Report cites improper use of school seclusion rooms in Iowa

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 5:04 pm, Wednesday, June 7, 2017


IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa City Community School District occasionally sent students to padded seclusion rooms for minor infractions such as stepping out of line, though the rooms are intended to be used to prevent students from harming themselves or others, according to a state Department of Education review.

After a complaint filed last year, the department reviewed more than 450 incidents of seclusion involving more than 60 students in the district from Dec. 22, 2015, to Dec. 21, 2016.

Officials also visited two of the district's school buildings. The padded, wooden rooms are roughly 6-by-6-foot, the Iowa City Press-Citizen (http://icp-c.com/2rBO5xC ) reported.

About four percent of the cases reviewed involved the seclusion room being used for minor infractions by students such as stepping out of line, having an attitude, being out of instructional control or using foul language.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Report-cites-improper-use-of-school-seclusion-11201877.php

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. What the hell are "seclusion rooms"? I've never heard of such a thing.

Do all schools have them these days?

[Matthew28]

2. Rooms that mental hospitals use to use

to make sure their mental patients didn't slam their heats against the wall killing themselves.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. But in a public school??

[Phoenix61]

4. Public schools serve all children

even those with significant mental health issues. I used to sub at a school that was pre-k thru 6th for students who were classified as emotionally challenged or severely emotionally disturbed. They couldn't manage in a special Ed classroom on a regular campus. There was a seclusion room that was used when a student became violent or was totally out of control. Never saw it used for a minor infraction. It was and still is a great school with a very good positive reinforcement behavior plan for the whole school.

[Nevernose]

5. Their use is very rare

But sadly, sometimes necessary. In my experience, they're used as a full-time thing for exceptionally self-destructive children, not as any manner of discipline,

And every time I've heard of them outside of my own district, it's been abusive, like in this case. Coincidentally I also know a lady who was fired from an Iowa school for using seclusion rooms for kids acting up.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Guess I'm too old to know about these things.

When I was in school (back in the Pleistocene era) if a kid acted up they got sent to the principal's office. But I think in those days the kids with really serious psychological problems weren't usually in a public school at all.

[EllieBC]

7. It's not for kids acting up.

My 7 year old daughter has autism spectrum disorder. When she's melting down and trying to destroy things (which is not often but still an occur), she's walked down to a room in our elementary that simply has a bed. It's a safe space because there's nothing she can really destroy and no way to hurt herself. Her EA stays outside the room until she calms down.

These didn't exist before because kids with developmental delays and issues were not allowed in school or were quickly expelled.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. That's kind of what I thought. I don't remember seeing behavior other than

ordinary kid naughtiness when I was in school.

I hope your daughter's school is helping her.

[EllieBC]

9. It's a battle with the school sometimes.

Special Ed isn't as protected here it seems. And in BC specifically, some parents of children with ASD are being forced into unwanted homeschooling situations (we have a whole FB group of us who have already done it or are thinking of it) because there's not enough funding for EA and then the schools don't know what to do with the kids who are runners, have extreme sensory issues, severe social and emotional delays, etc..

What I discovered was I have to be demanding. Advocating for my child is a full time gig and being polite or going with the flow doesn't get much accomplished.