The parents of students with special needs placed in so-called “timeout” boxes in an upstate New York school district, as recently reported in the media, are outraged. And they are taking action.

While the “timeout” boxes are reportedly lined with padded mats and used as supposed “behavioral calming measures,” parents say this practice violates their children’s rights.

Taking Legal Action

The mother of one of the children who is a student at a primary school in New York state’s Salmon River Central School District, said her son was allegedly placed one of the in the “timeout” wooden boxes and is pursuing legal action. She has retained the services of Tully Rinckey PLLC.

She is one of several parents who spoke at a school board meeting and said that after speaking with their children, they believe they may have been held inside the boxes, one of which had purportedly been built for her autistic, non-verbal son, she told the Times Union in a recent interview.

The Times Union has also posted an op-ed lambasting the practice of timeout boxes, stating that “[c]hildren traumatized by seclusion techniques can require time and counseling, resources that could be devoted to moving them toward educational goals. The costs of this scandal to the … School District — in the recruitment of new staff, attorneys to respond to civil legal matters and heaven knows what else — have only begun to add up, expending public funds that could otherwise have been directed to classroom activities and everything else that contributes to making school a center of a child’s development as opposed to a gulag.”

State Education Department Steps In

The State Education Department has since informed the school district that “restraint and seclusion” are prohibited by state regulations (8 NYCRR 19.5), and directed the district to “immediately cease” to remove the boxes from any buildings utilized for instructional purposes. The district has since said the boxes have been removed from classrooms and disassembled, but the damage to the children and parents involved remains.

Protect Your Child’s Rights

While the claims made against the Salmon River Central School District are not just troubling, they are a direct violation of children’s rights. Tully Rinckey attorneys are prepared to proceed to fully expose the unlawful actions that led to this troubling situation in the Salmon River Central School District — and any other districts where this may be happening — and will fight for the rights of parents and their children, and end this nonsensical practice.

Tully Rinckey attorneys understand that challenges surrounding your child’s educational needs and balancing a student’s right to due process, and they will handle your matter with the attention and tact it deserves. If you have additional questions about your rights as a student, our team of attorneys is available to assist you today. Please call 8885294543 to schedule a consultation, or schedule a consultation online.

Nicholas A. Marricco is a Senior Associate in Tully Rinckey PLLC’s Manhattan Office, where he focuses his practice on Education Law, Special Education Law, Higher Education Law, Federal Employment Law, and New York State Employment Law. Nicholas has also represented countless families of children with special needs in CSE meetings, CPSE meetings, manifestation determinations, and Impartial Hearings. He is among the few New York State Special Education Attorneys who had an IEP and received special education services as a child. Nicholas’ parents fought for his education as a child and now he zealously advocates for all his clients like his parents did for him.