BOSTON—State officials are allowing a controversial special education school to use electric shock treatments on students for another year.
But the state's Office of Health and Human Services said the extension for the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center comes with conditions.
The center must prove it uses shock treatments only for the most dangerous and self-destructive behaviors, and must also must show the treatments reduce those behaviors.
The decision comes after an August incident in which two emotionally disturbed students were wrongly given dozens of shocks after a prank call from a person posing as a supervisor.
A state report found that staff made multiple mistakes when they followed the prank caller's directions.
The report by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care said six staffers at a Stoughton residence run by the Canton-based school had reason to doubt the orders to administer the shocks, but did nothing to stop it.
The six staff members and video surveillance worker on duty that night were fired on Oct. 1.
After the Aug. 26 call, the teens, ages 16 and 19, were awakened in the middle of the night and given the shock treatments, at times while their legs and arms were bound. One teen received 77 shocks and the other received 29. One boy was treated for two first-degree burns.
The caller said he was ordering the punishments because the teens had misbehaved earlier in the evening. But none of the staffers had witnessed any problems.
The report says the caller was a former resident of the center with knowledge of the staff, residents and layout of the Stoughton home. Police are looking into filing criminal charges.
The staffers were described as concerned and reluctant about the orders, but failed to verify them with the central office or check treatment plans to make sure the teens could receive that level of shock therapy, the report said.
The incident in Stoughton renewed calls by school critics for the state to ban the shock treatments. But state officials said the parents of some residents defend the school and its methods.
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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe
