Abolish seclusion rooms, some Iowa City school board members and parents say

IOWA CITY - Two Iowa City school board members are calling for the district to abolish seclusion rooms - small enclosures used as a last resort to contain agitated children at risk of harming themselves or others.

'It doesn't take an extended inquiry to see that the district can do better by its students than these plywood boxes,” board member Chris Liebig wrote last week on his blog. 'The district needs to discontinue using them and dismantle them, in favor of creating more humane spaces and practices for dealing with difficult behavior.”

Board member Phil Hemingway went a step further by equating the rooms to 'medieval torture” that doesn't have a place in modern schools.

Gazette FINDINGS

A Gazette review of seclusion room reports from the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids districts showed 125 occasions when elementary children were placed in seclusion rooms during the first month of the 2015-16 school year. Kicking, biting, hitting and throwing items triggered isolation in most cases, but a few reports showed staff putting kids into seclusion for non-violent acts like refusing to trace in pencil, stepping out of line at recess and pouting, the investigation published in September found.

Under state rules, if a student's actions in the school threaten harm, and attempts to defuse the behavior fail, staff are allowed to restrain a child and place him or her into seclusion.

Any time a child is put in seclusion, the time, location and reason are among details recorded. The reports are sent to parents and reviewed by administrators. Children can't be kept in the rooms more than 60 minutes or a typical class period without an administrator's permission.

Some students' Individualized Education Programs call for seclusion if the child's actions threaten the safety of him or herself or others. But any child - even those in the general population - could go to seclusion if behavior warrants, Carmen Dixon, the district's special services director, told The Gazette in September.

MORE INFORMATION

Many parents and grandparents say they knew nothing about seclusion rooms before Gazette reports.

'I have been a member of my granddaughter's IEP team for three years and not once did anyone notify us of the existence of isolation boxes or rooms or that they can be used on my precious grandbaby without parental approval or notification,” Heather Young, of Iowa City, read in a statement at the Oct. 25 school board meeting.

Young filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, asserting Iowa City is breaking state law by not telling parents about the rooms, which exist at 13 of 20 Iowa City elementary schools. Young told The Gazette she received notice last week her complaint has been registered with the agency.

Stephanie Van Housen, a district liaison to the homeless, was ousted in June after she showed community members a behavior disorder classroom that included seclusion rooms. One parent, Kat Litchfield, took pictures of the enclosures and sent them to a legislator.

'You gave unauthorized tours of special education rooms to community members at Grant Wood Elementary and shared your negative views of the district's special education program. This included pictures that were distributed throughout the community and now have become a public document,” former Human Resources Director Jim Pedersen wrote in an April 13 reprimand to Van Housen.

In an Oct. 18 email to district leaders, board member Liebig criticized Van Housen's dismissal - which he voted against - saying it discourages school employees from speaking out on issues of public concern.

'Another consequence of the board's decision is that it will confirm the administration's apparent view that one of its tasks is to prevent bad publicity by squelching dissenting views and to control the flow of information to the public and even to board members,” Liebig wrote in the email The Gazette obtained through an open records request to the district.

In an attempt at better communication, Interim Special Education Director Jane Fry sent an email Oct. 26 to all Iowa City parents summarizing progress by the district in addressing more than 100 federal non-compliance issues in the program. The district now has a website with special education updates.

OTHER OPTIONS

Liebig's Nov. 4 blog post about dismantling seclusion rooms has more than 40 comments, with most people decrying their use. Liebig said one of his biggest concerns is that seclusion rooms are built right into the classrooms, where students can see a classmate put inside and hear everything the child may say or do in the room.

'Everybody recognizes there's got to be some system for dealing with these situations,” Liebig said. 'But they should not be built right into the classroom, and not be as punitive.”

Some parents told The Gazette in September seclusion rooms were oases to their children - when teachers allowed students to decide for themselves when a timeout would ease anger, frustration or anxiety.

Megan Schwalm, a Coralville parent of a son in special education, suggested alternatives, such as sensory rooms that include gym mats or climbing toys to burn off negative energy, or calm-down rooms with beanbag chairs, blankets and soft lighting. Therapeutic classrooms, with a lower student-to-teacher ratio and other accommodations, also can be helpful, parents said.

'The alternatives require us to spend some money and make some space,” Hemingway said.

The board recently reviewed plans to spend millions on athletic facilities in the district.

'If we can spend $8 million on athletics, we can find space to treat our children in a more humane way.”

Hemingway said he'll ask the board to discuss seclusion rooms at a work session as soon as Nov. 22.