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
DeleteThank you both for your creative and kind (respectively) workarounds :)
DeleteI've read the article in full now and it seems to raise more questions than answers. My original thoughts remain largely unchanged.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/akwesasne-st-regis-school-time-out-box-9.7021697
DeleteThanks, anon, for the more detailed article.
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.
In theory, your child would never be in the "box" if he/she were behaving. YOU take offense at it, perhaps, but consider that other parents may be upset that a single child is creating havoc in class.
DeleteI would, however, change one thing.... Instead of having a door, I would turn the opening toward a wall, with enough clearance for a child or adult to make their way in/out of the room. The child can then hear the lesson, but knows he/she cannot leave the room until the buzzer goes off or what have you.
You'd might not feel the same if another child was wrecking your own child's study/class time. To not put them in that little room may mean them just going to some other room--maybe one where there is a group of rowdy kids. Or, worse, eventually causing a parent to have to withdraw the student and try to find a school that will take the child--and that may be one that is much more expensive.
Another thing (I'm sorry, but I'm passionate about education--even if I'm an old guy)....
DeleteIn the school system, and "uproar" simply means that a parent complained enough for the media to pick it up. It's the same in the military. Do we suppose the My Lai would have ever been self-reported by the brass? They might not even have demoted or removed the people responsible.
Likewise, school leadership is very tuned in to anything that might make them look bad or get them fired. If the parent had called the principal, the principal might have spoken to the teacher, might have had the door to the box removed, or, yes, had them taken out. But when the MEDIA gets ahold of it and it become a "thing," oh, how those administrators are aghast, stunned, shaken, concerned, and nearly traumatized about the matter.
I had a principal who would check the classrooms to ensure the doors were locked during our active-shooter drills. Locking the door is an essential when there is an active shooter. During one drill, a teacher left their door unlocked. The principal, checking doors, came upon this classroom. When she found the door open, she walked in, made a pistol of her hand, and said something like, "Bang, bang--you're all dead."
These were middle or high school students. They played video games that were far more transgressive. But someone parent, deeply offended (right?), contacted the superintendent's office. Of course, he wouldn't have had any issue with it, I'm sure...UNTIL it hit the news. Then, oh, my goodness, he released a statement and demoted this principal (who I felt was a good one) and played the "we fixed it" game.
That's just how it works. Yes, the press is important. But, also yes, it can create tempests in teapots, hurting careers that in no way deserved that.
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.
ReplyDeleteThe story is about an American school…
DeleteBicycle Ridet
Definitely not a panic room for the teacher?
ReplyDeleteIf the door wasn’t on there, this seems like a safe place that a triggered child might want to relax in. Not a punishment but a retreat from the noise of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI was a public school teacher for 32 years, 27 of them in one middle school. The school has FALS (Functional Academic Learning Support) and CALS (Communication and Learning Support) programs for students needing intensive support outside general education due to severe social, emotional, and academic issues. These kids learn basic skills for communication, socializing, and work skills. I was not a teacher in either of these programs but I interacted with the staff and students regularly. The teachers in these positions, almost always women BTW, are amazing and very dedicated. They have to be or they won't last long.
ReplyDeletePeriodically these students have episodes where anger, frustration, confusion or other circumstances lead to them needing to be removed from the classroom for their safety and the safety of others. Their teachers are trained to move them to a time-out room attached to the classroom. This room was a former storage room, about 15' x 20', with double doors. The doors are seldom, if ever, closed. The walls are padded and the floor has a well padded carpet. There are beanbag chairs and soft balls and other items in the room. The lighting is soft. There is a motion activated camera. In most cases, students will calm with some intervention from a trained staff member and return to the classroom. These students have IEPs and their parents are shown the time-out room and must give written permission to use it for their child. Parents are notified if their child is moved to the room and have access to the video in real time.
What I have described above is the norm in public schools, at least in my state. To judge all public schools by the actions of one small district in upstate New York, and to link that to a mention of Nazi Germany, as the first comment did, is, IMO, ridiculous. And even without the door, these boxes are not OK and likely violate federal law. Thanks for reading.
My wife worked in Special Education for over 30 years. When I retired I joined her for 3 years until she retired. Our school had a room much like you described. I had only one student who regularly used that room and he would usually come to me and request to go in there. We also used it to reset between recess and classroom work. I would stay in the room with him and toss a ball or such while we talked about what had triggered him. I hope that young man is still getting the help he needs.
DeleteThank you, Bicycle Rider, for that informed comment. (IEP = Individualized Education Program)
ReplyDeletePART 1
ReplyDeleteI don't want a child humiliated. But neither do I want one child sabotaging the educations of others. As someone who got their last spanking when I was 21 (it's apparently an east Tennessee thing)--and yet who has always dearly loved my parents (not 86; I'm 63), I have learned that discipline does not harm a child. If something like this had been handy when I was a youngster, I might have caused fewer teachers to grit their teeth...and one to have perhaps not cried (I'm still sorry, Miss Parsons).
As a teacher myself now, yes, there are students who NEED to be removed from the class OR perhaps secluded IN the class. I'm talking high schoolers. Why are they this way at this age? Perhaps because there wasn't any time-out boxes when they were kids.
Make no mistake, I love my students. But in many schools--precisely because suspensions, drop outs, and graduation rates are tied to grants and the such (a suspended child is more likely to drop out, thus also impacting graduation rates), a child is sent out, then returns a few minutes later after being "talked to" by administration.
We don't want kids to drop out. So maybe it's a good idea to let them "bear the yoke" in their youth, as Solomon said. I spoke with the school superintendent in a small county we once lived in. She let me know that the school is often aware of a problem child by the first or second grade, and that such a child will go through their school life making things difficult for teachers and sincere students. So, yeah, maybe deal with it early and effectively.
PART 2
ReplyDeleteWHY IN THE WORLD should a child be permitted to do such damage? We may dearly love the child, but we dare not jeopardize the well-being and education of the other children.
I recall teaching one particularly difficult class (a sizeable minority of them are almost certainly in prison now--or so one can hope SMILE) when, frustrated that I couldn't even conduct the lecture, I spoke to the good students and said, "They're stealing your education. I want to teach you, but I cannot. You have to do something."
No one did anything. Later, one of my best students, the daughter of migrant workers, came to me and said, "Mr. S, we CAN'T do anything. We'd get beat up, etc."
I was filled with shame, to be honest. That precious young lady, wanting to learn, had been unable to do ANYTHING but endure until the end of the period. The next day, I began again, but this time far fiercer than I'd been until then. ANYONE who crossed me in that class was written up. And I did that multiple times until they realized that I would fail them or whatever, because I was DONE with that trash.
One of the most wonderful moments of my life was when one of those evil hellions (half-smile) and her mother demanded a sit-down with a guidance counselor because of her poor (maybe failing) grade. I went in and sat quietly while a degree of invective was poured on me and/or my teaching. I made no argument and gave no interjection. The mother, clearly, assumed that her daughter always told her the whole truth.
The guidance counselor finally turned to me and I said something like "For each chapter, I provide a short-response study guides of the very same questions that will appear on the chapter tests in multiple-choice form. The students have more than ample time to complete the study guides prior to the tests, and not only can they use the study guides--and their personal notes--on the tests, the tests are OPEN BOOK."
The mother stopped me. "The tests are OPEN BOOK?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She turned to her daughter and said, "I'm going to kill you."
Her daughter let out a wail that traveled down the corridors of the administration building and warmed my heart beyond measure.
Of course, I sat straight-faced. I was then dismissed to return to my classroom, and that rotten student (ah, let's call it what it is; what's the good in trying to be woke?)...didn't give me any more trouble that year!
To be honest, I actually was proud of her. But had that girl gotten straightened out before high school, I actually could have taught the entire American History course, including the Civil War and Reconstruction.
I say start early. I'm not sure that chill-out room is the thing, but just having a little talk with Susie or (as is more likely in elementary) Bobby, give them something they want to avoid.
I got in trouble many times in school. I was paddled at school...and then often spanked at home. NEVER was I abused! My dad would often cry before or after punishing me. A lot of things too a lot of time to get out of me. But the message was clear: Mom and Dad deeply cared what sort of boy I would become.
I ain't great, by a long shot; but there were things that teachers did back in my day that helped slowly re-shape me into a better student and person. It's OK to let small students know that we simply WILL NOT put up with behavior that demoralizes teachers and steals education time from the others.
Aaron, do school policies permit (or ban?) the use of video recordings of classroom behavior and activities?
DeleteNot sure.
DeleteWe have such a room at the wonderful private school (a working ranch) where I work. But it is called "The Chill-Out Room." Students can request to go there if they are feeling the need to do so in order to refrain from some poor behavior...or we can send a student there if we feel to for the sake of the class.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY thing that needs to change regarding the article is, I think, the NAME of the room. Instead of the time-out room, call it that reflection room, the chill-out room, the take-a-break room, the I-need-a-minute room.
Shoot, use the room to teach students how to tell time on an analog clock (I have seniors that cannot do so). You get the idea.
OR have an assignment for them. One effective disciplinary action my dad used in the stead of giving us kids a spanking (I'd take a grounding ANY DAY!), was to send us to our rooms with the assignment to read ten chapters of the Bible.
That sounds like a way to make kids hate the Bible, but it didn't at all. It was not only an exercise in literacy (I think all we likely had were KJV Bibles), but, seriously, by the time you read TEN chapters--even if the shorter psalms--you had a different mindset. If my evil sister and I were fighting, we came out with forgiveness and moved on (joking about my evil sister; I love her very much).