Plainfield School Accused of Food Denial, Using ‘Jail Cell’

Connecticut, March 6, 2010

Withholding food, a “jail cell” time-out room and unnecessary restraint of special education students are among the allegations being made against Shepard Hill Elementary School’s Clinical Day Treatment Program by paraprofessionals, parents and a Board of Education member.

“It’s an ugly mess,” Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Angela Klonoski said. “It’s just been a nightmare.”

The Shepard Hill program is one of five in the district for children with emotional or intellectual disabilities, Plainfield Superintendent of Schools Mary Conway said.

Philip LaFemina, coordinator for the programs, said the Shepard Hill program includes eight students who spend most of their day with the program. It also provides support services for another five to six students who spend most of their day in regular classrooms. He said eight full and part-time paraprofessionals work in the program, though other paraprofessionals assist when students are immersed into classrooms.

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Ahead Of House Vote, Private Schools Seek Restraint, Seclusion Exemption

disabilityscoop, March 2, 2010

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote Wednesday on legislation to curb restraint and seclusion in schools, private schools are working to block the bill in a move that’s catching disability advocates by surprise.

In a letter to members of the House, a group representing 80 percent of the country’s private schools said they are concerned that provisions of the bill are too far-reaching and could inhibit a teacher from “breaking up a schoolyard dust-up” or “grabbing a child about to dart into the carpool lane at dismissal.” Further, they say private schools should not be subject to this type of federal oversight.

The group called the Council for American Private Education, or CAPE, is asking members of Congress to oppose the legislation.

Read the complete story here.

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Copy and paste URL: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/03/02/ahead-of-house-vote-private-schools-seek-restraint-seclusion-exemption/7189/

Mom: APS Put 1st Grader In Timeout Room All Day, Every Day

Colorado, March 1, 2010

How long is too long to spend in timeout?

An Aurora woman told 7NEWS that her 7-year-old son’s teacher has been putting him in a timeout room at school for most of the day and has been doing so since last October.

Raven Rainer said her son has Attention Deficit Disorder and that she knew the timeout room could be used if Debran became disruptive in class.


But Rainer said she had no idea Debran would be spending nearly his entire school day in isolation.

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Parents: Houston Principal Mishandled Son

Georgia, February 26, 2010

David and Stephanie Hawk say their 9 year-old son, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, had rug burns on his wrists, back, and neck after his principal restrained him for misbehavior.

Houston County Schools Superintendent, David Carpenter would not comment on the specific case, but said staff members are trained to follow the proper techniques of restraint, which he says is only done when the child is a risk to themselves or someone else.

"He was exhausted and panting, and screaming that his skin was on fire," said Stephanie Hawk. " As a mother you just want to take them and run."

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Special Needs Teacher Charged

Nebraska, February 26, 2010

A 53-year-old Council Bluffs teacher is facing multiple counts of assault and child endangerment involving a special needs student.

The teacher, Donna M. Thomas, turned herself in to authorities on Thursday and was released on her own recognizance after appearing before a judge.

Thomas is a special education teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School but has been on paid leave since the middle of November.

She is accused of placing a 15-year-old special needs student in a “choke hold” on two or more occasions and forcing the student’s “head down onto a table.” Thomas was arrested on suspicion of two counts of child endangerment, two counts of serious assault, two counts of child endangerment with injury, and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

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Third-Grader Leaves School Unnoticed, Walks 2 Miles Home

Ohio, February 24, 2010

It is a worry of all parents of young children: getting the news that your child is missing from school.

The ordeal of Kayla Hill began at Indian Springs Elementary school last Friday when she was put in isolation for behavior problems.

Kayla’s father tells NBC 4 that he was told his daughter, who has special needs, went missing from her school about 1:30 p.m. and headed west up Henderson Road.

Kayla ended up walking along busy North High Street. At some point during her two-mile, 45-minute walk home, the third grader managed to cross High Street by herself.

She ended up at the Duke and Duchess Shoppe at North High Street and Broad Meadows Blvd.

Kayla’s parents contend the school didn’t call them until 3 p.m. and police just a few minutes before that.

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A DRNC Report on School Seclusion and Restraint: February 2010

DRNC, February 2010

This report details DRNC's investigations that show North Carolina public school employees use dangerous face-down restraints on students with disabilities. Government and media reports have shown these prone restraints have been the cause of injuries and even death in students across the country. Accordingly, DRNC strongly opposes the use of these restraints and has joined a national effort to ban the use of these restraints. DRNC encourages school districts in North Carolina to join in this national effort and lead other school districts to protect the lives and welfare of North Carolina's students.

Read the report here.

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Copy and paste URL: http://www.disabilityrightsnc.org/pages/249/school-seclusion-and-restraint-prone/%3Cbr%20/%3E

Senate Takes Up Controversial "Time-Out Rooms" in Schools

Wisconsin, February 18, 2010

Any parent or teacher of a child with special needs will probably tell you disciplining that child is a challenge. But the big question is: how far is too far?

The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Education heard public testimony Thursday on a bill limiting the use of seclusion and restraint in schools.

The bill introduces Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as a better disciplinary alternative, aiming to cut back on dangerous practices in restraining and secluding students. It also requires school teachers and administrators to document any incidents and report them to parents and the Department of Public Instruction.

Time-out rooms are often without lights or furniture, with a door that locks from the outside.

Currently, there is nothing in Wisconsin law that prohibits teachers from putting unruly students into the room for as long as necessary. Many parents say that needs to change.

Read and watch complete story here.

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Restraint, Seclusion Rooms in Schools Discussed

Georgia, Feb. 18, 2010

Don and Tina King are on a mission to see that what happened to their son never happens to anyone else’s child.

Jonathan King was 13 when he hanged himself inside a “seclusion room” at a Gainesville school for special needs children in 2004.

The unfurnished, 8-foot-by-8-foot room at the Alpine Psychoeducational Program was used for dealing with unruly children. The Kings say they never saw the room until his death and claim school officials kept them in the dark about its use.

“They never told us how often he went in,” Tina King said Thursday. “They would just tell us they were using ‘time out.’”

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Copy and paste URL: http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/29701/

Stricter Standards Sought for Use of Seclusion and Restraint by Schools

Wisconsin, February 18, 2010

How best to deal with special needs students who become disruptive was the subject of a sometimes contentious Capitol hearing Thursday. The authors of proposed legislation say existing guidelines are inadequate, and lawmakers heard disturbing testimony regarding students being locked alone in rooms, or injured in restraints. Jeff Spitzer-Reznick of Disability Rights Wisconsin said they’ve met with the state teachers’ union and other stakeholders, on how to address use of seclusion and restraint in schools. He said the state Department of Public Instruction hired a mediator to bring the two sides together. “They said ‘we want school safety.’ We said ‘we do, too. What are your ideas?’ And the answers were none. No ideas.”

“I want to tell you that’s not true,” Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell told the Senate Education Committee. “We participated in those discussions, and WEAC supports reasonable approaches to a safe environment.” Bell said WEAC supports additional training, and reporting incidents of isolation and restraint to parents, but that the legislation (SB 468) proposed by Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and Representative Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) goes “beyond that, to an inappropriate level.”

Read or listen to the complete story here.

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Emotional Debate Over Use of Seclusion Rooms In School

Wisconsin, February 18, 2010

How much leeway should teachers have when dealing with kids prone to violent outbursts? That question goes to the heart of the debate at the Capitol and in the classroom over seclusion rooms and restraints.

"I have a third grade son with special needs." Becky Van Ravenstein's son is prone to outbursts. She says at his previous school, there was no room for him to calm down in. "Since he has transferred to Merrill (Elementary, in Oshkosh) with appropriate facilities to address his needs, including a timeout room, he has been much more successful."

Becky testified at a Capitol hearing Thursday against a bill that would strictly regulate seclusion rooms like the one her son uses.

"Restraint and seclusion are harming our childrens academic progress and perhaps even more disturbing, causing serious physical and emotional harm," says Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay).

It's unknown how many schools have or use seclusion rooms and restraints.
The Department of Public Instruction only has guidelines for their use and schools don't have to report how often they're used.

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Supporters of Bill Say School Restraint Methods Need Regulation

Wisconsin, February 18, 2010

In her yellow T-shirt, Daari Pawelski was one of a dozen or so Racine residents who traveled to Madison Thursday to pack a Capitol hearing room.

They were in Madison to support a bill that would regulate the way schools handle children. A proposed bill focuses on reducing the use of intervention methods like seclusion and restraint in schools.

Some of them have children with special needs. Some of them work with families who have children with disabilities.

The bill has divided educators, disability rights advocates and parents over the way the state should deal with the improper use of certain methods.

"I think we're really outdated here," said Pawelski, a registered nurse who is a member of a Racine support group. "I don't believe in restraints. There are other ways."

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Seclusion-Restraint Bill to Get Senate Committee Hearing

Wisconsin, February 17, 2010

The Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on a bill that would restrict schools' ability to use physical restraints and seclusion methods on students.

Parents of students with autism, bipolar disorder, attention deficity hyperactivity disorder, anxiety or depression are most likely to report that their children have been secluded or restrained by school personnel, according to a report released last year on such occurrences in Wisconsin schools.

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Group Seek Federal Ban on Pinning Prone Students

North Carolina, February 15, 2010

A disability rights group is asking the state superintendent of schools for a ban on a specific means of student restraint, saying the practice is dangerous and could lead to death.

Disability Rights North Carolina will release a report Tuesday outlining findings of a study into how schools physically restrain students who are acting out. In the report, DRNC suggests a federal ban on the use of "prone restraint," in which students are pinned face-down.

Prone restraint is one of five legal means school employees have for getting students under control, but, the report from DRNC concludes, classroom staff often lack the appropriate training in those techniques.

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Hutchings restrains young patients more than most of NY's psychiatric facilities for children

New York, February 15, 2010

The state Office of Mental Health is shining a light on the use of restraint and seclusion in its children’s psychiatric facilities as part of an effort to end these potentially dangerous and deadly practices.

OMH is publishing data on its Web site showing how often youngsters in 13 state-run mental hospitals are subjected to restraint and seclusion. Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse and St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg are tied for having the second highest rates of restraint.

The rate of restraint for Hutchings is .33 per 1,000 patient hours. That’s lower than the national average of .48.

A rate of .33 means during an average month at Hutchings, children are restrained about 4 ½ hours.

The state’s short-term goal is to get facilities to cut their restraint rates to .15 or less.

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Copy and paste URL: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/hutchings_restrains_young_pati.html

Kentucky Works Towards Curbing Abuse in Public Schools

Kentucky, February, 12 2010

A shocking new report released by The National Disability Rights Network suggests abusive use of seclusion and restraint on school children and a lack of state and federal regulation governing such practices. Kentucky has been working on revising their guidelines concerning these practices in public schools. Caleb Campbell has this story.

About two weeks ago Janet Board got a phone call from her grandson's school in Meade County. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Her grandson, who we'll call Sam, suffers from O.C.D., early on-set bipolar and post-traumatic stress. School officials made the call because Sam was acting erratically again, a behavior pattern that had been with him throughout his entire life.

"When I got to the school they told me he was in the gymnasium. I went down there. A principal holding one arm, a teacher holding the other and another teacher sitting on him pinned against the gym floor."

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Copy and paste URL: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wkms/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1611642/WKMS.Local.Features/Kentucky.works.towards.curbing.abuse.in.public.schools

Parents File Suit Over Alleged Child Abuse

Pennsylvania, February 10, 2010

Several area parents have filed a civil lawsuit against five YMCA Child Development Center workers who allegedly gave pickling salt to their children as a form of discipline.

Through their legal counsel - attorneys Alan Perer and Brian W. DelVecchio of the Pittsburgh law firm of Swensen Perer & Kontos - parents Brian and Janean Ansell, Shannon Partridge, Jessica Harr, Rodney and Lori Humbertson, Amber Doppelheur, Ryan Timms and Hillary Hamborsky have requested that a jury hear the matter on behalf of their children.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are five employees, including Stephanie Griffith, Kristen Homes, Ann Lancaster, Derek Hillen and Kerri Trich, along with their employer, the Regional Family YMCA of Laurel Highlands and the National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States of America.

According to the court document, day-care center assistant group supervisor Rebecca DeWitt shared a conversation with Partridge that revealed Griffin had given a 6-year-old child alum as a means of discipline in January 2009.

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Family of Boy Strangled at Tenn. Center Settles Suit for $10.5 Million

Pennsylvania, February 12, 2010

The family of a Philadelphia teenager who was strangled after being placed in a restraint hold at a Tennessee treatment center has settled a federal lawsuit against the facility for $10.5 million.

The family of Omega "Manny" Leach, 17, agreed to drop claims against the city and its Department of Human Services, which sent the troubled teen to the Chad Youth Enhancement Center despite warnings that it was dangerous.

A key piece of evidence, said family attorney Thomas R. Kline, was a photograph from a surveillance camera showing a Chad mental-health technician with both hands around Leach's neck as he pinned him to the floor.

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Girl, 6, Handcuffed, Committed Because of Classroom Behavior

Florida, February 10, 2010

A Port St. Lucie first-grade student was handcuffed and committed to a mental health facility because of her classroom behavior, and her parents are furious that the school took such extreme measures.

Mickey Shalansky explained Wednesday what he said happened to his 6-year-old daughter at Parkway Elementary.

"She couldn't put her in two handcuffs because her wrists are that small, so she put them both in the same handcuff and left marks on my daughter's arms," Shalansky told WPBF 25 News' Bob Kaple.

But a St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office report paints a much different picture.

Deputies said his daughter, Haley, got upset and stormed out her classroom when her teacher asked her to do something. The report said it then escalated into a temper tantrum in the principal's office.

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3 Acquitted in Ohio Teen's Restraint Death

Ohio, February 9, 2010

A jury on Tuesday acquitted three former employees of an Ohio treatment center for troubled teens of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old girl who suffocated and choked on her own vomit after being restrained facedown on the floor.

Cynthia King, Lazarita Menendez and Ebony Ray were also found not guilty of child endangering in the December 2008 death of Faith Finley. Menendez was also found not guilty of felonious assault and inciting to violence.

Menendez faced additional charges because she initiated the incident by taking Finley's CD player, which the disruptive 17-year-old used to calm herself, and shoved the girl's hand under her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.

The women, who pleaded not guilty, were fired from the Parmadale Family Services center after Finley's death. The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled Finley's death a homicide.

The type of restraint prosecutors say the women used was later banned by Gov. Ted Strickland at the recommendation of state agencies that said the technique carries a high risk of serious injury or death.

Ray, of Broadview Heights, and Menendez, of Bedford Heights, were accused of wrestling Finley to the ground on her chest and applying pressure to her back — a technique known as prone restraint — while King watched.

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