Lawmakers take up issue of school isolation rooms
»Play Video
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A bill putting more restrictions on the use of isolation rooms in schools is moving ahead at the state legislature, but the parents of a little girl who was put in one of those rooms say the measure doesn't go far enough.
Seven-year-old Jenna is autistic, and sometimes she acts out in school. Her parents say she has a routine that helps keep her calm.
"They had changed multiple things in her routine and set her off, basically, and then threw her in the room," said Jenna's dad, Jim McCracken.
The room at Elma Elementary School was an isolation setting. The McCracken family says she was in the room for three-and-a-half hours, with a staff members just outside.
"Putting her in a little room with no windows, I don't think is benefiting her at all," said Jenna's mom, Mandy McCracken. "I think it just makes her want to act out more."
The state legislature is considering a bill that would establish a system for reporting incidents of student restraint and isolation in public schools. Parents would have to be told right away.
"All they are looking for is the opportunity to be notified," said Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, D-Seattle.
That's not good enough for the McCracken family.
"Yes, they can notify the parent, but even if the parent says no and they still do it anyways. It's just, what's the sense?" Jim McCracken said.
The family doesn't believe the rooms are a good idea, even if they're also for the protection of other children and staff members.
"These rooms are very important, because it keeps her safe from when the autistic kids have meltdowns. It keeps them safe, and keeps others safe so they're not injured," said Katherine Lynch, whose daughter is a special-needs student.
The isolation room in Longview that gained national attention is no longer used, and the parents of the child who was put in there are now suing.
The House Education Committee approved the bill, and it will now head to the full house for a vote.
Seven-year-old Jenna is autistic, and sometimes she acts out in school. Her parents say she has a routine that helps keep her calm.
"They had changed multiple things in her routine and set her off, basically, and then threw her in the room," said Jenna's dad, Jim McCracken.
The room at Elma Elementary School was an isolation setting. The McCracken family says she was in the room for three-and-a-half hours, with a staff members just outside.
"Putting her in a little room with no windows, I don't think is benefiting her at all," said Jenna's mom, Mandy McCracken. "I think it just makes her want to act out more."
The state legislature is considering a bill that would establish a system for reporting incidents of student restraint and isolation in public schools. Parents would have to be told right away.
"All they are looking for is the opportunity to be notified," said Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, D-Seattle.
That's not good enough for the McCracken family.
"Yes, they can notify the parent, but even if the parent says no and they still do it anyways. It's just, what's the sense?" Jim McCracken said.
The family doesn't believe the rooms are a good idea, even if they're also for the protection of other children and staff members.
"These rooms are very important, because it keeps her safe from when the autistic kids have meltdowns. It keeps them safe, and keeps others safe so they're not injured," said Katherine Lynch, whose daughter is a special-needs student.
The isolation room in Longview that gained national attention is no longer used, and the parents of the child who was put in there are now suing.
The House Education Committee approved the bill, and it will now head to the full house for a vote.
After 'putting' students in an isolation room about half a dozen times over a period of three months at Park Avenue Center in Tacoma, I came to the conclusion that the room actually escalates the emotional episode the student is experiencing, further adding to the trauma of the event. I had no training in the use of the room nor did the paraprofessional I worked with. The students would sometimes scream and batter the walls of the room for hours. In my school, the isolation rooms were in the classrooms so other students had to endure the trauma occurring form their desks, extending the damage to them. They were given 'bonus points' for ignoring the noise. School administrators should be ashamed for promoting the use of these archaic torture devices instead of more difficult or more costly solutions for them to implement.
@Larry Francis It was the same way here in Vancouver, WA. I was a student in one of these class rooms. The fear in those rooms.... the anxiety can be cut with a knife. It drove me up the wall.Â
It makes no sense to have autistic or mentally disabled kids in classes with other kids. This is another stupid thing about public education. The teachers are distracted, the students don't learn, and parents complain when the state doesn't give them the free day care that they expect. These kids should be in special public schools and given the proper education suited to them, not a one size fits all approach.Â
My name is Mary Griffin. I testitifed on this bill in front of the House. I agree with the McCrackens. The bill does not go far enough. The use of restraints and isolation on children with disabilities is morally wrong and does not represent best practice research. However, having said that, I am a pragmatist and I know that we have to work on incremental change. I want to say thank you to the McCrackens for being bold enough to speak out. I hope that they have been able to help their school district see what they did to their daughter was wrong and have an IEP in place which states what should happen in regard to the daughter's routine and what should happen if their daughter starts to escalate. Â I hope their school district has de-escalation training in place as well as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.Â
As to persons who may feel that this child has no right to be accommodated in this manner in this way, you are wrong. Under federal law, children with disabilities have as much a right to an education as every other child. This child is not a criminal or a hoodlum. She is a child with a developmental disability.
@Mary Griffin I agree with what you're saying about kids being treated equally. But just realize what the outcome is: Public schools are now mental institutions and teachers making 35k a year are expected to be mental health professionals. It's a terrible system that we've created under the guise of "every child is equal and must have equal educational opportunity." And that's fine. But it disrupts the learning environment for others. Â
@lakeview @Mary Griffin Public schools are not mental institutions. People with disabilites have the right not to be shuttered away and to be educated with their same-age piers. And parents have the right to know what is going on with their child. If this child was having a behavioral emergency, the child's IEP should have been followed. No child should spend 3 and a half hours locked in a room. If this was your child, wouldn't you have wanted to know?Â
If parents of kids who cannot control their actions, insist on mainstreaming them, then these measures have to be retained. Â I know that the thing now is that any kid can go into a public school, even if they are violent or disruptive (as opposed to special schools or home schooling,) but with that mandate, comes some responsibility to the other kids that do not act out and disrupt. Â Some kids clearly don't belong in a public school setting, and the extra expenses for additional staff could be spent educating them somewhere that they aren't disrupting. Â Sorry if that upsets people.. but if a child is unable to maintain in a school setting, what is the point of sending them?Â
I used to work at a home for abused and abandoned kids, many of which had issues with outbursts like that. And yes, they had a room similar to that, to protect the kids from themselves, and protect the other kids and staff members. Â I've seen first hand the injuries to staff and other kids, from out of control children. Â
Some certain people need to learn about autisim before they make such rude remarks!! I am shocked at some of the things I have read.I have an autistic son and This is just another reason I feel so blessed to be ale to homeschool him.Don't they realize that is no way to treat a child..Well if they don't lets put it this way..For all the kids that bully ,and all that disrupt the class or show out ,lets put them in a room...See if the schools can afford that!! Yes I am upset because I feel like if the teacher does not have the time or the resoures to treat an autistic child the way him or her needs to be treated then DO NOT TRY TO!! Okay I am gonna stop here..Just had to vent...
for right now it's for "autistic kids who have meltdowns" and "special needs" children who need minimal sensory input and to be kept from hurting others. But how much longer until it's just a storage unit for children teachers don't like, don't want to teach, or are hard to teach? Are students with an ED classification on their IEP going to learn "going in the box" is something that happens to you when you don't do what the teachers want you to do? Why not just have a lock down wing for all those elementary school aged hoodlums and nip unsocial, maladjusted or non-conforming behaviors in the bud before they can turn into problems for future employers or the government later? Why not throw them "all" in there? Teachers never have anything good to say about the kids they teach anyway.
@chandler They already have been. I am a person who was put in a closet like space in the Vancouver School District, and I am someone with an emotional disability. These rooms traumatized me and my peers. We can speak. We are pretty much normal people. And we are speaking out. These rooms do not help. These rooms make things worse.
Put the kid in the room first, then call the parent. It is then up to the parent how long the kid stays in there! If it takes 3 hours for the parent to get there, then so be it!
I wish a school would put my babies in a closet for ANY amount of time! I'm raising hell. Call me if they're misbehaving... I promise they'll be corrected BY ME quickly and efficiently, without it messing with them mentally as these "isolation rooms" must. For 3.5 hours!, I would so sue. It wouldn't even be an issue. I would take my child and go straight to an attorney. The child has autism, they can't control themselves as normal children can, so they need educators who are able and willing to handle these issues. If a psychiatrist (or group of them) has indicated that these "isolation rooms" are safe and effective without damaging the child mentally, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with them. If parents can go to jail charged with abuse for putting kids in a time out in a closet, which usually isn't much bigger than the "isolation room" shown in the article, then it can't be legal for anyone else to do the same to our children. The policy in place should be that if a child gets out of control and a teacher can no longer handle them, the parents need to be notified and the child needs to be removed from the school until he or she can behave. My babies will be starting school this year. I think one of the conversations I need to have with staff, other than a tour of the school and a copy of their basic policies, is to find out their policy on discipline and whether they have and utilize an "isolation room." Not that I expect my children to misbehave to that extent. They don't. As the old saying goes, "Mama don't play that!" I wish they would act a fool in school!Â
Sorry for the rant. :) Ya'll have a great day/evening now!Â
(Put my babies in a closet... I wish a fool would! They better have tons of insurance because I will have the courts on them so tough...! - So upsetting, this article.)
@CaliGirl@Heart No wonder kids act out..  Helicopter parents.  You'll fix it for them.. right? How about the staff and other children that get injured as a result of violent kids?  There were no kids that were disruptive or violent, when I went to school.  Perhaps they were homeschooled or sent to a special school so that the staff and students at the regular schools were not disrupted constantly trying to physically restrain out of control kids, for whatever reason.Â
@CaliGirl@Heart If your baby is throwing desks you can better believe they are ging in a closet. My babies go to school too. I see moms like you in the office all the time, railing at prinicpals, enabling thier kids to turn out heathens and then asking what happend to their babies.Â
@CaliGirl@Heart It's people like this that will use incidents such as this as a money maker. Sue sue sue! You say your babies will start school soon? Good luck! My older 3 are "normal" kids and my youngest was special needs and had an IEP until 1st grade. He is almost 10 now and still has little oddities and doesn't act out in such a way that he would hurt anyone but honestly even if my "normal" kids were going nuts and may harm themselves or anyone else, by all means put them in an isolation room and call me immediately. My children know that school is not there for only them but for other children as well. The world doesn't revolve around my little angels and they were taught to respect others and not cause problem.
@CaliGirl@Heart You will probably never have to worry about it. But if your kid decided to go violent and becomes a danger to himself or others, I'd have no problem throwing them in a padded room. Schools are in a no-win situation with that anyhow. If they DIDN'T lock your kid in a room, and your kid winds up hurting another student, then the lawsuit comes from that kid's parents instead of you. If your kid is "traumatized" by being put in a padded room until he calms down, then so be it.
Use these rooms in a GOOD way! Lock our lawmakers in them WITH the "parents" of the uncontrollable little brats these things were created for. Keep them in there until the "parents" can parent, and the government can butt out. The lawmakers have MUCH bigger issues to deal with than "little rooms." Things called budgets, immigration, crime, unemployment, homelessness.......etc.
I think they are ideal and couldn't be more perfect for use on members of the teacher's union.
Two options: 1) call the parent(s) when little Bobby acts up and have them remove the kid until said kid behaves. Institute a 3 strikes and you're out policy. 2) Bring back the paddle.
Why have we completely given up as a society in putting any effort into being human towards each other? Children have been misbehaving in school settings ever since school settings have existed, and we've never had to lock them in isolation like a rowdy felon in prison. It isn't our children who has gotten worse, it's our parents. Parenting seems to have become a hassle instead of a requirement.Â
@jowsuf You misunderstand.  Why all the lawsuits by parents of kids who are violent and disruptive, forcing schools to mainstream them, the schools are filled with kids that cannot truly function in a traditional school setting (but the parents want to be sure that they get their free education, too.) So they demand special aides, and tutors, and handlers, etc. etc. etc. Then they get upset when their child is restrained for being violent.  The misbehaving kids are dealt with as always, these rooms are for kids that are a danger to themselves and others. Â
@DTÂ Then this system is wrong. No matter the justification, these rooms should not be allowed. Can you not see the insanity in all this?Â
@jowsuf In this case, the kid is autistic and couldn't help that they became violent. Long experience has shown that if you let their tantrum run its course, then they will be ok. But to do that, they need to be isolated where they can't hurt anyone else. I've been teaching for 18 years and I've never heard of anyone being thrown in a padded room for just misbehaving. It has always been someone who couldn't control their behavior.
@M1A1TankLTÂ If a student cannot control their own behavior, for whatever the reason, they don't belong in a traditional classroom. They belong in a place that can PROPERLY cater to their needs.
Now this is an issue worthy of both our legislature's time and attention. I would suggest several committees be set up with the usual open meetings all over the state of Washington.  If public opinion is deems the container idea to have merit I suggest they should be iterated and several architects should be commissioned to design and construct such facilities along guidelines that need to be determined by the legislature. Then as a followup, criteria should be set up to judge its effectiveness, cognitively and otherwise and individuals should be appointed to review its effectiveness. Finally these facilities should be taxed based on square footage.Â
Thus we will have a broad based solution to the challenge and a money maker to boot. This will placate the politicians. People will be employed and the 'transparency' will placate the voters. All parties will have been bought off.Â
Now other worthy challenges lie ahead for our legislature this session? Taxing mopeds, bicycles, wrist watches? How about school funding to placate the Washington State Supreme court? This years legislative session could be oh so meritorious. Â Politics is the worlds largest sandbox. It is most effective with sand in one's eyes.Â
@George Public opinnion is not educated on the proper use - they just see it as locking kids up. This is why we don't let uneducated people make our medical decisions. . . oh wait. . .Â
@George well said.
From observation of how most school children behave,public schools should be constructed more like county jails as many of the students will transition to this type of facility anyways when they become adults.
We need to have better safeguards in place when using isolation rooms. These can be helpful and beneficial when a child with disabilities is struggling and endangering themselves or others. Teachers are overworked and are human and handling a roomful of these children is very taxing. I have a son who has been in these isolation rooms almost on a daily basis, it is not bad parenting, it for the most part is for his own good, but after awhile the teachers do become overwhelmed and seem to focus on a child's bad behavior that they are place in there so they don't have to deal with them
When I taught preschool when I was younger we had a kid lose control, start throwing furniture and attack other kids. We had to evacuate the building and let him destroy the place because we were not allowed to restrain the kids. It was ridiculous.
He was removed from the program that evening.
I think if they are used for a violent child that is a threat to themselves or others it may be a useful tool, but not for tantrums and things of that manner.
This is what they call an "isolation room"? Looks to me like Carl the floor walker would be in charge here... "Any kid that mouths off to staff spends a night in the box. Any kid that doesn't eat their vegetables spends a night in the box. Any kid that doesn't return on time after recess spends a night in the box." And so on.
While I do favor strong disciplinary action when necessary, even old-school me thinks this goes too far. The PARENTS need to administer more discipline AT HOME, maybe then the kids will behave like they should.
I like it. Take the isolation rooms out, and the second your kid starts acting up and becoming a threat to other students and staff you come pick your kid up and take care of that yourself.
@thatsjarrod2 I agree 100%. But between the time the parent is notified and the time they actually arrive at school may be HOURS. What to do with the kid during that time?Â
Isolation
@thatsjarrod2Â That's the way it needs to be. Parents are the ones responsible for raising children, schools are responsible for educating them. The kid screws up, the parents need to immediately get involved.
No way, get these things out of schools. If the child is uncontrollable, call the parent(s) and tell them to come get their child and that the kid isn't allowed back until they are willing and able to behave.
@what? School is in Federal Way. Parent works in Seattle. It will take an hour to get there. What shall we do with the child till Mom gets there? It's not always about the desire to behave. Some studnets have disorders that make them iincapable of regaining control.Â
@what? Like I said in the above post, I agree 100%. But between the time the parent is notified and the time they actually arrive at school may be HOURS. What to do with the kid during that time? You can't just put them outside of the building. Â
I say put em in the box!
@what? Good post. Everybody should agree with you and not put the blame on 'poorly trained and over-worked staff'. Parents need to be put on notice at the start of the school year, if their kids want to act a fool then they can do so at home with their family.
@Rockberry @what? ome certain people need to learn about autisim before they make such rude remarks!! I am shocked at some of the things I have read.I have an autistic son and This is just another reason I feel so blessed to be ale to homeschool him.Don't they realize that is no way to treat a child..Well if they don't lets put it this way..For all the kids that bully ,and all that disrupt the class or show out ,lets put them in a room...See if the schools can afford that!! Yes I am upset because I feel like if the teacher does not have the time or the resoures to treat an autistic child the way him or her needs to be treated then DO NOT TRY TO!! Okay I am gonna stop here..Just had to vent
@Penny Bisbee @Rockberry @what? if a child can't function in a school with the other kids who are there to learn, then they don't belong there. If the parents insist on mainstreaming a violent and disruptive child, then they need to stop complaining about what it takes to control them. Â
It's not all autism, other kids are over diagnosed with ADHD and act out as well. Â Read a great study (recent one,) that showed the majority of kids diagnosed with these disorders, are simply acting out.. given drugs, and allowed to be disruptive because of their "condition." Â
@Rockberry @what? I agree.  My mother worked for our school district for 20+ years. Teachers are not parents, nor should they be considered such. They are educators. If the kids can't behave, the brats need to be sent home and the parents of said brats need to deal with the problem. Frankly if parents don't like being forced to take time off work to pick up their misbehaving little angel from school, it certainly isn't the school's fault. Deal with your kid and make it clear that the behavior that caused them to get sent home for the day, won't be tolerated. If that's too much trouble, start saving money as your kid is going to be calling home for bail money before too much longer.
The rooms aren't the problem, poorly trained, overworked staff are. Â Any parent of a child who has used one of these rooms in the appropriate manner can tell you how much they help.Â
@CJEHÂ Bull. The parents need to deal with the child if it gets that far. Isolation rooms are not the answer and go well beyond dealing with a misbehaving child.
If the parent doesn't want their child placed in an isolation room then the school and its staff should respect that. I find it ridiculous that a child was kept in one of those rooms for 3 1/2 hours!
@Tattooed_Angel Really? Then what do you do with a violent child who is endangering others? Â
I'm sorry, but I would hit the roof if any of my kids were to be put in one of these rooms. What happens when a parent put a child in a closet? It is considered ABUSE. How is it not abuse when a teacher does it? Ridiculous.Â
@Rinny Groves Rinny, these are not rooms for misbehaving kids. They are padded safe rooms for kids with autism or mental issues that become violent to others or themselves. Our public schools are now mental institutions and parents expect the state to deal with them while they go off to work.Â
@Rinny Groves These rooms aren't used for punishment. THAT is the difference. A parent does it to a child, yep, abuse. But these schools have a responsibility NOT JUST TO YOUR CHILD, but the safety of all of them. Your kids throw a tantrum and become violent toward other students--sorry, they are going in the box. I'll take the chance on your lawsuit. I'll have the parents of 29 other children thanking me.
@komonews I'd rather you call me to come pick up my child. Why is this even an option?
@Bird0810 How fast can you get to school to get your raging child? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? For parents who work it could be a couple of hours. I'm not going to let your rampaging child frenzy for 30 minutes while we wait for you to come get them.. They can do a lot of damage to themselves and others during that time. This isn't a box for misbehaving kids. It is a box for kids out of control.
@Bird0810 I agree. If my kid is behaving that bad, call me to pick them up and I will make sure that when they come back to school they will know that it is unacceptable to act like that again.
@Bird0810Â I agree.