Locking up boy costs school $3k

A Wellington school has been told to pay a family $3000 after it “unreasonably and oppressively” locked a disabled child in a time-out room multiple times.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier recommended the payment and an apology in a finding on the complaint about seclusion of a child with autism at Miramar Central School.

The Herald first reported the school’s actions in 2016, after a behavioural therapist found her student, an 11-year-old autistic child, crying out “I’ll be good I’ll be good” from the locked room at lunchtime.

It was followed by stories about other schools using the practice. It prompted several investigations and a swift law change prohibiting locked seclusion rooms in schools.

Last month, when reporting his opinion concerning seclusion at Southland’s Ruru Specialist School, Boshier found the Ministry of Education had acted unreasonably in not providing schools with up-to-date and unambiguous guidance on the definition and use of seclusion.

He also found the Education Review Office needed systems for checking the use of rooms used for “time out” or managing challenging student behaviour.

Regarding the child at Miramar, Boshier said records showed that over a period of just three weeks in 2016 the boy was locked in what the school called its “time-out room” multiple times as a means of managing his behaviour.

“I found this use of the room was unacceptable,” he said.

Boshier praised the parents for their role in the law change.