The room where Jonathan King hanged himself is shown after his death.MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out." "We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face.
But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.
Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants. Watch Jonathan's parents on their son's death »
An attorney representing the school has denied any wrongdoing.
Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and austistic children have been injured or traumatized.
If you have children with special needs, don't be duped into believing the public school system can do a better job with them than you can.
5 comments:
Horrifying!
I've heard of seclusion rooms being used, but to my knowledge, at least here, that usually just means an empty classroom, with a teacher or assistant to supervise. This is so scary.
Ginger,
Thanks for posting this story. We have an adopted special needs boy from Liberia and I wonder from time to time if he would be better off in school even though I know deep down that it is not true. This article sealed the deal for me though and there is no way they are getting him now. By the way, did you mean to put an advertisement for the Brad Pitt movie at the bottom of that story? I didn't think that would be the type of movie you would want to promote. Thanks.
Christy in PA
yikes! what a tragic story. I hope this event caused some changes in the care system as I know that some people don't have the choice to homeschool and have to rely on the State.
Shipra,
Who doesn't have the choice to homeschool?
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