Mar 13, 2007 6:50 am US/Mountain
Advocacy Group: Disabled Improperly Restrained
Allegations Against School In Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ―
An 11-year-old girl was denied a trip to the restroom and sat in her own urine, according to an advocacy group that investigated allegations of special needs students being improperly restrained at Will Rogers Elementary School.
An 11-year-old boy reportedly bloodied himself after banging his head after being punished, according to the Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People, which said students at the school were improperly restrained and forced into "time-out" seclusion.
The group found 45 such occasions that involved five students.
Officials with Colorado Springs School District 11, which oversees the school, issued a statement Monday saying it "strongly disagrees" with the report, which was submitted to the district and state Department of Education.
"District 11 maintains a special education program at Rogers Elementary that serves students with severe emotional disabilities," the statement said. "Because of the dangers some of these students pose to themselves and others, it is sometimes necessary for the district to physically restrain them or place them in an unlocked time-out room."
The district also denied the allegation that a student was forced to sit in her own urine.
Heidi Van Huysen, an attorney with the nonprofit that in 1977 was designated the advocacy group for such cases, said it was given full access to the school and staff for its investigation.
Allegations outlined in the 21-page report occurred in a self-contained classroom called the "Learning Lab" and an attached time-out room, Van Huysen said. The majority of students in the classroom had mental health or developmental disabilities, she said.
"I have no doubt many of these students engaged in difficult behavior, but there is no excuse for the ongoing pattern and practices the Will Rogers staff engaged in with regards to restraint and seclusion," Van Huysen said.
While state school regulations allow 1 minute of time-out for each year of a student's age, up to a maximum of 12 minutes, some students were sitting on a tile floor for a half-hour or longer, Van Huysen said. The incidents allegedly happened last school year and part of this school year.
Investigations were also being conducted in five other districts across Colorado, though none are in Colorado Springs.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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