FORT COVINGTON, N.Y. (Us Weekly) — Photos shared to social media last month of what has been described as a wooden “timeout” box used to confine special needs students at an upstate New York school district caused an uproar, leading to an active police investigation.
The mother of a non-verbal, autistic elementary student tells Us Weekly that after she saw the December 15 Facebook post of the box at the St. Regis Mohawk School, within the Salmon River Central School District, she learned it was built for her child. The post was shared by a former school board member.
Rhonda Garrow, whose 8-year-old son is in third grade, said in an interview on Thursday, January 15, that she was disgusted to find out her son was regularly confined to the box inside his classroom.
She said it was used as a behavioral measure at his school, which is located in Akwesasne, near the border of Canada.
“He can’t speak, and he can’t fight back…he can’t tell his family or tell anybody that he was being placed into there,” Garrow said of her son.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she added.
Garrow, along with her son’s father, filed a notice of a legal claim on January 15 against the Salmon River Central School District and the district’s board of education, accusing district officials of violating their child’s civil rights through the alleged use of the “box-shaped wooden dog cage.”
Garrow has also reported the box to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police, according to the notice reviewed by Us.
St. Regis Mohawk Police Chief Matthew Rourke confirmed to the Times-Union that his department is investigating the St. Regis Mohawk School.
Rourke did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Us.
About 60% of students within the school district are Native American, according to the Times-Union.
After allegations of the wooden “timeout” box emerged, the district’s board of education put the school district’s superintendent, Stanley Harper, on “home duties,” the Times-Union reported. An interim superintendent was then appointed.
Harper, according to the newspaper, has acknowledged that three wooden “timeout” boxes, which were padded on the inside, existed at the district’s elementary schools.
A new school district superintendent, Terrance P. Dougherty, was appointed to the position on Wednesday, January 14, according to a district statement.
In the statement, the district noted that it has launched an investigation “into the use of wooden boxes as calming stations in classrooms.”
In a statement to Us on January 16, Dougherty said “the District and I are committed to supporting the outside law firm that is thoroughly investigating all allegations and will make recommendations to ensure a safe, inclusive learning environment and help bring this school community back together.”
The district’s board of education did not immediately return Us’ request for comment.
Garrow’s notice of legal claim signals she is planning to sue the school district. She is represented by the Tully Rinckey PLLC law firm.
While speaking with Us, the firm’s founding partner, Greg Rinckey, said “I think what the family wants is, first off, justice for their son.”
“Secondly, they want to hold people accountable within this district that thought this was okay,” Rinckey added.
Garrow said that her son, who is Native-American, had attended the St. Regis Mohawk School, which is on the St. Regis Mohawk tribal reservation, until December 12.
That is when the district transferred him to Salmon River Elementary.
According to Garrow and Rinckey, her child was confined in the wooden box at both schools, as part of his behavior intervention plan. The use of the box was never disclosed to Garrow, Rinckey said.
“We believe that the wooden crate was moved from school to school with [him],” Rinckey said. Rickey also said that the box is mentioned in the behavior intervention plan, “but it is referred to as a workstation.”
“It states that when the child has a behavioral issue, he will be placed into the workstation,” Rinckey said. “However, it was never disclosed to anyone that the workstation was, in fact, a wooden crate.”
Rinckey called the discovery shocking.
The boy’s behavior intervention plan also required him to “eat his meals and snacks in the wooden crate,” Rinckey said.
“He was supposed to be doing all his work in there,” Garrow also said.
