Three more schools kept kids in seclusion rooms
17 education facilities across nation report using controversial disciplinary method
At least three more schools were investigated after complaints about seclusion rooms, including one facility that was eventually closed, but 17 have reported using the disciplinary method.
Documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act yesterday by the Ministry of Education show that from 2014 onwards the ministry received six complaints about the use of seclusion or “timeout” rooms for children.
Four of those were investigated, including Miramar Central School. Two were resolved by ministry staff.
The Herald has also learned about an investigation in Whanganui from 2013, where a family complained that special needs children at Arahunga School were shut in a room by a piece of wood propped against the door.
It comes after revelations in October that at least 10 children, including special needs pupils, had been placed in a cupboard-like cell at Miramar Central as punishment.
An 11-year-old autistic boy was discovered crying out “I’ll be good, I’ll be good” from the locked room at the school during lunchtime.
Education Minister Hekia Parata immediately moved to outlaw the practice.
The Herald then applied to find out how many other complaints had been made about seclusion rooms in the past five years.
The ministry deemed that to be a substantial undertaking that would “unreasonably burden the ministry” Ombudsman is investigating.
A working party was set up on seclusion and restraint, which led to new guidelines released last month.
The Amber Centre, in Hamilton, was investigated in September 2014.
The ministry said it received a complaint about the actions of a staff member at the centre, of which one part referred to locking children in a room. Amber was a small unit where six to seven children at a time with severe behavioural problems were sent from other schools, it said.
The centre was temporarily shut while an investigation was done. The police did not lay charges. A government employment lawyer also found there was not enough evidence to proceed, but the staff member resigned last November.
Given the students had by that stage been enrolled elsewhere and “centres such as Amber were not consistent with the direction in which Special Education was moving”, the facility was closed.
The report on the centre was withheld due to privacy concerns.
A complaint about Dunedin’s Sara Cohen School was made in February. A government manager was put in place and a staff member resigned. A second was suspended while the investigation was ongoing.
The report into Sara Cohen was also withheld, but the ministry said the allegations were “concerning” and included seclusion, but were disputed.
The ministry withheld the names of two other schools where there were complaints, but investigations were not completed. The ministry concluded the schools were using “calming rooms” appropriately, for example with staff watching and parental consent.
“A small dark space”
Although the ministry was unwilling to dig further back than 2014, the Herald was able to get a report into Arahunga school.
A 2013 investigation details a complaint from a family who said their child had been locked in a time-out room and become very distressed.
The family also saw other children, crying, locked in the room, described as “a small dark space”, for a long time. A piece of four-by-two wood propped against the door kept it shut.
Investigators asked the school to review its policies and apologise to the family.
Yesterday the ministry revealed details of the 2012 complaint about Tawa Intermediate School, in which a parent raised concerns about his son being placed in a small room to manage his behaviour.
The ministry discussed this incident with the school, which explained that the space was a “withdrawal room” for students, and it was never locked.
After a visit to the school, the ministry recommended the room be transformed into a more welcoming “individual learning space” for students to use on a voluntary basis.
Those changes were put in place by December that year, the ministry said, and no formal investigation took place.
A ministry report this month revealed as of this year 17 schools used seclusion, but there was a risk of more because it was self-reported.
The ministry has now requested all schools cease using the rooms.