03-03-2005, 01:04 PM
By The Associated Press
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction opened an investigation Wednesday into a Monroe elementary school where parents said their special-needs children were locked inside a padded punishment room with the lights turned off.
In a report that aired Wednesday night on WKOW-TV in Madison, the station said a former teacher's aide at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School said that at least once, a 12-year-old child with Down's syndrome was locked inside a padded, 4-foot-by-8-foot room that did not have a door handle on the inside. The aide said she found the girl locked in the room, kicking and screaming in the dark.
"It's pretty spooky," the girl, identified as Katie, told the station.
The report did not name the aide.
The girl's mother, Holly Lelle, told the station her daughter sometimes can be aggressive and officials at the school asked her if they could place her in a time-out room. Lelle said she agreed, not realizing what the room would be like.
"We as parents have to be more aware," Lelle said. "I feel that we're not being told everything."
But Kit Weintraub, whose 10-year-old daughter, Emily, suffers from autism, defended the time-out room. She told WKOW-TV her daughter used to have 20 to 30 tantrums a day, and the room is a good last resort to calm a violent child. She said she doesn't believe the lights are turned off.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction opened an investigation Wednesday into a Monroe elementary school where parents said their special-needs children were locked inside a padded punishment room with the lights turned off.
In a report that aired Wednesday night on WKOW-TV in Madison, the station said a former teacher's aide at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School said that at least once, a 12-year-old child with Down's syndrome was locked inside a padded, 4-foot-by-8-foot room that did not have a door handle on the inside. The aide said she found the girl locked in the room, kicking and screaming in the dark.
"It's pretty spooky," the girl, identified as Katie, told the station.
The report did not name the aide.
The girl's mother, Holly Lelle, told the station her daughter sometimes can be aggressive and officials at the school asked her if they could place her in a time-out room. Lelle said she agreed, not realizing what the room would be like.
"We as parents have to be more aware," Lelle said. "I feel that we're not being told everything."
But Kit Weintraub, whose 10-year-old daughter, Emily, suffers from autism, defended the time-out room. She told WKOW-TV her daughter used to have 20 to 30 tantrums a day, and the room is a good last resort to calm a violent child. She said she doesn't believe the lights are turned off.