In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the use of restraint and seclusion, along with cases of abuse.
Emilie Munson at The Times-Union (Albany, NY):
A public school district in northern New York broke state education regulations at least six times when it chose to confine students with disabilities in padded, wooden boxes in the classroom, an investigation by the New York State Education Department found.
The state ordered the Salmon River Central School District to change its policies and special education practices by this fall and submit paperwork to demonstrate its compliance.
State investigators found five students with disabilities were placed in the large boxes "with the door held shut," an act that constitutes seclusion, a practice banned by education regulations in New York.
The release of the state report is the latest development in a monthslong saga that resulted in criminal investigations, the introduction of new legislation, condemnation from the governor and the departures of multiple school administrators in the district since mid-December, when photos of one of the crates emerged on Facebook.
The state's conclusions differ from the findings released by an attorney hired by the school district to conduct a review of the use of the boxes. That attorney determined the boxes had been used this school year on two students who usually chose to go into the boxes and stay there. The students "were never locked or confined in the boxes (doors were only closed by the students themselves)," the attorney, Kate Reid, wrote in a report.
Assemblyman Michael Cashman, a Democrat who represents the area that includes the school district, pointed to the differences between the state's report and the one produced by the attorney retained by the district, saying "it raises even more questions as to why such a large gap in findings was released."
"The NYSED investigation findings tell an absolutely abhorrent story of mistreatment of youth," he said. "These harms are amplified by the cultural context they unfolded within: many of the families in the school district are Indigenous, a group that has a long history with systemic abuse from schools."
The attorney hired by the district said the public school used two timeout boxes at Salmon River Elementary School and had a third at the St. Regis Mohawk Elementary School that was never used. The state report did not discuss which schools the five students subjected to timeout boxes attended.
The school district built at least one of the wooden timeout boxes, according to records obtained by the Times Union.
