Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Their Will

The room where they locked up Heather Luke's 10-year-old son had cinder block walls, a dim light and a fan in the ceiling that rattled so insistently her son would beg them to silence it. Sometimes, Carson later told his mother, workers would run the fan to make him stop yelling. A thick metal door with locks—which they threw, clank-clank-clank—separated the autistic boy from the rest of the decrepit building in Chesapeake, Virginia, just south of Norfolk

Original source: www.propublica.org...
Alternate source: www.npr.org...

We've been seeing a few shocking videos of school security and their behaviors within the schools as of late, including the recent video of a school security officer beating a teenage boy with cerebral palsy. These two articles, however, are not talking about clearly illegal abuse but what is legal and currently being used in many schools. That's pretty disturbing especially when there's been injuries incurred. Both articles cite the same instance of an autistic boy whose hand was broken and required surgery. Whereas one would hope that such an incident would be a freak accident, it apparently isn't.

Connecticut schools reported 378 holds or isolations that resulted in injuries to children in the 2013 school year. Of those, 10 were classified as "serious" and required medical attention beyond basic first aid.

Restraints in Connecticut schools usually lasted less than 20 minutes, but nearly 200 of them continued for more than an hour. A quarter of the students who were restrained experienced six or more holds during the year. Nineteen students were restrained more than 100 times.Propublica

So apparently, Carson wasn't the only child to be seriously injured in these practices and the number of children with disabilities that are being put through this is substantial. Carson is autistic. As an autistic mom of an autistic child, one of the biggest problems with autism is that we develop deep aversions to repeat negative events and, as such, being physically restrained and locked into a noisy room (pit of hell for an autistic) is going to actually encourage the fight or flight instinct in an autistic child. It nearly guarantees that they will be more physically resistant the next time around and it can become incredibly psychologically damaging for the child. It's a stupid way of handling any child, let alone an autistic one.

We entrust our children to our schools for huge tracts of time, often 5 days a week, every school year. If they're doing things that are legal that many of us would not do at home, then honestly, I don't see how this should be legal.

For those who are concerned about the practices in their children's schools, Propublica provided a graphic that lists specific elements of school standards on both the restraint and seclusion rules:

projects.propublica.org...

Sometime during the early years of my government-provided 'education,' it occurred to me that the experience resembled what I imagined prison would be like. After learning my ABC's and basic math, I spent eight years learning how to obey commands and tolerate bureaucratic idiocy.

Too bad parents can't exercise any direct power over these abusive schools. If only there were a school somewhere that couldn't force students to attend, and thus had to actually teach kids in order to receive funding...

The public school system is a centralized joke.

Great public education.


Here's an alarming story from Dec 2011...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A 9-year-old autistic boy who misbehaved at school was stuffed into a duffel bag and the drawstring pulled tight, according to his mother, who said she found him wiggling inside as a teacher's aide stood by.

The mother of fourth-grader Christopher Baker said her son called out to her when she walked up to him in the bag Dec. 14. The case has spurred an online petition calling for the firing of school employees responsible.

"He was treated like trash and thrown in the hallway," Chris' mother, Sandra Baker, said Thursday. She did not know how exactly how long he had been in the bag, but probably not more than 20 minutes.

School accused of putting autistic student in bag

and CNN's story..with a news video;
Mother says her autistic son was put in bag as discipline at school

Mainstreaming, political correctness, and a lack of legal options for educators is also a problem. My daughter is a "specials" teacher (ie like art/music/library/computer) and no one ever tells her if a child has special needs. She normally has to ferret out the information in covert ways to know how to best handle the mainstreamed child. Mainstream teachers, unlike in special education classrooms, have no training in how to handle special needs children, nor does the school administrator who is not allowed to physically touch the child who becomes a problem by injuring themselves or others, or so disrupting the classroom that no teaching can be accomplished.

There is another side to the story it is also up to the parents to educate the teachers and the school staff on the best way to handle their child who gets out of control. Be it self injury or becoming so disruptive that the other students can not learn or attempting to injure others.

My daughter had one child she let rock in a corner with one of her puppets after learning he was autistic, 2 months after he entered her classroom. She also had the child who liked to "share his blood" with other children sit out of arms length from other children during class etc.

However, no one came to her, not even the parents at the beginning of school to discuss their child's special needs and the best way to handle their special needs child -
for that I fault the parents -
who could have headed off a lot of problems before she had to go and dig out the information she "wasn't supposed to know." that she needed for everyone to get a good education.

a reply to: OpenMindedRealist

There are. Too bad you have to be relatively well off in order to pay for them and escape the public school gulag system.

originally posted by: grandmakdw
My daughter had one child she let rock in a corner with one of her puppets after learning he was autistic, 2 months after he entered her classroom. She also had the child who liked to "share his blood" with other children sit out of arms length from other children during class etc.

Not to sound cold, but how is a child rocking in the corner of a room and apparently personifying a puppet and another that likes to fling their blood on other students conducive to education of the other 20-odd non-disruptive kids in the room?

IMO it's selfish to require the teacher (who has no idea what 'medical' problems these kids have) to spend a disproportionate amount of class time on these kids, rather than on that one kid that just doesn't understand long division.

On top of that, can you imagine the amount of training that educators would have to have to be able to care for the litany of 'medical' problems that today's kids have. They may as well become MDs

a reply to: grandmakdw

Now wait a minute. These kids should have an IEP. If they are in a special education setting than it is also the teachers responsibility to look up what may be going on. Heck, even if they have a kid that is disruptive they can at least inquire if they have an IEP and go look it up for chrissake. The information is there.

My daughter is on the autistic spectrum and I learned that every year, and when she got to Jr. High every semester I had to make a meeting with every. single. one of her teachers to let them know what was going on. And you know what? The first year in Junior High about half of them bothered to get back to me so that I could even arrange a phone conversation to talk. I had to hound them and the office and eventually the superintendent to get some of them to have a conversation.

Don't get me wrong, the ones that were great were great, but a sizeable percentage were barely interested. So I have to take the initiative figure out how to contact every teacher she has, (which is a rotating roster every semester), leave them a message, pester them until they get back to me, try to get them to make the time to talk, and then try to convince them that her problems are real and not just a result of an undisciplined kid and/or bad parenting. So fine. Parents need to do their part but plenty of teachers don't do their part either. I made sure everyone had my contact info, and I had theirs and I said "call me anytime". I worked hard to maintain an open line of communication and some of her teachers took me up on that, and most of them didn't, until there was a crisis.

From where I'm standing most teachers are so overwhelmed with the plethora of paperwork and standardization that they barely have the time to actually focus on the kids. So I'll give a nod to that, but don't you dare just pass off all responsibility to parents when there are plenty of teachers dropping the ball at least as much. Your daughter and her colleagues can get off their butt and go look up the IEP or (heaven forbid) call the parents of the child in question themselves instead of just waiting passively for the information to drop in their lap and blame the parents when it doesn't magically materialize. Communication is a two way street.

They're not legal And many of the laws or ordinances are not legal. They're not even legal to enforce when they violate the constitution and also due process.

my brother is autistic and has mobious syndrome as well when he was in elementary school i dont know how it happened but a teacher slammed the door on his ring finger and cut half of it off..thier are some careless people out there its ridiculous..

a reply to: redhorse

Agreed. My autistic child had an IEP plus a bar against contact sports due to hemophilia. To put it into perspective, even though I had both instructed my son to never play football. Although the school had that he was an autistic hemophiliac on record, his gym teacher still was forcing him to play "touch" football to which he was saying "no, I can't" to. She lost her temper and somehow his pinky got "sprained" as she told me in the call for me to come get him. She broke his finger and it never healed right. That particular teacher, for which I typically call a string of expletives, just flat out lost her temper and broke his finger in the process. Period. She also doesn't work there anymore.

To say that any of these parents didn't inform their children's teachers of preexisting problems as grandmakdw did is absolute bs and insulting to the parent. One of the first things that a parent of a special needs child learns really quick is that there is only one actual advocate and protector for their child and that's the person they see looking in the mirror every morning. That's reality. Like you said, communication is a two way street. It also requires the other party to listen. Every year, multiple meetings and email conversations. It's comes with the turf.

Regardless of whether a child is special needs or not, I still hold that sticking ANY child into a physical restraint and/or seclusion is just wrong in my book and much of what does get cited in both articles combined just sounds like licensed abuse by an individual that is not the child's parent. The only time I could see a physical restraint being necessary would be if two students were fighting and refuse to break it up or a kid brandishes a weapon and only those two things.

originally posted by: Lipton

originally posted by: grandmakdw
My daughter had one child she let rock in a corner with one of her puppets after learning he was autistic, 2 months after he entered her classroom. She also had the child who liked to "share his blood" with other children sit out of arms length from other children during class etc.

Not to sound cold, but how is a child rocking in the corner of a room and apparently personifying a puppet and another that likes to fling their blood on other students conducive to education of the other 20-odd non-disruptive kids in the room?

IMO it's selfish to require the teacher (who has no idea what 'medical' problems these kids have) to spend a disproportionate amount of class time on these kids, rather than on that one kid that just doesn't understand long division.

On top of that, can you imagine the amount of training that educators would have to have to be able to care for the litany of 'medical' problems that today's kids have. They may as well become MDs

It's been going on since the 80's. There were a whole bunch of reasons:

The education departments were eager to get rid of old school buildings that had been around since the 1930's. They were Victorian in design with high ceilings, large windows and extremely expensive to heat. Then the departments could spend the money on other areas of education. Property developers wanted those buildings because they could turn them into upmarket apartments with high ceilings, large windows and landscaped gardens. The politicians loved the idea because it looked like they were saving the country money and taking the stigma away from mental illness.

The teaching unions knew what was going on, but they were called "moaning minnies". Then when schools were unable to find qualified teachers for specialized subjects like mathematics and science, these subjects had to be abandoned.

There is a online document called the "21st CENTURY TEACHER APPLICANT". It's well related to this discussion.

a reply to: redhorse

You didn't catch that she is a "specials" teacher (ie art/music/library/computer, are specials teachers who see the children normally only once a week). No she was never told about an IEP on any student. She saw on average 800 children a week and relied on the classroom teacher to tell her about any special needs student, no one and I repeat no one told her about any child before she asked. She had to dig into why certain children constantly "misbehaved". Once she discovered a child was special needs she immediately called me (I taught child development in college) and asked what was the best way to handle this need.

She is compassionate and caring, but honestly, not one parent showed up in her classroom to tell them about their child's special needs.

What was described in the OP was horrific and should never have happened. Those of you who replied to me do the right thing and go to the teachers. However, I can assure you not one parent went to her. On the school open houses, not one parent showed up in her classroom.

The teachers were reluctant to share which children had problems because of "privacy issues", so she had to seek out the vice-principal and beg to look at the IEP which even the vice-principal was reluctant to share because of privacy issues.

If something had happened in her classroom because she was kept in the dark, I would blame the parent if they complained because they never communicated with her.

Good for those of you who do take the time and initiative to talk to your child's teachers, I only wish all parents of special needs children would follow your example.

Great thread WhiteAlice. I was sent to an outdoor therapeutic program in the north GA mountains in my teens. They used the basket restraint religiously until they were shutdown around 2006ish from holding an asthmatic 13 year old in the basket restraint for several hours until he died. It is deplorable.

From personal experience I was placed in this hold on 3 occasions. None were justified as there was no physical threat it was simply used in instances of non-cooperation. One incident I tried to buck the program and wanted to stay at camp instead of hike the 3 miles to the mess hall to eat and bam instant restraint. I broke free from the restraint on another occasion because it induces a claustrophobic response from people and you cant help but resist which prolongs the event and tried to hide myself underneath a vehicle wrapping on to the axle but this caused them to drag me out and apply pressure to my throat with their knee since that was all they could get too. These were not LEOs but counselors and my parents had paid for this

"Leave the disciplining/spanking of your children to us."

a reply to: WhiteAlice

Reading through that, I am beyond furious. If a child of mine, or a niece or nephew, or grandchild, was treated that way, I'd probably end up in jail for my response. Just the thought of my nephew or grandson, both of whom are autistic, being treated like that, makes steam come out of my ears. Almost literally.

What is wrong with these people?!?!? Hospitals, nursing homes, and psychiatric treatment facilities cannot use such methods, but schools CAN?!?!? If a parent were to lock a child in a bare room like that, you can guarantee CPS would be pushing for criminal charges, but the SCHOOL can do it??? Anyone that doubts parents would be charged, do a search. They are charged for such behavior.

The ONLY reason I could see any restraint at all for a child in school is is the child was attempting to harm others, or themselves, and that was the only option. Certainly, injuring the child is NOT a valid part of such a solution, either. Treating an autistic child in such a fashion is simply messed up. Slamming his hand in a door?!?!? For what, making noise?

This is as bad as the case where the mother found her child in a duffel-bag sort of restraint, in the hallway. These people need to have the crap beat out of them, on the spot, with no repercussions for the parent.

This is beyond sick. Programming; teaching children that they are slaves to the State, and cannot protest or they will be treated as prisoners. They ARE prisoners. The Department of Education needs to go, immediately. Across the board. Let local government arrange schooling. That our elected officials haven't done anything about this is a disgrace.

Well, God doesn't take it lightly when people are evil to children. Their day will come.



Time to listen to some Drowning Pool.....anyone care to guess the song?

a reply to: NihilistSanta

I knew a young man who was put into one of those in the dead of winter in Utah. He escaped it and tried very hard to make his way to me for safety. He got caught and carted right back. The whole experience left him pretty scarred. Very sorry that you went through one of those programs. They were brutal from what I understand and I'm very glad that many got shut down.

It's bad enough that a private organization would engage in these kind of techniques with children and that parents pay for it. I guess, thinking about those "boot camps" should make it of little surprise that such techniques have been institutionalized into the public system and at the same time, is intensely surprising. If they knew that children were being injured or even dying from these techniques back when you were in one of these camps, then what the devil are they thinking using them in our schools?

Know what I mean?

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I bet I know which one, lol. It is really infuriating and although I'm an atheist, it's things like this that makes me wish that there was a special place in hell for those who deliberately harm children. I don't know if it's that the Department of Education needs to go or if it needs a severe house cleaning. I think there are a lot of good teachers involved in the schools but we might also have a problem with the mentally disturbed within the system. In my book, one has to be mentally disturbed to basically torture children as they are the most vulnerable in society. Speaking from experience, the long term damages from such activities could be considerable for the children that experience it.

a reply to: WhiteAlice
And just another reason to home school your kids.

The Public School system is more worried about Union Rights and protests, than the actual education and safety of OUR children.

originally posted by: macman
a reply to: WhiteAlice
And just another reason to home school your kids.

The Public School system is more worried about Union Rights and protests, than the actual education and safety of OUR children.

I disagree with the second part as I do have several friends that are teachers and counselors who are distressed about other things within the school system beyond how much they are getting paid. I don't think it's that simple. I could lay out a really good argument for how having a base of common education is actually in society's best interest. However, the inherent issues within our public education system are in part being underfunded compared to other countries and due to that underfunding, it could attract those with other motivations outside of the almighty dollar. In the best case scenario, you can find teachers who live and breathe their students and love the idea of helping their students flourish. In the worst case scenario, you have those that may be motivated by less savory intentions such as power/control issues and abuse. I'd say that there is a mix of both in our schools and, like I said, it's clearly not the money drawing them in. Actually improving teacher pay to make it a financially viable job could bring more balance to the system and help flush out the despicable (and reward those who do have our children's best interests in mind to boot).

We're a country that spends around $1.4 trillion annually on national security when our children are our greatest assurance of national security. Having smart, critical kids who have some immunity to persuasion and an excellent base education would be the ideal for both democracy and assuring a good base for our industries. They are the future of this country and should be our pride. Instead, the discretionary budgets for our schools is around $60-70 billion. My grandfather was a colonel and MAJCOM comptroller in the USAF. He used to drive onto the bases regularly with a bumper sticker that said it would be a great day if the USAF had to throw a bake sale to buy a bomber and schools had all the money they needed. The fallacy of our government's actions was obvious to him and he was career military. Go figure.

Instead, it's one of our poorest public sector departments governing our most precious future. If we paid them well, then would they feel quite so motivated to have unions that could, in the worst case scenario, assure a cretin keeps his job? Cause and effect. There is so much that we could and should do to protect children in our schools from both within and without and we don't do it. I find that sad.

a reply to: WhiteAlice

You lost me when you started talking about money being spent.

A portion of funds go indirectly to the unions. Teachers then cry about pay.

If a person that is teaching wanted a job that paid higher, they should have chosen a higher paying job.
There is no reason that a school district should blow through money the way it does.

I stand by Home Schooling.

If you want a base Public Education, then look no further to what we have. Corrupt districts, www.cnn.com... teachers being protected by unions, www.oregonlive.com... and countless other instances of abuse, like in the OP.


So, you can keep your Public Education. My kids will not participate in it.