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Show Editorial Controversy hurting training school staff While controversy swirls around the Utah State Training School, an important factor has been overlooked, arid in some cases unjustly abused -- the staff members who take all of the theories espoused by the social scientists and make them work. And the recent events that have placed the training school in the limelight have had little to do with those workers - most of whom live in our communities. Instead, the questions and controversies have been generated from Salt Lake City, and have dealt with the administration and the philosophy of the institution. Questions have revolved around philosophies of care for the mentally retarded and the handicapped. And ever present in the background is the clash between those who would prefer to see the training school residents placed in group homes and those who feel the institution is the answer for some of those residents. But as the political battle has been waged, staff members have been unjustly maligned and placed in a position of uncertainty and instability. Unfortunately, those workers have been maligned in the process, and different political forces battle for control of the institution. At the outset of the controversy, staff members were accused of abusing residents -- when the facts show that over the past year-and-a-half there have been six reported cases of staff -resident abuse. Those cases have been dealt with promptly and properly. And when it is considered that 900 individuals are employed by the training school, often in situations with residents who have severe behavioral disorders, that is a respectable record. Eventually the individual making the accusations, a person who should have known better, admitted that she could not prove that there was any staff -resident abuse at the training school. The current problem at the school revolved around training school residents abusing other residents, and abusing themselves. And that's a problem created by underfunding and understaffing. ............ Problems at the training school should not be swept under the rug. And they need to be dealt with swiftly and effectively. But the training school staff deserves recognition, rather than unjustified accusations, for performing well with limited numbersand resources . And they should be allowed to work in an atmosphere that is neither charged with politics nor uncertainty. It is in the best interests 1 of everyone involved, especially the - training school residents; that the training school administration as well as the various advocacy groups clamoring for recognition, get their own acts together and allow the staff members to go about their work quietly and efficiently |