Our great city of Cherry Hill NJ is neglecting our most vulnerable children. They have installed (now dismantled after we found out) a padded room to place our children in when they are having a meltdown. Staff is undertrained, some not trained at all. Staff cuts, denial of assessments, lack of implementing IEP's are just a few of the reasons our children are not progressing.
We are not against the use of Quiet rooms when they are used in an appropriate way. I am urging everyone to please sign this petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cherry-hills-shame. We must stop this administration from harming our children any further.
Below are many of the news that have carried our plight out to the public.
PhillyMag.com, Daily Examiner said: http://www.phillymag.com/blogs/philly/category/the-830-report/page/2/ Cherry Hill school’s deplorable “Quiet Room”: Outraged parents sought an explanation at a school board meeting last night for a “quiet room” one Cherry Hill elementary school was using for misbehaving students. It’s a small, padded area “that smells like urine,” according to one parent. The school says it’s only used the room once this year and it was dismantled soon after the incident. [CBS 3]
Jacksonville, FL -- East Coast News http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/education/news-article.aspx?storyid=96643
Bangor, Maine, WLBZ 2 (NBC), http://www.wlbz2.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=75658
Cleveland, Ohio, WKYC http://www.wkyc.com/news/national/news_article.aspx?storyid=78869
Portland, WCSH6, http://www.wcsh6.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=75658
and Pick A Better Place: http://www.pickabetterplace.com/ Gotta love pickabetterplace.com, written by a former township employee!
