* Press release…
The Illinois Education Association (IEA) said Wednesday the practice of using seclusion rooms – where students are placed alone in a room and observed from the outside by an adult – should no longer be used. Instead, a workgroup should be formed to look at alternative, long-term solutions that value safety and restorative practices.
“We know that safety is priority number one with our students, especially those who have traumatic pasts and who have special needs,” said Kathi Griffin, IEA president. “Seclusion takes safety out of the mix and adds fear and torment. Calm rooms, or reflection rooms, should provide caring adults, helping to support students and to teach them strategies for self-regulation.”
The IEA has been working for nearly five years to bring these concepts to its 135,000 members across the state of Illinois. It has partnered with the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and many other community partners to educate teachers and support staff on restorative practices since 2014 in order to prevent situations exactly like those outlined in the reporting done by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica.
“Plywood and cement walls are a ‘cell’, not a room meant to provide safety and support. We applaud the Illinois State Board of Education for coming up with emergency rules to try to provide immediate relief to this situation, but we’d also ask that a workgroup or taskforce be formed that includes all stakeholders – including parents – that helps determine how schools can wrap safety and support around struggling students, keep all students safe and determine how all of this work can be funded,” Griffin said.
“There is nothing more important to this state than its children. It speaks to who we are as a people how we are going to handle this crisis going forward. It’s imperative it’s handled the right way.”
Nineteen other states have banned the practice of seclusion rooms.
* Press release…
IFT President Dan Montgomery’s statement responding to the Chicago Tribune’s and ProPublica’s investigative report on the use of isolated seclusion and ISBE’s response
“The Illinois Federation of Teachers does not support the use of isolation as a form of school discipline, and as a parent and former teacher, I was disturbed to read yesterday’s report. We agree with ISBE’s decision to end the practice but that in itself does not solve the problem. The IFT would like to see a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to this issue and a broader discussion about how schools can sensitively address discipline and behavior issues.”
“Schools in every part of Illinois are in desperate need of supports for students such as counselors and mental health services, as well as training for teachers, staff, and school leaders who care for students each and every day. The IFT looks forward to working with ISBE and other partners to equitably address school discipline issues.”
* Attorney General Kwame Raoul…
I am appalled and share the outrage rightly expressed by many upon reading reports of the apparent widespread use of isolation rooms as disciplinary measures in Illinois schools, which seem to disproportionately impact vulnerable children with behavioral and emotional disorders.
I am encouraged that the Illinois State Board of Education has committed to taking immediate action, including filing emergency rules to ban the use of isolation practices. I urge the ISBE to work with the General Assembly to explore legislative solutions to more permanently address the use of isolation rooms, and my office is ready to work with the ISBE and the General Assembly on this issue.
- Sue - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 2:25 pm:
Raoul - nice to see you outraged. How about a statement of outrage as to all the corruption you are surrounded by even though the misconduct isn’t one of your priorities. You are simply a disgrace
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 2:29 pm:
- Sue -
Stop. You fail again to recognize what the state’s Attorney General is tasked with, constitutionally, a fallacy argument going back to Jim Ryan for cripes sake.
To bring this back,
From the Attorney General;
===… explore legislative solutions to more permanently address the use of isolation rooms, and my office is ready to work with the ISBE and the General Assembly on this issue.===
How that legislative response and the criminality will be the tell to how strongly everyone is willing to take these sickening things and put laws in place to do right and just for all.
- Abbey - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 2:40 pm:
I have not — and can not — read any of the reporting or CYA press releases on this subject. My son is on the spectrum. He struggled through many different placements and those did include “quiet” rooms.
Do not slap a band-aid bill over this. My son did become highly agitated and even violent under certain circumstances.
A “quiet” room is not a bad idea. When it is used by under-trained or untrained personnel, then you get the horrific scars on both the souls of these children and the walls of the room that bear testament to those souls contained in those rooms.
Do not rush to legislate my child or those other children that redefine behavioral norms and expectations.
A true quiet room did help my son. Throwing him in there after he had been provoked and then standing back while he screamed was not.
Dear legislators — tread carefully. That’s why I can not and will not read the story.
- Ok - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 3:02 pm:
So, with all these people supposedly against it, I am curious how it was literally happening all over.
- chuddery - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 3:31 pm:
==So, with all these people supposedly against it, I am curious how it was literally happening all over.==
There was no accountability or real oversight, and this was an easy way for unqualified “teachers” to deal with these students.
- Nick Name - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 3:32 pm:
===So, with all these people supposedly against it, I am curious how it was literally happening all over.===
All it took was for someone to lift the rock.
- JoanP - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 3:40 pm:
=The IEA has been working for nearly five years to bring these concepts to its 135,000 members across the state of Illinois. =
Five years (banned punctuation). And it’s still happening. (Banned words.)
- Mama - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 4:13 pm:
Good to see ISBE is now involved in policing the practice of using seclusion rooms for some students.
ISBE needs to find a better method for teachers to handle students they cannot control in their classrooms.
- City Zen - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 4:22 pm:
Kwame - The use of isolation rooms in Illinois schools has been reported on for years. The word “isolate” appears in the state school’s code. There are national studies on student seclusion and restraint laws.
You can be appalled, but it should be directed at your own ignorance on the matter as you have failed one of the few responsibilities of your office: Safeguarding Children.
- Kenno - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 4:56 pm:
Who will uncover these atrocities when Alden Global Capital gets through decimating the Tribune? Thanks, Michael Ferro, for finishing the job of killing off Chicago’s legacy news organizations.
- ajjacksson - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 4:57 pm:
Sue,
How can you take an issue so appalling and make it about something else?
- Morty - Wednesday, Nov 20, 19 @ 5:01 pm:
ISBE needs to find a better method for teachers to handle students they cannot control in their classrooms.
That’s the question, isn’t it?
What is it?
Because so far ISBE’s response has been put them back in the classroom.
- Streamwood Retiree - Thursday, Nov 21, 19 @ 7:27 am:
Whose idea was it to put kids in Tiger Cages instead of sending them home or having a parent come down to get them?