Special Report for MN: New Report Lists Schools with Time Out Rooms

Nov 17, 2008 10:46 pm US/Central

I-TEAM: 'Time-Out Rooms' In Schools
By Amelia Santaniello

Amelia Santaniello (WCCO) If you locked you children in a small room, denied them food or bathroom breaks and let them eat paint off walls, you could be charged with a crime.

The WCCO-TV I-TEAM found if those same things happen in what's called a "time-out room", schools can get away with it.

"Looking back, I'm a very naïve person," said Cathy Myrick. When her son, Logan, was in fourth grade, he stopped wanting to go to school at Lincoln Magnet Elementary in Willmar, Minn.

"He wanted to stay at home, period," Myrick said. "He did not want to be there ... at all."

Logan was on a behavioral plan for medical reasons. It allowed for the use of what's often called a "time-out room", under a strict set of circumstances.

"When he exhibited behaviors that would not be safe for the other children or safe for him," Myrick explained.

Time-out rooms are allowed by state law. Some are unlocked but many are equipped to lock students in for what's called "time-out for seclusion".

The I-TEAM surveyed all 433 school districts and charter schools in the state to see which ones had "time-out rooms".

Of the 249 that responded, about a quarter said they had "time-out rooms".

"I was very concerned with this 'time-out room,'" Myrick said. "That's why it was written in his behavioral plan that he was supposed to be let out every three minutes."

"Time-out for seclusion" is only supposed to be used when students are a danger to themselves or others.

Research shows it is only effective when used a few minutes at a time, but Myrick said that's not what happened with Logan.

"Logan indicated to me that he would spend his days in that 'time-out room,'" Myrick said, saying Logan had told her that he couldn't go to lunch because he was in time-out or he couldn't use the restroom because he was in time-out.

"Quite frequently, he would come home with soiled clothes," Myrick said.

Logan's teacher was Lisa Van Der Heiden, a special education teacher, who was already the focus of another maltreatment complaint within the Willmar school district. That case involved Van Der Heiden's use of the "time-out room" with an 8-year-old girl.

The Willmar School District refused to show the I-TEAM the room that was used.

Both mothers filed complaints with the Minnesota Department of Education. In the case of the girl, district staff told the Department, "When the student was in the 'time-out room', staff did not continuously monitor her ... Student would use her teeth to peel paint off of the walls ... Then the student ate the paint."

It was so much paint that staff said, "the 'time-out room' needed to be repainted."

The Department found the girl was locked in the room "at least 44 times in the 2004-2005 school year" in violation of state of state rules and it concluded "using time-out for seclusion ... was not authorized."

The Department approved a corrective plan for the district requiring more training for Van Der Heiden and other staff working in special education.

"You just don't think that a teacher is going to harm your kid," Myrick said.

In Logan's case, the Department determine, "there wasn't a preponderance of evidence to substantiate his claims ... He couldn't remember the dates, the times, the incidents."

"I just hope he comes out on the better side of this," Myrick said.

Lisa Van Der Heiden no longer teaches at the Lincoln Magnet School but the I-TEAM learned she still teaches in the district, for Lakeview School, where students are vulnerable kids in treatment for mental health issues.

Through her attorney, Van Der Heiden said in the case of the 8-year-old girl, she only acted within the scope of the girl's individualized education plan.

That was also the determination in throwing out a lawsuit brought against Van Der Heiden in federal court by the girl's mother.

"It's an outrage," said education attorney Margaret O'Sullivan Kane, who represents the girl and is appealing the federal court ruling on her client's behalf. "We've got a Department of Education that is a toothless monster."

O'Sullivan Kane said cases involving the misuse of "time-out rooms" are on the rise and she and other education attorneys each handle more than a handful of cases a year.

"Children are left in there without lunch," she said. "They urinate and defecate on themselves. Sometimes they strip naked. Sometimes they're there all day."

The Department of Education said it did work on a proposal last year that focused on more positive types of behavioral interventions and which clarified when and how "time-out rooms" should be used.

"When they find out there's been excess abuse in these rooms, they don't sanction anybody," O'Sullivan Kane said. "They just order corrective actions, which is a polite slap on the wrist."

The Department said while advocates for children with disabilities like PACER and ARC support the changes, "several organizations and individuals representing school districts opposed the rules."

"I wonder, at times, what it is we actually put in the hands of people," said Dr. Richard Amado, a psychologist and expert in behavior analysis who once advocated the use of "time-out rooms" in schools.

"I don't want to paint too broad a stroke, but in many cases, education has adopted it as an answer," Amado said. "It's not the answer. It's a stopgap measure."

Amado said a lack of training in how to use the rooms and the frequency of their use are a difficult problem to deal with.

"I've been all over the map in this arena and it's just like what did we do? We've created a monster," Amado said.

Right now, schools don't have to let the state know they're using "time-out rooms", so the Department of Education admits there isn't a good way to make sure those rooms are following state rules.

The Department hopes lawmakers change that next year.

Click here to find out if your district has a "time-out room".