EducationNews.org

by George Deabold

IS THE ANDERSON SCHOOL USING AVERSIVE INTERVENTIONS ON STUDENTS AND WITHHOLDING THE INFORMATION FROM THE PARENTS?

 The School Watch Task force received several reports on the Anderson school.

 The first report was filed on july 17, 2008 ..The report was from a parent whose child attended the Anderson School in Staatsburg, New York. The child was removed from Anderson after the school attempted to force the child to be medicated, and threatened legal action against the parents if they did not consent to the medication. (This medication had already been tried on this child unsuccessfully, and forcing a child to be medicated in order to attend school is a violation of federal law.) After the child's removal he was returned to his home district that refused to provide programming and insisted that he return to the unsafe environment at Anderson. That legal battle with the Mexico Central School District has continued since January of 2007 and is still unresolved.

One of the parents recently took a job in a program for adults with disabilities. While in the program she met an adult in this program that was with her son at the Anderson School. This individual relayed that he had observed her son being restrained at the Anderson School as many as five times a day by multiple adults. The take-downs were described as particularly violent, including one that was so hard that her son's head "bounced off the floor."

The parents were never provided any documentation that incidents like this were occurring while their child attended the Anderson School, and although they were suspicious that physical abuse was occurring at Anderson, at no time did Anderson in form the parents of incidents such as this. While their son was at Anderson his behaviors seriously regressed, and he became more aggressive himself. (No wonder, considering the violence that he was being subjected to.) This is not the first such report of inappropriate behavioral techniques being used at the Anderson School. A short time ago the parents of Jonathan Carey learned their child was being abused at Anderson, removed him, and then sued the school. Meanwhile, Jonathan was placed in a group home where the staff of the group home restrained and killed him while transporting him in a bus. The New York State Education Department refused to take any action against the Anderson School as a result of the Carey incident, and they remain on the State approved list of private schools. Apparently, the abuse of students continues.

Parents whose children are being placed residentially should exercise caution. Our State Education Department is doing little, if anything, to ensure the safety of the students in some of these programs. Additionally, many of these programs are "bottom of the barrel" and exist out of necessity rather then because they provide quality education. New York State currently has over 400 children awaiting placement in residential facilities, and there simply are not enough schools of this type to address the needs of children in New York.

The Commission on the quality of care is supposed to ensure that these schools are safe for the children that attend there, but recent legislative investigations have revealed that the COQC has engaged in cover-up activities on behalf of schools such as Anderson. Often, investigations by COQC have simply taken the word of the schools attorneys or administration, with no true investigation into any allegations. The COQC is known to have worked hand –in-hand with the NY State Education Department is whitewashing over misconduct at residential schools. Meanwhile, quality schools outside of New York State which could meet the needs of the 400 children on the waiting list are being denied State Education Department approval. One has to wonder how NYSED can allow 400 children to wait, unserved, when some quality programs out of state are available. One also has to wonder how NYSED can allow schools such as Anderson to continue to engage in conduct of this nature.

* Anyone who has information of abuse in the educational setting please contact the SchoolWatch  Investigative Task Force via the email address below.

email: Schoolwatch4kids@ yahoo.com

For more info on  SchoolWatch go to the SchoolWatch website