A reader sent this comment:

n Huntsville, AL, the Broadie superintendent, Col. Casey Wardynski, has contracted out services for behavior problem and homebound students to a private corporation, The Pinnacle Schools. The contract includes five places in the “teepees” at Pinnacle’s Elk River Wilderness Treatment Program, one of those remote, secured boarding school/mental hospital/detention centers for students hand-selected by Wardynski. Stays there are of indefinite length: “Those who do not comport themselves according to the regulations and rules of Pinnacle Schools will find themselves living in a teepee. And they won’t be coming back until they can behave. And if they can’t behave, they won’t be coming back to our schools.”I can’t begin to imagine how this is legal, but there you are: http://abouthcs.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/theres-no-mention-of-teepees-in-the-2011-2012-hcs-handbook/

According to the link, the students get no legal representation. Apparently the superintendent wants to scare them so much that they dare not fight in school or exhibit any behavior that might lead to extreme punishment.

Is this supposed to be preparation for incarceration as an adult?

Does it save money?

Does it create a desirable climate of fear in the schools of Huntsville?

I wonder how parents feel about having their son or daughter sent away to live in a teepee for weeks or months.

There must be a reason to deal with adolescents with such a heavy hand.

What do you think it is?

Diane