RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION

What are they doing to our children?

Restraint and seclusion behind closed doors - 1-23-09 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkhhv2fUwDg

January 20, 2009

Report: Schools hurting disabled students Five Florida cases are listed in a new report that has drawn congressional attention to the issue of restraint or seclusion of disabled students. The report, "School is Not Supposed to Hurt," was released by the National Disability Rights Network last week and immediately prompted U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, to announce that he would schedule a hearing on the issue.

The report says improper restraint and seclusion has led to injury, trauma and in some cases, death to children with disabilities. "Furthermore, because there is no mandated system in place to report or collect data on these abuses, this report is clearly just the tip of the iceberg," says a statement from NDRN executive director Curtis Decker.

The Florida cases include a 12-year-old girl with autism who was reportedly forced to the ground and held there 44 times during the 2006-07 school year when she "repeated names of movies, shoved papers off her desk or waved her arms and kicked her legs toward approaching teachers." The report does not indicate where this incident or the other four occurred.

The network says states should immediately ban the use of prone restraint and seclusion in schools, and beef up teacher training to "eliminate unintentional tragedies."

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

School Has Autistic Child Arrested

Jeanne Sager
January 20, 2009
http://www.babble.com.au/2009/01/20/school-has-autistic-child-arrested

School Has Autistic Child Arrested Posted by JeanneSager at 12:45 PM on January 20, 2009 Charges of battery against an eight-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome have been dropped, and her parents are now pursuing legal action against the Idaho school district that called law enforcement.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Evelyn Towry was told she couldn’t wear her special jacket in class last week, prompting the little girl (whose diagnosis of Asperger’s falls on the autism spectrum) to become resistant and act out in the classroom. But instead of telling the child she could just wear her jacket, school officials said they called the cops, alleging she assaulted school staff during the incident.

She’s eight. And autistic.

Shouldn’t school officials, of all people, understand that?

While Asperger’s syndrome falls on the milder end of the autism spectrum, its symptoms are akin to what many people identify with autism - a need for structure, difficulty identifying and expressing feelings. It’s also classified as a disability, allowing children who have been diagnosed to qualify for special services from their local school district, including special consideration for their special needs.

So why should a jacket on a child with Asperger’s syndrome become an issue? Even if this child were to have become violent, the details of the case would indicate that school officials set this child - who they knew had a difficulty expressing feelings - off. They caused the problem. That would seem a direct violation of civil rights section 504, which protects kids in schools from discrimination for their developmental disabilities.

Should autistic child bear some responsibility for their actions? By calling the cops and pressing battery charges, that’s what the school district was suggesting - that Evelyn Towry was responsible for battery. But who’s to blame? Should a school district be held liable for the action that caused the equal and opposite reaction?

National group and local mom seek to end restraint of special education students

By Laura Green
January 16, 2009

A Palm Beach County mother and special education advocate went to Washington D.C. this week to continue her fight to ban the use of restraint and seclusion against special education students.

The National Disability Rights Network invited Phyllis Musumeci, founder of Florida Families Against Restraint and Seclusion and the national Families Against Restraint and Seclusion, to the release of a new report showing widespread use, and some say abuse, of restraint and seclusion in the nation’s public schools.

The report documents a number of cases when restraint led to the death or serious injury of a child.

The report was timed with Barack Obama’s inauguration. The group is hoping the new administration will pursue a ban on seclusion, placing a child alone in a room or other place, and prone restraint, when a child is held face down.

Florida law allows school officials to restrain special education students who are deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Musumeci said that phrase is used too loosely and that children are often restrained when there is no danger.

Musumeci has been fighting against the practice since she learned nearly two years ago that her son, Christian, had been restrained at least 89 times in a period of 14 months.

School staff did not report the restraints to Musumeci initially. She lobbied to get the school board to adopt a policy requiring schools to keep records of all restraints and to report to parents when a staff member restrained their child.

“I want people to know this is not an isolated incident,” Musumeci said. “There are hundreds of families in Florida who desperately need help. Every story is worse than the last one.”

In its report, the National Disability Rights Network found a lack of laws or policies to protect children and inadequate or nonexistent reporting requirements.

Many of the children who are restrained or placed in seclusion have disabilities that hamper their ability to speak or otherwise communicate. Oftentimes their inability to communicate leads to frustration and behavior that is mistaken for aggression, Musumeci said.

“Because school staff do not understand what our children are trying to say through behaviors, they are punished by being restrained, put in seclusion, suspended and arrested,” Musumeci said. “The trauma this has caused our children and the emotional drain to our families should never happen to any child or family.”

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who attend the Tuesday press conference, led the fight for legislation to reduce restraint and seclusion in health care settings ten years ago.

“Children are supposed to be safe at school, and most of the time they are, but unfortunately, this report shows us that in too many schools, in too many places, children with disabilities are not safe and are often subjected to inhuman treatment,” Dodd said.

Musumeci said she is grateful for the National Disability Rights Network for publishing the report and bringing into the open concerns about the use of restraint and seclusion. She also thanked Sen. Chris Dodd for taking on the issue.

Comment by Phyllis Musumeci: There is no Florida Law

1/15/09 press release below from the Florida Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities

National Disability Rights Network Releases Shocking Report on Seclusion & Restraint in U.S. Schools

Florida among the States without Sufficient Laws to Protect K-12 Students

During a Capitol Hill news conference this week, groups, including the Florida Families against Restraint and Seclusion, called for a ban on seclusion and prone restraint, increased teacher training and other immediate action by state and local governments as well as the Obama Administration and Congress. The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), of which the Florida Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc. is a part, convened the news conference and unveiled a disturbing national report on seclusion and restraint in U.S. schools.

Restraint is a manual method or physical or mechanical device that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a child to move. It does not include most orthopedic or medically prescribed devices. Prone restraint is the particularly dangerous practice of restraining a child face down. Seclusion is the involuntary confinement of a child alone in a room or area and prevention of the child from leaving that area. "Seclusion" and "time-out" are not the same, which the report carefully explains.

The NDRN report, titled School is Not Supposed to Hurt, urges states to enact a series of policies. The report shows an unsettling use of seclusion and restraint tactics resulting in physical and emotional injuries as well as deaths in schools serving students grades K-12. The report documents specific cases, including several from Florida.

NDRN identified inconsistent state laws and a lack of government oversight and investigation of this issue. NDRN called for the incoming Obama administration and 111th Congress to ban the use of prone restraint and seclusion under federal law. The group is also calling for a national summit to devise plans to implement these bans and encourage the use of evidence-based positive behavioral supports.

Phyllis Musumeci from the Florida Families against Restraint and Seclusion was present and spoke about her son and the widespread harm restraint and seclusion use is causing to children with disabilities in Florida. Families from Connecticut, home of U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, and Senator Dodd spoke at the press conference.

"Children are supposed to be safe at school -- and most of the time they are," said U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who also spoke at the briefing. "Unfortunately, this report shows us that in too many schools in too many places children with disabilities are not safe -- and are often subjected to inhuman treatment: being locked in rooms, tied down, or worse. Armed with this report, I will continue to work toward banning the inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint in our schools and ensuring the public knows and learns more about these practices."

Florida has no state law or state rules addressing restraint and seclusion use in schools.

The report is a compilation of cases outlined by NDRN's 57-member network of protection and advocacy (P&As) systems nationwide, including Florida. To view the report in its entirety, please visit www.NDRN.org

Wilton women join fight for disability rights

January 15, 2009
By Lauren Mylo
lmylo@wiltonvillager.com

http://wiltonvillager.com/story/463348

WILTON, Connecticut -- Three Wilton women joined Sen. Chris Dodd, D-2, in Washington on Tuesday to continue the fight against seclusion and restraint in public schools nationwide.

Last week, the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) released a report showing an increase in seclusion and restraint tactics in schools nationally.

"This report documents 32 seclusion cases, 43 restraint cases that in total resulted in . . . five deaths," said Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, in a statement. "We feel that these numbers represent just the tip of the iceberg as there is no national reporting structure or official tracking of such incidents."

The group wants the federal government to ban restraint and seclusion under federal law and conduct a national summit to strategize the implementation of these bans.

After the report came out, a press conference was planned in Washington, and James McGaughey, the executive director of the office of protection and advocacy for persons with disabilities in Hartford, invited three Wilton women to attend.

Gloria Bass, Maryann Lombardi and Jill Ely's advocacy for their disabled children's rights brought Senate Bill No. 977 to passage in 2007.

"An Act Concerning Restraints and Seclusions in Public Schools," the bill reads, "requires that restraint and seclusions be used only in cases where a child is a danger to himself, herself or others; or if restraint or seclusion are a part of the child's individualized education program."

It also mandated that schools inform parents of state laws regarding physical restraint and seclusion and that the schools record each instance of restraint or seclusion.

"Things are going very well in Connecticut," said Lombardi, "but we have to understand there are still 22 states that have no guideline, no regulations, no laws, no nothing. California, Arizona, these are big states, and children are at risk."

The national legislation, as Lombardi describes it, is to expand the Connecticut law and ensure that it includes all public schools.

Lombardi said she was very proud of the accomplishments in Connecticut but never dreamed it would be an issue nationwide as well.

"(Dodd) has small children and his daughter has a child in her class who has autism so he's been exposed to it, and he just never dreamed that these kinds of things would be used in a public school because he always thought of them as being a very safe place," said Lombardi. "He's been at this for a long time -- he's the one who championed the original bill ten years ago. It's been something very close to his heart, and we're very glad that it is."

Ely's son, who has autism, was routinely placed in isolation in a storage closet at Wilton High School when he acted out. Lombardi's son and Bass's grandchildren had similar stories, as does a woman Lombardi met in Washington.

Phyllis Musumeci, of Palm Beach County, started a blog called Families Against Restraint and Seclusion, a resource for anyone wanting to report cases or abuse or know where their state stands.

Lombardi said she and Musumeci got to talking about Musumeci's son, who was secluded in his school 89 times, according to the Florida woman. She said she was never informed at the time, but her son was becoming more withdrawn and didn't want to go to school. She said she discovered there were 89 documented incidents of seclusion or restraint, but there was no law against it.

"I turned to her and said, 'oh my God what did you do?' " said Lombardi. "And she said, 'I followed you.' She said she's been following us for three years on the Internet, and she kept going, and she knew if we could do it, she could do it too. You don't realize when these things are on the Internet how far reaching they are. It just sends chills up your spine."

The NDRN is calling on the Obama administration and the 111th Congress to pass the legislation, and hearings are planned in the House Education and Labor Committee.

Washington D.C. 01/13/2009

U.S. Senator Chris Dodd Discusses New Report published by NDRN (School is Not Supposed to Hurt) on Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools. Please click on the link below to listen to the Senator speak about restraint and seclusion in public schools.

http://polfeeds.com/item/Dodd-Discusses-New-Report-on-Use-of-Seclusion-and-Restraint-in-Schools

MEDIA ALERT

NaNational Disability Rights Network to Release

ShShocking Report on Seclusion and Restraint in U.S. Schools

Citing Deaths And Physical and Emotional Injuries, Group To Call For

National Ban On Seclusion and Prone Restraint, Increased Teacher Training and

Other Immediate Action Items By Obama Administration and the 111th Congress

WHAT:

At a media briefing on Jan. 13 on Capitol Hill, the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) will unveil a disturbing national report on seclusion and restraint in U.S. schools and call on the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress to introduce a national ban on seclusion and prone restraint practices in schools nationwide.

The report is a compilation of cases outlined by NDRN’s 57-member network of protection and advocacy (P&As) systems nationwide. The report details deaths and physical and emotional injuries inflicted on students ranging from kindergarten to high school from schools across the country. It also outlines inconsistent state laws, lack of training for teachers and virtually no government oversight or investigation of the issue.

Speakers attending the media briefing include U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), NDRN Executive Director Curt Decker, and families of loved ones who were physically restrained or placed in seclusion while attending schools.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 13 – 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: TBA

MEDIA CONTACT:

Brian Remsberg

IMRE

864-232-6380

brianr@imre.com

Faith Finley died after being restrained in controversial position

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/faith_finley_died_after_being.html

Posted by Rachel Dissell
Plain Dealer Reporter
January 10, 2009 07:00AM
Courtesty of the family

Fatih Finley, 17, suffocated after being restrained in a face-down position that has been banned by one state agency. A 17-year-old girl who suffocated while being restrained at a center for troubled children was held in a potentially deadly face-down position that was recently banned by at least one state agency.

The restraint has been blamed for the deaths of at least 40 children in facilities nationwide since 1993.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller said Faith Finley had been held in what is known as the prone restraint.

He ruled her Dec. 13 death a homicide Monday, saying she was suffocating while she was restrained at Parmadale Family Services in Parma and choked on vomit. Parma police are investigating.

A movement to ban the dangerous "prone restraint" has grown among agencies that serve children. The Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities banned it in November.

The danger of the restraint led to the ban, according to a memo sent to agencies that the department licenses. Copies went to at least a dozen additional state officials. "Research supports the belief that prone restraints are potentially fatal due to the impact this maneuver has on reducing a person's ability to breathe," the memo reads.

Unclear is whether Parmadale was aware of the memo.

Staff is trained on all the dangers and methods involved in restraints, said Tom Mullen, president of Catholic Charities, which runs Parmadale.

Staff is taught to use a face-to-the-ceiling restraint where staff members secure a child to the floor by pinning their arms and legs to the ground and not compressing the torso in any way, he said.

If staff did not follow the policy, action would be taken, he said. Two workers involved in the restraint on Faith are on paid leave pending the police investigation.

The face-down restraint, which puts pressure on the stomach area, can be especially dangerous if used on a person taking psychotropic drugs. The drugs can cause some to easily vomit while relaxing the gag reflex, making it harder for them to clear their throats. Faith was taking medication in that category.

Nationwide, since 1993, at least 64 children died and thousands were injured while being restrained in face-down and other methods. About half of the restraints that caused deaths were unnecessary, a review of restraint deaths by Cornell University Residential Child Care Project found.

Cornell's trainers, who have worked with Parmadale, teach both the face-up and facedown techniques as a part of their Therapeutic Crisis Intervention system but warn neither is safe. Facilities choose which methods suit their philosophy. Some choose never to use restraints.

"Every single restraint assumes a certain level of risk, including death," said Michael Nunno, the project's principal investigator. "You never want your intervention to be more risky than what the child is doing."

According to the coroner's ruling, Faith was restrained after an "outburst of disruptive behavior."

Faith had been tossing things around her room and may have approached the staff aggressively, said Parma police and Parmadale officials.

That type of behavior alone is not enough to restrain a child, Nunno said.

Workers often get into power struggles with kids they supervise, especially if the atmosphere in the facility is chaotic. Staff involved in such struggles should remove themselves from dealing with the children, he said.

According to police records and other sources, the situation in Parmadale's Cottage 14, where Faith lived, was particularly tense.

In the days leading up to her restraint, several children escaped, one stole a car, a child-care worker was injured by a teen and -- just before Faith died -- another girl in the cottage was beaten so badly, she was taken to the hospital.

People can be trained and tested over and over, Mullen said, but in the heat of a situation, it's hard to maintain control of an agitated child who is struggling with staff.

"What people need to understand is that these are interactions between humans," he said.

Bellefaire JCB in Shaker Heights, which also treats troubled children, uses restraint as a last resort, said Jeffrey Cox, clinical director.

"For us, disruptive is not enough," he said. If a child were to punch a staff member and walk away, that would not be a restraint situation because the immediate danger would be over, he said.

When restraints are used, the child's vital signs are carefully monitored, and children are not left alone immediately after being restrained, Cox said.

Faith was allowed to rest on the floor after she was released from the restraint, and workers later discovered her breathing was shallow. Parmadale staff lacked access to life-saving measures such as an automatic defibrillator to try to restart her heart.

The number of restraint-related injuries in Ohio is unclear because no agency collects the data. Information about major incidents, such as deaths or serious injuries, is supposed to be reported to the agency or agencies that license a facility. But that information is not shared.

In 2006, the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, an umbrella group that includes county mental health boards, pleaded for the creation of a statewide system to report child injuries in facilities.

The report pointed out that thousands of restraint-related injuries each year, including rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses and broken teeth, are not required to be reported. It concluded that fear of liability and the potential of losing facilities, which are already in short supply, were reasons that reforms were not being pushed.

"We tinker around the edges, but nobody is biting the bullet and fixing this problem," Cheri Walter, CEO of the group, said at the time.

Asked this week if any changes had been made since the 2006 paper was printed, Walter said, "Frankly, nothing has changed."

But now, officials are facing the death of a 17-year-old.

"It's unfortunately taken kids' deaths to prompt these kinds of changes," Nunno said.

CBS 5 Investigates: School 'Quiet Rooms' Continue Advocates Push For Restraint And Seclusion Law Changes

http://cbs5.com/investigates/Quiet.Rooms.kids.2.898717.html (Click on the link to watch the video)

Reporting Anna Werner

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Holding school kids down to the floor or closing them in so-called "quiet rooms" are practices advocates say can have dangers for the children and should be reduced or even eliminated.

But they're still allowed under California law, despite those advocates' efforts.

Naomi Liron says of her son, "He came home with three big pinch marks on his arm."

Liron says her 11-year-old son Reuben sustained injuries at school, like bruises on an arm, a rug burn on his face and emotional pain.

"He was depressed, very anxious and very depressed," says Liron.

Diagnosed with conditions including bipolar disorder and ADHD, Reuben attended the private Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, a school for children with special educational needs, for five years.

But his mother says it wasn't until earlier this year that she reallyunderstood what was happening with Reuben.

"I cried, when I read the incident reports," Liron said.

Those incident reports show how center staff at times restrained Reuben on the floor, in one report, holding him down for "ten minutes" after he misbehaved.

And on other occasions, how staff closed him into the "quiet room", where they noted he was "banging" and "ramming his body against the door."

In one report, a therapist wrote that he pleaded with her before being put in the room, "I love you, don't leave me, don't hurt me."

His mom says, "That's the one I cried the most about, because he's so desperate, and he's so scared."

Lincoln Child Center declined an on-camera interview about the case, citing confidentiality. In a statement, it says its ultimate goal is to keep children safe.

And under California law, restraining and even keeping children in those quiet rooms can be legal.

Which is why attorney Maggie Roberts, with Disability Rights California says, "I have great concerns."

Roberts is working on Reuben's case for Disability Rights California (formerly Protection and Advocacy).

According to Roberts, "They are reporting things that show that a child is very traumatized, and yet they continue to do it."

And a CBS5 investigation found similar incidents reported in schools across California and around the nation, in both public and private schools. Children have been locked in closets, or restrained, one even tied down with duct tape.

So last year, Roberts' group tried to change California law to limit those practices, and eliminate seclusion entirely. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.

The governor said the bill could stop school employees "from intervening in an emergency and place more students at risk."

But disability rights' Leslie Morrison says:

"By vetoing the bill and allowing these practices to continue we have put teachers and students at great risk."

Morrison says her group is looking into still more cases even now, like that of a 12 year old girl held repeatedly in asmall room with bare walls and no windows in San Diego and an injury sustained by a 9 year old boy on his backside, after being dragged by a classroom aide in a district north of Los Angeles.

"I'm concerned that students will continue to be restrained and secluded, that these practices will be unregulated, unreported, staff won't be trained, and we will continue to see students injured and traumatized," Morrison said.

As for Naomi Liron, she's moved Reuben to another school.

"He (Reuben) has been very, very happy. He's a different kid," she said.

***

Press Statement from Lincoln Child Center

"It is because of confidentiality requirements, we cannot and will not, discuss our clients' cases.

Lincoln Child Center has a 125-year history of providing quality care for children who have seen tremendous trauma in their lives; including violence in the community, complicated family situations and/or other episodes that no child should ever experience.

We operate as a certified level 14 residential facility, and a referral agency for some of the Bay Area's most emotionally and behaviorally challenged children.

Because of the severity of our clients' situations, we are mandated, and we do follow, strict Community Care Licensing, HIPAA, State of California and ethical requirements of client care, concern, and confidentiality.

The children at Lincoln have been referred to us because their extreme behavioral issues have led to repeated unsuccessful placements.

Our facility is one of only a few given the authority to treat the highest level of behavioral problems. Interactions with our children involve thoroughly trained staff.

Clients' situations are carefully monitored and documented to ensure they are treated properly.

Our ultimate goal is to keep our children safe from harming themselves and/or others as we work toward helping them lead safe and productive lives."

24 teachers disciplined by state

List includes 2 former teachers in Pittsburgh Public Schools

December 26, 2008
By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08361/937701-85.stm

The state Department of Education has taken action against the teaching certificates of 24 educators.

The actions were announced this week but taken as far back as July.

The list includes two former teachers in Pittsburgh Public Schools, Joseph Abraham and Ryan Novak, both of whom taught at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School.

Mr. Abraham, who coordinated the robotics program, surrendered his vocational instructional certificate in lieu of discipline. He pleaded guilty to corruption of minors and indecent assault in a case involving inappropriately touching a 15-year-old student and offering to pay her for sex. He was sentenced to three years' probation.

Mr. Novak's certificate in technology education was revoked. An industrial arts teacher, he pleaded guilty to two counts of corruption of minors and was sentenced to two years' probation. The charges were related to an ongoing sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl he once coached in soccer at Pittsburgh Schenley.

Other actions against teachers serving area students, and their most recent district, were:

• Peter C. Schepis Jr., substitute teacher and middle school football coach, South Fayette, certificate surrendered in lieu of discipline because "educator sent inappropriate e-mails containing sexually explicit narratives and photographs taken on school property."

• Derek J. Russo, science teacher, Beaver Area School District, certificate in biology and general science surrendered in lieu of discipline because "educator provided alcohol to minors."

• Michelle Palmer, also known as Michelle Fayish, elementary special education teacher, Westmoreland Intermediate Unit, public reprimand as a result of allegations involving inappropriate discipline of a special education student.

• Kim S. Crummie, Valley Middle School principal, New Kensington-Arnold School District, instructional and administrative certificates suspended beginning May 7, 2008, because of allegations that he solicited an undercover officer in a public restroom.

• Julie A. Miller, also known as Julie A. Dorwart, reading specialist, Agora Cyber Charter School, public reprimand for compromising the integrity of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test.

The full list is available on the Internet at www.pdenewsroom.state.pa.us, click "recent teacher certification actions."

Education writer Eleanor Chute can be reached at echute@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1955. First published on December 26, 2008 at 12:00 am

Investigation finds abuse, neglect of mentally disabled at state institutions

Over 50 dead in Texas due to awful patient care Investigation finds abuse, neglect of mentally disabled at state institutions

Associated Press
December 2, 2008

DALLAS - More than 50 mentally disabled patients in the large state-run institutions of Texas died in the past year from preventable conditions often related to poor care, a federal investigation revealed Tuesday.

Among other findings were that a resident had swallowed latex gloves three times and that a teenage resident with mild mental retardation might have been raped by a male employee.

Overall, the state investigated at least 500 allegations of abuse, neglect and other mistreatment of residents from July through September, according to the letter sent by the Department of Justice to Gov. Rick Perry.

The findings mark the third time in three years that the Justice Department has investigated the Texas facilities, known as state schools. Similar findings of mistreatment at the Lubbock State School came out in 2006; the latest letter details deficiencies in Texas' 12 other state schools.

In the one-year period ending in September, at least 114 residents died. Although many residents are considered medically fragile, at least 53 deaths were from possibly avoidable conditions such as pneumonia, bowel obstructions or sepsis, according to the letter.

Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman with the Texas agency that oversees the institutions, said state officials are reviewing the investigation's findings.

In an e-mail, Albrecht said the schools are adding positions, improving staff training, reducing the use of restraints and expanding community services for state school residents.

Jeff Garrison-Tate, an advocate who wants the state schools closed, called the report "devastating and horrifying." He said he is concerned the Legislature will give the facilities more money for staffing instead of increasing resources for community-based group homes.

"These places are not fixable," Garrison-Tate said. "It scares the heck out of me that the Legislature might dump more money into these toilets."

Investigators singled out the frequent and "disconcerting" use of physical restraints as an injury factor.

In January 2007, a teenage resident died while being held in restraints, the letter said. At a different facility four months later, "staff reportedly broke a resident's shin bone as they slammed him to the ground during a restraint."

The letter also notes that more than 800 employees from the 13 facilities were suspended or fired for mistreating patients since fiscal year 2004, as first reported by The Associated Press in April.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28023364/

Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms

By Ashley Fantz CNN

MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out."

The room where Jonathan King hanged himself is shown after his death. It is no longer used, a school official said.

1 of 3 "We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid."

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.

Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants.

An attorney representing the school has denied any wrongdoing.

Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and autistic children have been injured or traumatized.

Few states have laws on using seclusion rooms, though 24 states have written guidelines, according to a 2007 study conducted by a Clemson University researcher.

Texas, which was included in that study, has stopped using seclusion and restraint. Georgia has just begun to draft guidelines, four years after Jonathan's death.

Based on conversations with officials in 22 states with written guidelines, seclusion is intended as a last resort when other attempts to calm a child have failed or when a student is hurting himself or others.

Michigan requires that a child held in seclusion have constant supervision from an instructor trained specifically in special education, and that confinement not exceed 15 minutes.

Connecticut education spokesman Tom Murphy said "time-out rooms" were used sparingly and were "usually small rooms with padding on the walls."

Only Vermont tracks how many children are kept in seclusion from year to year, though two other states, Minnesota and New Mexico, say they have been using the rooms less frequently in recent years.

Don't Miss Parents press for autism insurance coverage Autism efforts go global at U.N. forum Dr. Veronica Garcia, New Mexico's education secretary, said her state had found more sophisticated and better ways to solve behavior problems. Garcia, whose brother is autistic, said, "The idea of confining a child in a room repeatedly and as punishment, that's an ethics violation I would never tolerate."

But researchers say that the rooms, in some cases, are being misused and that children are suffering.

Public schools in the United States are now educating more than half a million more students with disabilities than they did a decade ago, according to the National Education Association.

"Teachers aren't trained to handle that," said Dr. Roger Pierangelo, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers.

"When you have an out-of-control student threatening your class -- it's not right and it can be very damaging -- but seclusion is used as a 'quick fix' in many cases."

Former Rhode Island special education superintendent Leslie Ryan told CNN that she thought she was helping a disabled fifth-grader by keeping him in a "chill room" in the basement of a public elementary school that was later deemed a fire hazard.

"All I know is I tried to help this boy, and I had very few options," Ryan said. After the public learned of the room, she resigned from her post with the department but remains with the school.

School records do not indicate why Jonathan King was repeatedly confined to the concrete room or what, if any, positive outcome was expected.

His parents say they don't recognize the boy described in records as one who liked to kick and punch his classmates. They have launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the school -- the Alpine Program in Gainesville -- which has denied any wrongdoing. A Georgia judge is expected to rule soon on whether the case can be brought before a jury.

Jonathan's parents say the boy had been diagnosed since kindergarten with severe depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But his father remembers him as a boy who was happy when he sang in the church choir.

"He was a hugger, liked to go fishing with me and run after me saying, 'Daddy, when are we going to the lake?' " Don King said.

King said that he wanted to know if there were similar situations in other schools and that critics of seclusion rooms fear there could be.

"Jonathan's case is the worst of the worst, but it should be a warning. It's reasonable to think that it could happen in all the other schools that use seclusion on disabled children -- largely because the use of seclusion goes so unchecked," said Jane Hudson, an attorney with the National Disability Rights Network.

"This is one of those most unregulated, unresearched areas I've come across," said Joseph Ryan, a Clemson University special education researcher who has worked in schools for disabled kids and co-authored a study on the use of seclusion.

"You have very little oversight in schools of these rooms -- first because the general public doesn't really even know they exist," he said.

There is no national database tracking seclusion incidents in schools, though many have been described in media reports, lawsuits, disability advocacy groups' investigations and on blogs catering to parents who say their child had been held in seclusion.

Disability Rights California, a federally funded watchdog group, found that teachers dragged children into seclusion rooms they could not leave. In one case, they found a retarded 8-year-old had been locked alone in a seclusion room in a northeast California elementary school for at least 31 days in a year.

"What we found outrageous was that we went to the schools and asked to see the rooms and were denied," said Leslie Morrison, a psychiatric nurse and attorney who led the 2007 investigation that substantiated at least six cases of abuse involving seclusion in public schools.

"It took a lot of fighting to eventually get in to see where these children were held."

CNN asked every school official interviewed if a reporter could visit a seclusion room and was denied every time.

In other instances of alleged abuse:

• A Tennessee mother alleged in a federal suit against the Learn Center in Clinton that her 51-pound 9-year-old autistic son was bruised when school instructors used their body weight on his legs and torso to hold him down before putting him in a "quiet room" for four hours. Principal Gary Houck of the Learn Center, which serves disabled children, said lawyers have advised him not to discuss the case.

• Eight-year-old Isabel Loeffler, who has autism, was held down by her teachers and confined in a storage closet where she pulled out her hair and wet her pants at her Dallas County, Iowa, elementary school. Last year, a judge found that the school had violated the girl's rights. "What we're talking about is trauma," said her father, Doug Loeffler. "She spent hours in wet clothes, crying to be let out." Waukee school district attorney Matt Novak told CNN that the school has denied any wrongdoing.

• A mentally retarded 14-year-old in Killeen, Texas, died from his teachers pressing on his chest in an effort to restrain him in 2001. Texas passed a law to limit both restraint and seclusion in schools because the two methods are often used together.

Federal law requires that schools develop behavioral plans for students with disabilities. These plans are supposed to explicitly explain behavior problems and methods the teacher is allowed to use to stop it, including using music to calm a child or allowing a student to take a break from schoolwork.

A behavioral plan for Jonathan King, provided to CNN by the Kings' attorney, shows that Jonathan was confined in the seclusion room on 15 separate days for infractions ranging from cursing and threatening other students to physically striking classmates.

Howard "Sandy" Addis, the director of the Pioneer education agency which oversees Alpine, said that the room where Jonathan died is no longer in use. Citing the ongoing litigation, he declined to answer questions about the King case but defended the use of seclusion for "an emergency safety situation."

The Alpine Program's attorney, Phil Hartley, said Jonathan's actions leading up to his suicide did not suggest the boy was "serious" about killing himself. Jonathan's actions were an "effort to get attention," Hartley said.

"This is a program designed for students with severe emotional disabilities and problems," he said. "It is a program which frequently deals with students who use various methods of getting attention, avoiding work."

A substitute employee placed in charge of watching the room on the day Jonathan died said in an affidavit that he had no training in the use of seclusion, and didn't know Jonathan had threatened suicide weeks earlier.

The Kings say they would have removed their son from the school if they knew he was being held in seclusion, or that he had expressed a desire to hurt himself.

"We would have home schooled him or taken him to another psychologist," said Don King. "If we would have known, our boy would have never been in that room. He would still be alive."

Should Schools Use Time-Out Rooms?

November 20,2008
DES MOINES, Iowa

http://www2.tbo.com/poll/2008/oct/17/35/should-schools-use-time-out-rooms/#poll_35 (Click on the link and cast your vote)

Some experts call school time-out rooms 'abuse'

By Michael Crumb, Associated Press

DES MOINES — After failing to finish a reading assignment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room — a converted storage area under a staircase — where she was left alone for three hours. The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave. Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit.

Some educators say time-out rooms are being used with increased frequency to discipline children with behavioral disorders. And the time-outs are probably doing more harm than good, they add.

Segregating children removes them from the positive aspect of the classroom and highlights that they're different from other children, said Stephen Camarata, director of the Kennedy Center for Behavioral Research at Vanderbilt University. And isolating an autistic child might be particularly counterproductive.

"They don't like being around other people so they might increase their negative behavior because they view it a reward," he said.

Though there are no data on the use of time-out rooms, Camarata speculates that they've become widespread as schools confronted a growing enrollment of children with behavior disorders.

STUDY: Boys' parents more likely to report problems ARCHIVES: Antipsychotic drugs carry some risks for kids

"I believe it's because classrooms are much less flexible with more focus on compliance," he said.

The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, Calif., receives calls from parents across the country who complain about time-out rooms, said Cheryl Theis, an education advocate for the organization.

"Parents call and say their child's disability has been exacerbated by this and are traumatized by this," she said.

Merrell said he's encountered time-out rooms he felt were unsafe.

"I once consulted with a school in another state and had a weekly appointment with a child to do some counseling and when I got there they told me he was in a time-out room," he said. "He was in a janitor's closet with no windows, no ventilation, open cans of paint, a mop bucket with disinfectant, and he had been in there for over an hour."

Merrell, who has published nearly 100 studies and 10 books on teaching social and emotional skills, said time-out rooms can be used effectively but seldom are. The key, he said, is to combine the time outs with social skills training.

Patti Ralabate, a special education analyst with the National Education Association, said time-out rooms are common but should be used sparingly.

"And when they are used, all of the educators involved need to have appropriate professional development to see how this is used and how to use them appropriately," she said.

Ralabate said a time-out room can be effective if it is intended to provide a space for a child to calm down and reflect on their behavior.

"If it is used to isolate the child, punish the child for a behavior, then we would view it as not productive and not positive," she said.

In Iowa, Doug and Eva Loeffler started to notice changes in their daughter in December 2004, soon after she began school in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee. It prompted them to take Isabel to University Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for evaluations.

"We laid awake at nights thinking we'd have to institutionalize her," Doug Loeffler said. "We went to three evaluations at the hospital and all of a sudden we find out she's being mistreated."

Loeffler said they weren't told in school evaluation reports that their daughter had been restrained and placed in a time-out room. During one incident in December 2005, Isabel wet herself because she was locked in the room for three hours and not allowed to use a restroom, he said. Loeffler said the time-out room rules required that before she could be released, she must sit on the floor with her legs crossed without moving a muscle for at least five minutes.

"If she said something, grimaced at them, they would restart the clock and she was not capable of doing that," Loeffler said. "That's why it was three hours."

Loeffler said the couple home-schooled Isabel until he took a new job and the family moved last year to California. Isabel, now 12, has shown signs of progress and is back in public school, he said.

David Wilkerson, superintendent of the Waukee school district, declined to speak about the accusations because of the pending lawsuit. But he said time-out rooms are a "pretty common practice" and that the district complies with the state's guidelines for such rooms.

Loeffler said he is pressing ahead with the lawsuit and hopes to draw attention to the need for nationwide standards for time-out rooms.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-20-time-out-discipline_N.htm

Some Calif. Schools Locking Children In Closets

Please watch the video and then wait for the second video to come on.

http://cbs5.com/local/school.quiet.room.2.758380.html

Jun 27, 2008 Anna Werner

Locking children in closets doesn't sound like something that could possibly happen in California's school system. But CBS 5 Investigates has uncovered evidence that it is a hidden problem, not reported by schools, and unknown to many parents. A closet in a classroom that brings the memories back for a student we will call Chris.

"The door is closed, it's totally dark. There is a little tiny beam of light that comes under the door, but that's it." Chris told CBS 5 Investigates. When he was asked if he was trapped, he responded, "Pretty much."

Chris was a 6th grader at Mendenhall Middle School in Livermore. Despite his high IQ, behaviors resulting from a diagnosis of ADHD landed him in a special education class. He quickly discovered that anything considered 'misbehavior', like getting up out of your chair or not completing class assignments meant a trip to the closet.

"You really don't understand what it's like until you actually go through it," Chris said. He says he was put in the "Quiet Room" a lot, and there was no getting out. "They would sit on the door so you couldn't get out and then sometimes they would put a chair up against the door," Chris recalled. "I sat in there for a whole school day one time."

And once, he tried to resist going in and a teacher got physical.

"He twisted my arm up behind my back and then he just pushed me and I hit the wall pretty hard," Chris said. "I felt intimidated kind of, because I mean he is bigger than me and he knows that."

How can that happen? Most parents can't imagine it: Their child shut into a room, sometimes as small as a closet. Under California law, it's only supposed to happen if the child is a danger to themselves or others. But advocates tell CBS 5 Investigates it's happening far more frequently than that.

Leslie Morrison is an investigator with Protection and Advocacy Inc., a non-profit that works with the disabled. "I think it's an enormous problem," she said. "In all of the cases that we investigated, the underlying incident that triggered restraint and seclusion is non-compliance with staff direction. They didn't do what the teacher asked them to do."

For example, there is a fenced area that looks kind of like a dog run at the John F. Kennedy School near Modesto. A U.S. Department of Education investigation found children were left here without access to a toilet, water or food, even some who had medical conditions including diabetes, seizures and asthma.

"Seclusion is very psychologically traumatizing, especially for children. Children fear being locked in a closet," Morrison said.

And it's not just seclusion. Morrison said teachers also sometimes physically restrain children improperly. Such as a 6-year-old who came home with duct tape on his clothing. It was used to literally tie him into a chair at a school in Southern California.

And staff at many schools also engage in so-called "take downs." Morrison said, "The most common one is face down on the floor and then you lean into their back or sides so that they can't breathe."

But Morrison said without proper training, "As the child is struggling to breathe the person is holding them down on the floor to stop the struggling. And what happens is you actually stop them breathing."

Morrison's group is backing SB 1515, legislation by California State Senator Sheila Kuehl that would limit restraints and ban seclusion. But some who work in the field oppose it.

Carroll Schroeder heads the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, a lobbying group for non-profit providers which opposes SB 1515. "If and when the time comes, you need to have at least those two options available to you," Schroeder said. "If those kids don't have that option of that room, either the schools call the police, and the police will pick them up, or they will be suspended from school."

But not according to Frank Marone, a recognized behaviorist with B*E*T*A Behavior Education Training Associates. The group works with students with disabilities. "We have been able to illustrate that restraint is not necessary," he said.

They work with students such as Mario McMillan, who is autistic. "He would start hitting, throwing chairs, throwing his shoes," his mother Rufina McMillan told CBS 5 Investigates. At his former private school in Oakland, Spectrum, documents show teachers physically restrained McMillan on numerous occasions.

"I was very worried," Rufina McMillan said. "Maybe he would stop breathing."

But at the Via school, where Mario goes to school now, and where Marone trains teachers only positive behavior techniques and not to use restraint or seclusion, a big change. "He's calm now, totally calm," his mother said.

Meanwhile, Chris is now home-schooled and doing better. But he said that he can't forget that closet. "Human beings aren't supposed to be treating each other like that, you know," Chris said. "I mean it's just not supposed to happen."

After Chris's family filed a complaint, the Livermore School District shut his special education program down. John F. Kennedy School in Modesto said they have changed their practices as a result of the government investigation. As for Spectrum, they say they use safe and approved techniques to restrain students when there is danger.

School put autistic boy in time-out 'closet,' mom says

Mother complains that school isolated son in room 78 times

By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
April 13, 2008
Louisville,KY

An Oldham County mother has filed a complaint with the state after learning that Crestwood Elementary officials put her 8-year-old autistic son in a small, empty room nearly 80 times last fall because of his behavior -- sometimes locking him in.

"They keep calling it a time-out room," said Jeanie Montgomery of Centerfield, who has pulled her son from Crestwood. "It is a closet."

Montgomery has filed a sworn complaint with the state Department of Education, alleging the school has violated her son's rights when it locked him in the 32-square-foot room built specifically to deal with disruptive behavior.

Her complaint cites school records showing that Matthew was placed in the room 78 times during an 11-week period last year.

Montgomery said she also has filed several complaints with state child-protective-service officials over the school's use of the time-out room, as well as recent instances in which she says Matthew came home with cuts and scrapes that she believes happened at school.

"I am afraid for his safety," said Montgomery, adding that her son has limited speech because of his autism and can't describe what happened.

Oldham school officials deny any abuse and are cooperating fully with child-protective services, spokeswoman Rebecca DeSensi said

DeSensi and Anne Coorssen, general counsel for the Oldham school system, said they couldn't comment on details of Matthew's case because of federal laws that govern student confidentiality.

The school follows state Department of Education guidelines for using time-out rooms, which are part of most of the district's classrooms for special-needs students, DeSensi said.

"Our policy in this district is to ensure student safety," she said.

Should be last defense Department of Education guidelines, issued in 2000, state that placing a student in seclusion is a "drastic measure that should only be used as a last defense measure" and that schools should "never lock a student in a closed setting."

Montgomery said the school removed a lock from the time-out room's door in December after she complained.

Coorssen said the lock on the outside of the door was placed there to keep students from entering the room -- not to lock people in. She said school officials ordered it removed as soon as they learned of it and are investigating to determine who placed it there.

"There was a lock placed on the door," she said. "If they were using that to lock a student in, that would be a problem."

She said school officials have not taken action against any employees in the matter.

Chris George, a private therapist who spent several hours observing Matthew in class Nov. 12 at his mother's request, said he saw the boy locked in the time-out room four times.

After hearing George's report, Montgomery said she visited the classroom Nov. 28 and found Matthew again locked in the time-out room. She said she had to wait while the teacher released him.

Coorssen said the school board has reviewed its policies on time out with principals and teachers and reminded them of the state education department guidelines.

DeSensi said Oldham County officials are trying to work with Montgomery to resolve her concerns about her son's education.

"We have cooperated with the family," she said.

But Montgomery and George, who is one of two therapists working with Matthew, attended a series of meetings with school officials to resolve problems and said they met only bureaucratic delays.

"They never would give me direct answers," Montgomery said.

She acknowledges her son can be disruptive but said his education plan calls for teachers to try other methods of calming him, such as distracting or soothing him, before using time out.

Though the time-out room is only supposed to be used for aggressive behavior, the school's records show in many cases, Matthew was placed in it for minor transgressions, such as not following directions or dropping a pencil, the complaint said.

On March 28, Coorssen sent Montgomery's lawyer a letter offering to settle her March 10 complaint to the Education Department in part by an "immediate transfer to another elementary school." But Montgomery would first have to sign an agreement that "the time-out issues have been satisfactorily resolved," Coorssen's letter said.

Montgomery said she's not willing to do that.

"It's just not right," she said. "If they were using the right interventions with him, I don't think we would have this problem."

The state Education Department has assigned a mediator to try to resolve the complaint.

Heavy-handed approach Officials with Bullitt and Jefferson County public schools say their policies do not allow a disruptive or upset child to be placed alone in a locked room.

"That doesn't seem to be something I could justify," said Janet Leitner, a former school principal who serves as elementary school liaison for Jefferson County Public Schools. "I would wonder what the child is learning in that situation."

In Bullitt or Jefferson counties, students may be placed in time out -- but that generally involves seating them in a separate area of the classroom or, in more serious cases, sending them to the principal or counselor's office, officials said.

Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said the use of time-out rooms is a concern for his agency, which often gets calls from parents about alleged abuse of the rooms. Brooks said he hasn't tracked how many, but the calls come in fairly regularly.

"My guess in this particular instance is that it's happening in far too many schoolhouses across the state," Brooks said.

George and Meghan Launius, the other therapist working with Matthew, say they are troubled by the boy's treatment, particularly by the locked time-out room. They said the room, when they last viewed it, had no carpet, was poorly lit and had paper taped over a narrow window, blocking the view into the room.

"It is a very heavy-handed approach," said George, a certified behavior analyst with a master's degree in education. "He deserves much better than what he's getting."

DeSensi said the room is 32 square feet in size, is carpeted, well-lit and has a window in the door that is not to be blocked. But she wouldn't let The Courier-Journal see or photograph the room, saying the school was closed for spring break so the floors could be waxed.

Coorssen said time out is used for students only with parents' permission.

Montgomery acknowledged that Matthew's "Individual Education Plan" allows for time out, but she said she thought that meant separating him from other students to allow him to calm down -- not locking him in a room.

Injuries were reported Coorssen said she couldn't comment about Montgomery's allegations that Matthew had come home from school with cuts and scrapes, including what appeared to be nail gouges in his arm.

But she said staff and teachers are trained on how to safely manage children without injuring them.

In one of her complaints to state child-protective-service officials, Montgomery alleges that on March 28, Matthew got off the school bus with his face and chest covered with small red marks and what appeared to be abrasions on his back and shoulders.

On the advice of her pediatrician, Montgomery said she took him to Kosair Children's Hospital for evaluation.

Discharge paperwork shows the hospital reported the injuries to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services as suspected abuse.

Montgomery said she's frustrated because she doesn't believe state child protection workers are taking the abuse allegations seriously. She said a supervisor told her at one point to work out the problem with school officials.

Jim Grace, a supervisor in Frankfort who oversees child-abuse investigations, said confidentiality laws prevent him from discussing individual cases. But he said the state takes all abuse allegations very seriously.

And cases involving an outside entity, such as a school or day care, get an extra level of review from supervisors, he said.

Montgomery said she would like Matthew to return to school but doesn't want him to go back to Crestwood Elementary and is asking the district to provide alternatives.

"He has a right to be at school and he has a right to be safe," she said.

Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080413/NEWS0105/304230003

School's use of 'timeout rooms' prompts complaint

October 31, 2007

Leon County Florida School District's use of seclusion or "timeout" rooms has prompted a formal complaint to the state by the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities. A former Tallahassee parent sought out the agency after her 7-year-old child, who has learning disabilities, was put in a closed-door, timeout room at Chaires Elementary School about six times at the beginning of the school year. The child was put in the room for behaviors like "pouting" and "walking inappropriately," the agency said.

But Ward Spisso, director of exceptional-student education, said the district has been using timeout rooms for more than 20 years. Besides Chaires, Sealey, Oakridge, Roberts and Springwood elementaries have timeout rooms.

Spisso said he doesn't feel the complaint is warranted.

"We feel very comfortable in our methodologies that we use in classrooms that have students with behavioral difficulties," Spisso said.

Chaires Principal Christi Moss said her school has three rooms, and this is the first time the school has received a complaint. Moss said, "We have to get their behavior under control so we can help them with their academics."

A child is not automatically put in a timeout room, according to the district. When the child misbehaves, he or she is given a chair timeout, then a open-door timeout if it continues. The closed-door timeout is given after several infractions.

The complaint was submitted to the Department of Education two weeks ago, said attorney Bob Jacobs, who is representing the parent for the advocacy group.

"My (child) is beginning to have a severe phobia about being in a room with the door closed," the mother wrote in her complaint. "She will not close the bathroom door at home when she uses the bathroom. . . . She is expressing that she does not want to go to school because 'they will put me in that room.'"

The report said the child came from an out-of-state school district that didn't use timeout rooms and did well. The mother has since taken the child out of the Leon district and placed her in another school system.

Jacobs said the timeout rooms are too severe a punishment for children with disabilities who commit minor infractions.

"I don't think our schools need locked seclusion rooms," Jacobs said. "I think it is inconsistent with humane and appropriate education with children with disabilities."

Spisso described the timeout rooms as "small-size rooms that have observation windows" and each room is controlled through a magnetic system. Although the rooms are not considered "locked," according to Spisso, a child cannot get out of the room unless an adult from the other side of the door opens it or the school's fire alarm automatically releases the lever.

Parents say teacher locked her child in closet 4 hours

Tennessee
Anna Marie Hartman reports
June 13, 2007

A 12-year old boy spent four hours locked in a closet at school. His teacher admits to putting him there. Now, his parents want justice. Suzy Hayden says the Shelby County school system and one of its teachers should be held accountable for locking her special needs son in a closet. But it looks like that's not going to happen. Jonathan Hayden came from school last Fall with some very disturbing news. "I said how was your day. The teacher locked me in the closet all day and I said, 'what', I was shocked," says Suzy Hayden.

When his mother called BonLin Elementary school to alert the staff, the principal found Jonathan locked in a classroom closet. Hayden adds, "and he had fecal matter all over him and she had to clean him up and she called me and told me."

Jonathan has a high functioning form of autism, he was placed in the county's short-term education or S.T.E.P. program.

Classrooms are supposed to have a time out area where troubled students can be safely monitored.

"How can you monitor if the door is locked and closed and he was in there for four hours at a time. And you never put a child in time out for more than five or ten minutes," explains Hayden.

A Department of Children Service's investigation revealed that Jonathan Hayden was a victim of child abuse. But the Hayden's were notified last week that DCS dropped the case against teacher Sara Matz.

New information came to light and based on that DCS investigators and their attorneys agreed that they couldn't meet their burden of proof in the case so they elected to dismiss it.

"Bottom line is, Miss Matz did nothing wrong," says Matz's attorney Leslie Ballin.

The county school system is now paying for Jonathan Hayden to attend a private school in Columbia, Tennessee.

But his mother was hoping the teacher who locked him in a closet would be held accountable. "Because this means she could hurt other children or do this same thing and how many children has she done this to before," adds Hayden.

Sara Matz has not been charged with anything.

Hayden says she would like to pursue the case but it's tough to find an attorney who will help because legal experts say it's very difficult to prove abuse inside a school.

TROUBLED TEENS - TEEN ABUSE - HELP FOR TEENS - GAO - HELP YOUR TEEN - STRUGGLING TEENS
STRUGGLING TEEN - TEEN DATING - ADD ADHD - RESTRAINTS - CHILD ABUSE - PARENTS