Committee member and former Taunton middle school principal Richard J. Faulkner raised his concerns with using the center, quoting recent stories in the media exposing the school's methods.
"I will not vote for this in the future," Faulkner said, voicing his absolute opposition to electric shock and other aversion therapy techniques. "I don't think we can stop it for now, but maybe we can revise our policy for the future."
The district is paying more than $18,000 per month - more than $200,000 annually - to send a 20-year-old student to the center, where he got shock treatment therapy as recently as three months ago, according to Suzanne M. Shaw, the city's newly hired director of special education.
Shaw traveled to the center to see its facilities and treatments, especially as they related to the Taunton student enrolled in the program.
"He's 20 years old and has been going there a long time," Shaw explained to the finance and law subcommittee.
Shaw said the young man's parents will "fight tooth and nail" to keep him in the Rotenberg program.
"I've spoken to his mom at great length," Shaw explained. "She told me how much he hurt himself and other people before [treatment at the center]. He now sits at home and eats with his family. He has not needed a shock for quite some time."
"It sounds like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' to me," said school committee chairwoman Christine A. Fagan.
Other fairly extreme methods, punishments often equated with torture - such as food and sleep depravation - are also employed at the center, committee member Jordan H. Fiore pointed out.
Fiore noted that shock therapy was once an thriving and fully accepted means of behavioral control.
"Thirty or 40 years ago, it was state of the art," he said.
Faulkner compared it to other outdated medical methods of past centuries.
"Thank God we got out of bloodletting," he quipped.
"We allow one of our students to go there?" asked committee member Josephine B. Almeida. "It sounds like abuse to me."
But Superintendent Arthur W. Stellar said the school would be forced to spend more on legal fees to go against the parents' wishes and withdraw the student from the center.
The state Department of Education has urged districts to investigate their students' successes and failures in the program. Shaw said they mailed a bulky report of their own to the district for her review.
Although the therapy may seem cruel and unusual, Shaw was impressed with the facility's decor.
"It's one of the most beautiful facilities I've ever seen," she said. "It was gorgeous. There's a game room like something you'd find in Disney World, and they offer you a shock."
Faulkner said the issue should be brought before the entire committee for review in the near future.
Member Peter H. Corr, a former Taunton police officer, defended the parents' right to choose treatment for their son.
"Speaking for myself, I've seen people placed in padded cells," Corr said. "I know what can happen. If the parents agree to this, I no longer have second thoughts."
Faulkner offered a quick response, ending debate on the topic for the night.
"I don't like it," he said. "I just don't like it. When do the rights of the child come into play?"
rschuler@tauntongazette.com