Cedar Rapids to study school seclusion and restraint

The Cedar Rapids school district will form a task force to study how staff restrains and secludes agitated students, according to an email sent to Pierce Elementary families this week.

The decision follows an April 5 incident - reported Sunday in The Gazette - in which the district admitted Pierce staff violated Iowa's Administrative Rules by holding a third-grade girl in an unauthorized seclusion room for behavior that wasn't physically aggressive.

'We understand that the information provided in the article is disconcerting and we assure you that student safety is a primary concern of our district,” said the Monday email from Valerie Dolezal, executive director for the district's Office of Learning and Leadership. 'When this incident was brought to our attention, a prompt and thorough investigation was conducted and appropriate actions were taken in light of the investigation.”

Dolezal told Pierce parents that district officials learned of the incident April 20.

This was when Mary Richard, a Coralville lawyer, filed a complaint with the district and the Iowa Department of Education on behalf of Tammy Mims, a Cedar Rapids woman who is guardian to a 9-year-old girl who attended Pierce in 2016-17. Richard said the girl, who The Gazette is not naming, was placed in seclusion when she would not stop crying in class.

Photos of the room show it has brick walls and metal utility boxes, features that don't comply with Chapter 103 of Iowa Administrative Rules requiring seclusion rooms be 'free from hazards and dangerous objects or instruments.” Rules also require 'adequate and continuous supervision,” but the room has no window.

Wendy Parker, the district's executive director of special services, investigated the complaint and found Pierce staff violated state rules by placing the girl in an unauthorized room when she was 'not physically aggressive or otherwise posing a danger to herself or others,” according to the report Mims provided to The Gazette.

Pierce staff 'held the door to the break room in the counselor's office area shut until the nurse said that the door should not be held shut,” Parker found. Staff failed to alert Mims about the incident as required.

After the investigation, Parker ordered Pierce staff not to use that room 'for any reason, including for voluntary breaks or involuntary seclusionary time-outs.”

Monday's email to parents announced further steps, including a task force to 'study our districtwide practices and continuum of services related to student behavior as outlined in Iowa Chapter 103.” The task force is to include members from the community, district, Grant Wood Area Education Agency and the state Education Department.

Pierce staff also are to receive 'extensive review of crisis prevention and intervention procedures before school starts in the fall, the email states.

Dolezal defended the district's decision to not answer several of The Gazette's questions before the article, saying it was trying to protect student privacy. However, some of The Gazette's general questions about the unauthorized seclusion room were not answered. This included 'How long had Pierce been using that room for seclusion?” and 'Was anyone at Pierce disciplined as part of or after your investigation of the April incident?”

Dolezal invited Pierce parents with concerns to contact her at vdolezal@cr.k12.ia.us.

Seclusion rooms are used in school districts across Iowa and the United States as a last resort for children at risk of harming themselves or others. The Iowa City school district task force recommended in June to keep the rooms, but reduce their use.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com