SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — The little gray rooms are about the size of a Porta Potty, with a padded interior, a metal latch, and a small window on the door.
They wouldn’t seem out of place in a psychiatric facility. But Stephanie Merrill, a mother of twin 8-year-old boys with autism, says she was "horrified” when she saw the rooms on a recent tour of Elk Meadows Elementary School in South Jordan.
“My first thought when I saw these boxes was solitary confinement,” she said in an interview. “The only thing that was missing was a straitjacket.”
These rooms go by many names, some more innocuous-sounding than others – from “seclusionary time-out rooms” and “isolation boxes,” to “calming rooms” or “quiet rooms.” Whatever they’re called, they’re meant to be used for one purpose: to maintain safety in Utah classrooms by secluding children who pose an immediate threat of “serious physical harm” to themselves or others.
Overall, students across the state were put in seclusion more than 1,300 times in the 2020-2021 school year, according to a FOX 13 News analysis of data from the federal government’s Civil Rights Data Collection survey. Those numbers are the most recent currently available and were almost certainly affected by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Put simply, seclusion is the practice of placing “a child in a room or area against their will and not letting them out,” said Guy Stephens, a national opponent of the practice with the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint.
“In a school setting, it often looks like a child having a big behavior, getting forcefully drug to a room, put into it while someone either blocks the exit or holds a door shut,” he added.
Children are sometimes – but not always – isolated in a designated room, like the one Merrill was shown. Data shows most students put in seclusion are in elementary school, and the majority have disabilities.
While lawmakers in states like Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, and Texas have either banned or severely limited the use of seclusion, rules set by the Utah State Board of Education allow it under narrow safety circumstances.
Those rules limit seclusion to no more than 30 minutes at a time and require supervision throughout, as well as disclosure to the student’s parents and school administrators every time it’s used. They also specify that the tactic should never be used to punish or discipline a child.
“It could be a circumstance of self-harm,” said Ashley Lower, a behavior specialist with the Utah State Board of Education, of times when seclusion might be appropriate. “Or they could be in a position where they’re going to maybe be physically aggressive or violent towards another student or adult.”
Whatever the context, she said, “seclusionary time-out is a last resort.”
FOX 13 News reached out to all 44 of the Utah districts and charter schools that reported using seclusion in the 2020-2021 school year. In statements, they emphasized their commitment to using the tactic as a last resort and stressed their compliance with state rules governing its use.
Still, opponents believe seclusion is commonly overused and want to see it banned altogether in the state. They point to the possibility for lifelong trauma for students put in seclusion, as well as the potential for civil rights abuses and discrimination, given the prevalence of the tactic among
students with disabilities.
"I don’t think seclusion is ever appropriate,” Stephens said.
'STUCK IN A BOX'
Banging against the walls. Screaming. Crying out for a loved one.
These are the ways children sometimes react to being held in an enclosed space and prevented from leaving, said Stephens, who has worked with parents across the country whose children have been put in isolation.
“We often see that the stress is so high that kids might even urinate or defecate themselves,” he added.
Stephens founded the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint after his own son, who is neurodivergent, was put in seclusion in Maryland schools – experiences that made the boy so afraid to go back into the classroom that he had to be homeschooled for a while.
“The impact is really lasting,” he said. “I mean, I know kids that were restrained or secluded when they were 7 or 8 years old who at 18 or 19 can’t sleep with their door shut at night, are afraid to get into an elevator or go into a small, enclosed space.”
The federal government has said there’s “no evidence that using restraint or seclusion is effective” at addressing underlying behavioral issues. But research does show the tactic can be traumatic and can have “deep and lasting effects” on children as they grow, Stephens said.
“People often talk about, ‘Oh, we have the padding [in the seclusion rooms] so the child won’t hurt themselves,’” he said. “There’s no amount of padding in the world that prevents a child from the trauma that they will endure by being put into a room against their will.”
Guy Stephens explains why he created the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint:
Data shows seclusion is widespread across the state, with 125 schools in 21 of Utah’s 29 counties reporting at least one instance in the 2020-2021 school year.
That year, schools reported a total of 1,319 instances of seclusion among just 529 students – an indication that some children were put in isolation repeatedly.
Nate Crippes, an attorney with the Utah Disability Law Center, said the trauma of seclusion can sometimes lead to additional behavioral problems for children, creating a vicious cycle in which teachers may begin putting those students in seclusion even more frequently to manage those
new issues.
“In at least some of the instances we’ve heard about or seen, [seclusion] can escalate the behavior,” said Crippes, who noted that the Disability Law Center hears concerns about seclusion from parents in the state at least a few times a year. “It probably is leading to more seclusion or more restraint.”
While there are no federal regulations governing the use of restraint, the U.S. Department of Education has issued guidance to schools about the tactic and noted that repeated use of seclusion should be seen as a warning sign students aren’t getting the help they need.
The department has also warned that seclusion can result in discrimination, given that students with disabilities are secluded far more frequently than those without. In Utah, about 80% of all instances of seclusion involved children with disabilities.
This disproportionate use can lead to students “essentially being denied access to an education in a multitude of ways,” Crippes said.
“If you’re stuck in a box somewhere, you’re not getting whatever education all your peers are,” he said. “You’re missing out on all that teaching time, all the interaction with your fellow students. You’re missing out on so much. And then on top of that you might also be experiencing significant trauma.”
THESE ARE THE UTAH SCHOOLS THAT SECLUDED THE MOST STUDENTS IN THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR:
- Spectrum Academy in North Salt Lake had 178 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Amelia Earhart School in Provo School District had 136 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Rocky Mountain Middle School in Wasatch School District had 117 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- J.R. Smith School in Wasatch School District had 99 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Spectrum Academy in Pleasant Grove had 75 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Eagle Bay School in Davis School District had 70 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Crestview School in Davis School District had 67 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
- Kauri Sue Hamilton School in Jordan School District had 51 instances of seclusion in 2020-2021.
‘WE WANT TO HAVE PUBLIC OUTCRY’
After she toured Elk Meadows Elementary School earlier this fall and learned about seclusionary time-outs in Utah schools, Merrill said she couldn’t sleep. All she could picture was her son Austin, “scared to death” and “fighting for his life” in something akin to a small, padded cell.
Years earlier, Merrill and her husband had adopted the twins – who were exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb – through the foster care system. And she worried that by placing him in a school that uses seclusionary time-out rooms, she would risk exposing him to additional trauma.
“Our kids were traumatized before they were born,” she said. “And I absolutely refuse. Absolutely, my son will never go in one of these boxes ever.”
Merrill ultimately decided not to place her son at the school but has been fighting since to raise more awareness of seclusion among Utah parents and policymakers.
“We want to have public outcry and outrage that these boxes are being used,” she said.
Jordan School District did not respond to a request from FOX 13 News for a tour of Elk Meadows Elementary School and also did not answer specific questions about seclusion. Instead, the district released a statement that stressed its commitment to the safety of students and staff.
“These spaces are very rarely used, only in extreme cases for brief amounts of time for the safety of students and staff,” Sandra Riesgraf, the district’s director of communications, said in the statement. “The spaces are used for emergency safety interventions in accordance with strict State and District requirements and only by highly trained staff.”
The district came under scrutiny previously for its seclusionary time-out practices in a February report on KUTV, after photos circulated of an isolation room that was decorated to look like a time travel box from the TV show “Doctor Who.”
In a letter about that room the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint sent to the Jordan School District last year, Stephens encouraged the district to revise its policies to prohibit the use of seclusion. Districts that have done so, he argued, have seen “improved outcomes, including fewer injuries, less staff turnover and increased staff satisfaction.”
Stephens said he never received a response.
And while he’d love to see action taken on the district level, he said he ultimately hopes to see Utah lawmakers step up to prohibit seclusion statewide.
“I’m a big fan of a quote by Maya Angelou, which is ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better,’” Stephens said. “Here in 2024, we absolutely know better than seclusion. There are better things we can and should be doing.”
Opponents of seclusion discuss the importance of increased awareness
about the tactic: