of punishment for students in (or from) the state. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center is located in Canton, Massachusetts but about two-thirds of Rotenberg's students are sent from New York.