DENVER (NewsNation) — Denver Public Schools is facing scrutiny for allegedly using a room to restrain and discipline misbehaving students at one of its middle schools.
The room was formerly used as an office space, but then locks were placed on the windows and doors, transforming it into what was called a “seclusion room.”
Investigators say at least four students were locked inside and left unattended.
Since the allegations, state lawmakers said they would introduce legislation next year to ban the use of seclusion rooms in schools, Axios reported.
“Students are not caged animals, and I will not allow them to be treated as such,” State Rep. Regina English, a Colorado Springs Democrat and Harrison school board member, said Monday.
The allegations came out of McAuliffe International School, where the school’s principal, Kurt Dennis, was removed from his position earlier this summer after requiring school staff to conduct searches of at-risk students, the Axios report added.
Dennis defended his decision to isolate students in the locked room, saying the space and method were “district-sanctioned,” The Denver Post reported. He denied all allegations against him and told the publication that the room was a “de-escalation room” for kids to isolate and calm down.
Denver School Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson said that locking students in these rooms was a direct violation of school board policy. Anderson even went as far as to make public anonymous complaints against the seclusion rooms.
“Locking kids in a room, incarcerating them, is never allowable in Denver Public Schools,” Anderson told NewsNation.
Parents were notified about the allegations in an email, and the district promised new training for all staff before the school year begins, Axios reported.
The policy that was violated does allow, however, teachers to seclude students with behavioral issues under direct supervision in order to calm down misbehaving children, Anderson said.
Anderson explained that only when a student becomes a threat to themselves or others is it OK for them to be removed from a classroom and monitored in an isolated area.
“That means an individual can be placed into a room that has been cleared by the Denver Public Schools for monitored seclusion purposes with an adult in the room at all times,” Anderson explained.
From Dennis’ admissions in both his statements to the whistleblowers’ accounts, students were left in the seclusion room unattended and locked up without cameras to document what was going on in the room, Anderson said.
He said locking students up in the room was unacceptable, especially since that room posed a huge fire risk with locked doors and windows. The students would not have been able to escape in the event of a fire.
“This was a direct violation of our policies,” Anderson said. “If students were put into this room involuntarily, we are currently looking at potential kidnapping or child abuse charges. That is why the Denver police is looking into this matter as we speak.”
The board is scheduled to vote on Dennis’ official termination on Aug. 24.
