Oh, I just happened on my copy of the full text of the Claire McConnel article mentioned earlier in this thread. Here is the text:
By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, July 17, 2003
Tucked away in a verdant corner of Columbia County, Hawthorne Valley
School appears to offer a kinder, gentler way of teaching.
Parents praise what they call its unique child-centered approach,
which is part New Age and part throwback to the way things were a
century ago. An organic farm across the road serves as a summer camp
for students in affiliated schools.
The first sign of trouble came last year when one couple learned
their daughter had been strapped into her chair with a leather belt.
Since then, more than a dozen parents have removed their elementary
school youngsters amid complaints about disciplinary tactics by one
of the teachers at Hawthorne Valley. Punishment included tying the
hands of students and taping their mouths shut if they misbehaved.
The teacher who doled it out, Claire McConnell, apologized, saying in
a June 24 letter, "I am sorry for my disciplinary misjudgment, very
sorry. ... I request your forgiveness."
Her colleagues wouldn't discuss the situation other than to say they
are moving to put the furor behind them.
"We're still working on it," said Patrice Maynard, a teacher and
mentor to McConnell. McConnell is the daughter of Sen. Mitch
McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. She did not return phone
messages.
"She's a young teacher, a learning teacher," Maynard said. Maynard
referred further questions to a letter promising parents that "errors
in disciplinary action would not be repeated."
Corporal punishment is forbidden in public schools, but the "law is
silent" on the matter of private schools, said Bill Hirschen, a state
Education Department spokesman.
Parents who talked with the Times Union stressed that McConnell's
actions were out of character for Hawthorne Valley, one of the
best-known Waldorf Schools on the East Coast.
"We're not knocking Waldorf schools in general," said Bob Wohlfeld,
whose daughter was tied to her chair when she wouldn't settle down.
Wohlfeld and his wife, DeeAnn Veeder, removed the girl after she
finished second grade in June.
Waldorf Schools are based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, a late
19th-early 20th century Austrian thinker and writer. Steiner believed
children undergo distinct stages of emotional, physical and
intellectual development, and their education should reflect that.
Hawthorne Valley serves approximately 300 students in grades K-12 and
has a faculty and staff of about 30, according to the school's
website.
Youngsters at Waldorf Schools are encouraged to observe the natural
world. The curriculum emphasizes art and handwriting. Immersion in
reading skills doesn't begin until third grade, and students keep the
same teacher through eighth grade. Boys and girls practice dance-like
movements called eurythmy. In a marked departure from the mainstream,
computers are not part of the program for the younger students.
Hawthorne Valley shares a 400-acre spread with a summer camp and farm
based on Steiner's theory of biodynamics, a variation on organic
growing. During a visit on Wednesday, the school was closed for
summer vacation, but there was plenty of activity. Some kids had
returned from a swim. Business was brisk at the organic food store
where a bulletin board contained fliers for yurts and a nearby
Buddhist temple, typical of the numerous opportunities that exist for
spiritual seekers in the surrounding region.
Thanks to the locale and the school's distinctive educational
approach, Hawthorne Valley draws people from near and far.
Mary Anne Davis and her husband moved up from Brooklyn three years
ago to enroll their child. "It was right up our alley," said Davis, a
ceramic maker. "We really see eye to eye on a lot of issues."
Wohlfeld, who hosts the Wakin' Up With Wolf morning talk show on
WPIX-FM, moved with his wife and kids from Saratoga Springs to be
closer to the school, which he said makes the current situation all
the more frustrating.
Parents now say they may have been slow to acknowledge problems.
"That it was more than just a moment's bad judgment we did not want
to consider because we really wanted this to work," said Wohlfeld.
"We were a little dumbstruck," Wohlfeld said of their reaction when
they learned their daughter had been strapped down.
"I basically said, 'Don't ever do that again,' " Veeder recalled
telling McConnell. Davis said her son had his mouth Scotch taped shut
after another student jokingly suggested that remedy for the boy's
talkative ways.
The child was also strapped to a chair, becoming something of a
classroom hero after he strutted around the room with his chair
strapped to his back, the mother said.
Tracy Ferdinand said her daughter was so upset that she vomited when
she got home after seeing a classmate have his hands tied and forced
to sit alone during recess. One time, a child had to sit atop a steep
outdoor staircase at the two-story schoolhouse.
Parents who left Hawthorne Valley stressed they admire the school and
stand four-square behind the Waldorf approach.
"It's a wonderful mix if it works," said Ferdinand.
Mostly, though, they expressed frustration at what they viewed as a
closing of the ranks by staff members, many of whom have been there
for years.
"If you spoke up too much, you were considered a problem parent,"
said Veeder, who added that school officials, including their
daughter's teacher, raised no objections when they said they were
leaving the school.
The appeal of Waldorf Schools, along with an ongoing exodus from New
York City to the Hudson Valley, almost guarantees there will be
plenty of new students, at the school which charges about $8,000 a
year tuition.
The state Education Department has little authority over what goes on
at Hawthorne Valley.
The school is registered with the state, even though private schools
don't need to do so. Columbia County District Attorney Beth Cozzolino
said she's heard no complaints from local police agencies or others
about the school.
Hawthorne Valley did come under scrutiny in 1997 when the school was
shut down for several weeks after an outbreak of whooping cough and
county Health Department officials learned that about half the
students had not been vaccinated.
Some parents at the time said they objected to immunizations and
wanted their children to avoid them.
That episode didn't appear to spark the kind of internal strife that
the school is seeing regarding the discipline incidents.
Ultimately some parents say they are disappointed by the seeming lack
of accountability, similar to what soured them on public schools in
the first place.
"They need to wake up," Veeder said.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2003, Capital Newspapers
Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.