TN: School System Defends Use Of Secure Rooms

Note: From June 2007

June 12, 2007 10:04 PM CDT

GALLATIN, Tenn.- Small rooms used for seclusion at some Sumner County schools have sparked controversy.

On Tuesday night, Sumner County Schools will defend the district's use of isolation rooms. They said children with special needs are sometimes placed in the small quarters if they misbehave.

But child advocates said these rooms are no place for children.

School officials said the rooms have been used for some time and that the students are safe.

They said the rooms are only used when necessary, however not everyone agrees with their plan.

"It's a room so they can gather their thoughts, compose themselves and calm down," said Steve Doremus, supervisor of board and community relations for Sumner County Schools. "We only use them when absolutely necessary."

Doremus said they're effective when dealing with unruly students.

"When we have to use a seclusion room, the students are typically worked up over a situation and they're posing a danger to themselves or others," Doremus said, referring to three cinder block rooms set up inside of R.T. Fisher Alternative School in Gallatin.

The secure rooms are used at the school and other schools to isolate combative special education students...

"We take the steps that we take after much study," Doremus said.

The procedure has recently come under fire from the Disability Law and Advocacy Center, however the district believes it's a safe method.

"Our school board policy strictly limits the students that we can use these rooms for," Doremus said.

Only about 100 students district-wide can be placed in the rooms and their parents had to grant permission.

"It's strictly monitored," Doremus said.

He said the secure rooms do not have locks but latches to keep the children inside. Administrators monitor the students as long as they're inside the rooms.

"We want to be able to observe them to make sure that they're not doing anything that could injure themselves and make sure we have access to them immediately if that becomes necessary," Doremus said.

The school system also has a lengthy policy regarding use. There's a time limit on how long students can be held and only trained administrators can place a child in the room.

"It's not a place where you put a student to punish them for anything they've done," Doremus said. "It's to try to protect them, protect the staff and again to work towards solutions to keep it from occurring."

A written policy has been in place for about two years.

School district officials realize some people may be concerned about the procedure, but they have not received any complaints from parents and they plan to continue using the method.

According to the school district, 162 different times last school year students were placed in the secure rooms.

Each time the rooms are used, the district has to fill out a detailed report, stating why it was used.