Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms

Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms

www.cnn.com

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

(visit the link for the full news article)

I found this pretty disgusting. I understand dealing with children like this must be very difficult but locking them in a concrete room without windows seems extreme. Special education kids need more attention, and I see something like this as being more traumatizing to them than a 'normal' kid. Thoughts?

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

They don't call them "quiet rooms" in the state penitentiaries.

Also from the link:

* 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.

What the *&^%$ is going on?

Also from the link:

"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."

So they're thrown in the hole?



[edit on 12/17/08 by kattraxx]

I can't believe this idiot teacher was allowed to do this and the school systems allow it. The reason for this is that they are too freekin cheap to hire more aids to help with the problems involved with Learning disabled kids in the system. They forced main streaming them but skimped on the financing of the program. Typical of most school systems. This is an outrage. I love it that they can say they did no wrong just because there is no written policy. But that never stood in the way of common sense with school systems. Book smart but common sense stupid!!!
Zindo

Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants.

Ahem....okay. No comment on that. None at all.

His parents say they don't recognize the boy described in records as one who liked to kick and punch his classmates.

They don't recognize that child? I suppose they never heard about the kicking or punching? Okay a 13 year old is kicking and punching classmates and he needs a rope to hold his pants up. Hmmmm.

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.

His father remembers that? When was the last time his father saw him huh? Sounds like a very dysfunctional, violent urban youth to me.





[edit on 17-12-2008 by Sonya610]

reply to post by Sonya610


I guess I shouldn't be surprised by your response, considering your hatred of children that you spew all over this board.

Did you consider that perhaps they DIDN'T know about the violence? Perhaps the school didn't report it, just as they didn't tell the parents they'd been locking their son up in a cell?

Sometime's it IS the adults who are wrong and not the nasty little children you so despise.

The fact of the matter is, locking a 13 yr old in a cell, at school, teaches nothing positive. It certainly doesn't teach him to be less violent, if that was truly what was happening. A school that is set up to help special needs children needs to employ teachers qualified to actually DEAL with them instead of giving the teachers a cell to lock the difficult ones in and ignore.

Schools are dealing with more learning disabled children than they have ever had to deal with before. This is due to all the poisons being injected and fed to children. The public school system really needs to change in order to help the parents, children, and teachers. Whenever possible, the parents need to homeschool. The teachers should augment the parents with one on one tutoring sessions with the disabled children which is possible if the parents become the primary teachers.

All rich and successful people agree that high school is obsolete (bill gates) and college is a rich daycare center (hillary).

But they like it because it puts kids under the umbrella.

Originally posted by LaylaDid you consider that perhaps they DIDN'T know about the violence? Perhaps the school didn't report it, just as they didn't tell the parents they'd been locking their son up in a cell?

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

Well, since it had happened REPEATEDLY I find it a bit hard to believe the parents were unaware of it. Unless Jonathan was so busy singing in the Church Choir that he failed to mention these highly traumatic disciplinary methods to his parents?

His parents say they don't recognize boy described in records as one who liked to kick and punch his classmates.

Take note of that phrase; the parents "say they don't recognize" the child described as punching and hitting classmates. That is not at ALL THE SAME as stating "the parents were not notified" of the punching and hitting.

Considering the bias position of this article I am quite sure the writer chose their words very very carefully, and would have very clearly stated that the parents were NOT notified of the violent behavior if that was in fact the case.

Originally posted by eradown
Schools are dealing with more learning disabled children than they have ever had to deal with before. This is due to all the poisons being injected and fed to children. The public school system really needs to change in order to help the parents, children, and teachers. Whenever possible, the parents need to homeschool. The teachers should augment the parents with one on one tutoring sessions with the disabled children which is possible if the parents become the primary teachers.

Its not just the kids being injected with this junk. It is also due to the parents taking all these new medications to boost memory or to boost endurance or to loose weight or to fight off the flu when the human body has evolved over millions of years and developed its own immune system.

All those pills and drugs are just nulling the natural immune system and the side effects..well some of those end up in the offspring, then they get flooded with more junk in pills and injections.

Think about it folks.



Cheers!!!!

I don't think anyone is excusing the youths violent behavior. I think the majority of us think there are better ways to handle a youth like this then locking them in a freaking cell unsupervised. These kids need more help, not quick fix things like this.

It sounds like these schools need to be investigated a lot more then they are when they go to get a licence to open such a school. If they are not set up for such things as this, then they should not get a licence. Many need to be investigated on a yearly basis, to make sure they are staying within the laws.

reply to post by FiatLux


I agree completely. The fact that this is such a surprise is troubling to say the least. I would like to see the schools looked into much more often, especially in the alternative education classes.

my old school had somthing like this
you got in trouble you were forced to sit in a toilet cubical type room with a desk in it
5 off them in a row, you werent allowed leave, Had to spend the whole day (6 hours) in it for punishment

I'd rather sit in a concrete room for a few hours than be constantly tormented like most special 'needs' children are.

We all need time to be alone, time to introspect, time to meditate. These poor children don't get any which pushes them over the brink.

If you ask me, the way they are traditionally treated (constant supervision, constant stimulation) is far more cruel and damaging than a place where they can finally be free of that.

reply to post by k-string


I respectfully disagree. Putting kids in a mini jail cell is just a quick fix. I think it is more damaging than supervision. I feel for the teachers but I hope some new policies are implemented.

Does the words, "Police State" come to mind here? I was in a prison for over two years once, and these doors looked very familiar to me. This is appalling, to say the least, and criminal, to say the most. What's next? And I though school was bad in the 60s. What a laugh that is now.

Originally posted by Raustin
I found this pretty disgusting. I understand dealing with children like this must be very difficult but locking them in a concrete room without windows seems extreme. Special education kids need more attention, and I see something like this as being more traumatizing to them than a 'normal' kid.

You and me both brother. I don't even think it matters if you are a special needs student or not. I have been put into "In School Suspension" (I.S.S.) which is the same concept; a room with no windows where you sit in seclusion with nothing to do. Once you finish your day's worth of work from your teachers you are required to continue sitting in your seat doing nothing.

This type of child persecution can absolutely be blamed for a child's suicide. It is far from mentally healthy to lock a child in a concrete cell to do nothing for 8 hours and not even be able to stand, let alone leave the room.

Being "cornered" in this way only further influences negatively a child's behavior, because they see no escape. Just thinking about how I was treated makes me angry right now, let alone how I felt when it was being done. There is nothing you can do. You are officially trapped. If you try to leave, a police officer will come get you. If you try to tell your side of the story, you are trapped and have no right to trial. You are guilty by the determination of the educational system and those who work for it, regardless of your situation or laws that protect you.

reply to post by Yoda411


I got slapped with In School Suspension once. It was a pretty similar experience except that there was a teacher in the room to watch the kids. I really hated it but there was a window and I wasn't locked in. The thing that worries me the most is that a special ed. teacher is going to abuse authority and just slap a problem child in a locked box whenever they want with no accountability.

Originally posted by RFBurns

Originally posted by eradown
Schools are dealing with more learning disabled children than they have ever had to deal with before. This is due to all the poisons being injected and fed to children. The public school system really needs to change in order to help the parents, children, and teachers. Whenever possible, the parents need to homeschool. The teachers should augment the parents with one on one tutoring sessions with the disabled children which is possible if the parents become the primary teachers.

Its not just the kids being injected with this junk. It is also due to the parents taking all these new medications to boost memory or to boost endurance or to loose weight or to fight off the flu when the human body has evolved over millions of years and developed its own immune system.

All those pills and drugs are just nulling the natural immune system and the side effects..well some of those end up in the offspring, then they get flooded with more junk in pills and injections.

Think about it folks.



Cheers!!!!

Weight loss pills are causing the current epidemic of learning disabilities? I think not. The fifties house wife could buy diet pills which were packed amphetamines and worked. The children of the fifties were not known for learning disabilites. Ephidrine is the only diet pill that worked and it was banned even though it was used as a stimulant by the Chinese(not known for learning disabilities) for eons. Sorry, I blame mercury laced baby vaccines , GMO foods, and melamine way more than I blame women trying to regain their girlish figures.