By Joel Thompson

Does your son or daughter attend a school that has and uses seclusion rooms? A seclusion room is an enclosed space, often padded with no windows, that is used to restrain or calm a violent child. Some local schools are in favor of using seclusion rooms to help manage student behavior.

The Ohio Board of Education has no current regulations on seclusion rooms, even though some schools have used them for years. Some concerned parents feel that the seclusion rooms could potentially be misused, such as teachers using it for punishment if they dislike a particular student.  

In 2012, a Columbus student was reportedly locked in a seclusion room and physically abused by instructors.  In another case, a Columbus middle school student had been placed in a room from the beginning of the day, denied lunch and forced to remain in the room until the conclusion of the school day. The state did not comment on the use of the room, but only on the food that was witheld.

The Ohio Board of Education is now thinking of making regulations on seclusion rooms. Some of these regulations include documentation, reporting times that students spend in seclusion, how often they seclude a child and limiting the use of the rooms.

Surprisingly, the use of seclusion rooms is being practiced in a number of Butler County schools.

Middletown City Schools uses seclusion rooms as a means for students to collect themselves separate from other students. “They are not used as a means of punishing students by excluding them,” Deborah Turner, Special Education Coordinator, told John Bombatch of the Middletown Journal, “Students who struggle to control their emotions are taught a continuum of coping skills and strategies, including how to recognize their own red flags and their own escalating behavior. … (When students endanger themselves and others), students are monitored closely and coached through the process to regain control,” Turner said. 

Monroe City Schools seclusion room has only been used once. “Monroe has a sensory room that has been used by one student this year for instances where high levels of stress and anxiety have interrupted the learning process,” Phil Cagwin, Monroe’s interim superintendent, told John Bombatch of the Middletown Journal, “In the case of that student, the parents have been aware and notified, the student has been supervised, and the incidents are documented. The sensory room can serve a purpose in calming students who are highly stressed and unable to self-regulate. It provides a quiet space away from peers where the student can defuse and then return to the classroom, ready to participate in the educational process.”

If the Ohio Board of Education votes on a seclusion and restraint plan, it would go into effect at the beginning of the 2013 school year.

Source: Local Educators Support Use of Seclusion Rooms - Middletown Journal

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