As reported in The New York Times:
It has ignited an uproar in the school system, the Salmon River Central School District, a small district with 1,300 students on the Canadian border.Within days, the school board enlisted a law firm to investigate what happened. It reassigned the district’s superintendent to “home duties” until the review is completed. And it placed several other leaders on leave, including a principal and the district’s special education director.Officials also revealed that the box depicted in the social media post was not the only one: Two others had been installed in schools, according to the superintendent. They have been removed.
Images brightened and cropped for size from the originals at the link, where there is additional information and commentary.
I'm ashamed to admit that I don't hold a subscription to the NYT and can't access the full article. This is probably discussed at length in there, but the inside of the box looks strikingly like the padded isolation rooms I've seen in psych wards, ERs, and prison medical units. In the right setting and overseen by the right people, these can undoubtedly be beneficial to the person in the room. As much respect as I have for teachers, I'm not sure this is something they should be handling. Unfortunately, this is probably one of many things they'd rather not be having to manage but that falls to them anyway because the resources to properly address the kinds of issues requiring a "room" like this aren't readily available.
ReplyDeleteLeprae, occasional access to a paywalled website can usually be accomplished by using the internet archive site, but it should not be used as a substitute for frequent visits via subscription: https://archive.is/
DeleteSubscribers can provide gift links, like so: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/nyregion/school-timeout-box-discipline-new-york.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-08.kzKD.czhLBoY79ifC&smid=url-share
DeleteSo many questions. Who built it? A union carpenter, perhaps. Who ordered it build? a building principal? Or the superintendent? And what teacher allowed it in their classroom? Who put a student in it? Similar case in Seattle where a child was isolated in a chainlink fenced area during the school, with meals pushed under the gate. How many people knew that was happening and allowed it to continue? The Venn diagram of actions like this and what we see in the news, as well as what we know about from 1936 - 1945 in Europe, starts to look like a circle.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this crazy? It's absolutely not the answer to school violence...yet many schools lack the resources to curb and prevent school violence before it happens. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder school board is in an uproar. It is poorly designed! For this one, the door should swing open to the left. Oh, and the ceiling is not padded.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteIf I had found my children being locked up in a box, I would make sure the person(s) responsible had the exact same confinement applied to them, but for far longer.
ReplyDeleteAnd with my poor memory I may well forget where their confinement box was located, after all, as soon as you go 400-500 metres inside a forest, one tree looks much the same as another.
Adds lols in fresh pine scent to alleviate the perceived violence accent.
A good summary of articles and news reports regarding this issue:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.specialeducationtoday.com/p/the-return-of-theughtime-out-box
A local news report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6TlUPFb7hQ
I almost hate to be the one to say it, but... still safer than American schools.
ReplyDelete