DENVER — At least three students were placed in a "seclusion room" inside of McAuliffe International School (MIS) during the 2022-2023 school year, Denver Public Schools said in a release Friday evening.
The statement comes one day after the president, vice president and treasurer of the DPS Board of Education revealed information about the room to justify the firing of former MIS Principal Kurt Dennis, an issue that's drawn criticism from some community members.
Education
DPS investigating so-called 'incarceration room' inside McAuliffe school
Vice President Auon'tai Anderson said a whistleblower on staff at MIS revealed that students of color had been locked inside a room with a lock on the outside during the 2022-2023 school year. He said in a tweet Friday he received additional information that "most students locked in this room had IEPs (individual education plan), and were quite literally dragged through the school screaming down the hallway and put in this room."
The information was sufficient enough to trigger the district's mandatory reporting obligation, Anderson and DPS said. Since Anderson was the initial recipient of the whistleblower's email, he contacted the Denver Police Department.
Yesterday, I received an additional email from the McAuliffe whistleblower and a portion of it stated “most students locked in this room had IEPs, and were quite literally dragged through the school screaming down the hallway and put in this room”.
— Auon’tai M. Anderson (@AuontaiAnderson) August 4, 2023
This was sufficient…
In its release, the school district said it was notified on Wednesday of the inappropriate use of a "de-escalation room." DPS said de-escalation rooms exist throughout the district, but there is a difference between de-escalation and seclusion.
The district explained that de-escalation is when staff members use techniques to help calm a student who is experiencing escalating emotions. If needed, students can be brought to a de-escalation room. According to DPS, students go into de-escalation rooms voluntarily and are accompanied by an adult at all times while the door remains open.
Seclusion, on the other hand, is when a student who is experiencing escalating emotions is locked inside a room by themselves until they calm down, according to DPS. The district said de-escalation is allowed in certain circumstances, but seclusion is not.
"Under no circumstances is “seclusion” a permissible intervention in DPS to support a student with needs of that type," the school district said in its release.
DPS said what allegedly happened at MIS was seclusion, not de-escalation. The district also said the room in question did not meet DPS' de-escalation room guidelines.
According to a 2019 memo that outlines guidance for the creation of de-escalation rooms, "the ideal space should be equal in size to four student desks, no windows in room, one door, and only soft furniture used." Windows that are in the room should be secured or limited, and any blinds or window coverings that could be pulled down should be removed, according to the guidance.
Anderson said Thursday he and Board of Education Treasurer Scott Esserman went to MIS to investigate and discovered that "locks had also been placed on the windows of the room, (and) that the vent in the room was destroyed."
Interventions for students experiencing emotional escalation are made on an individual basis and generally adhere to a student's IEP or Section 504 plan, according to DPS.
An IEP, or individual education plan, outlines "special education instruction, supports, and services a student needs to thrive in school," DPS explained. A 504 plan is an outline used by teachers and administrators in order to meet a student's needs while addressing "any problems or obstacles that may be caused by developmental disabilities," according to the district.
The district said Friday it is aware of at least three students who were placed in the room at MIS during the 2022-2023 school year. At least one of the students did not have an IEP or 504 plan that supported the use of a de-escalation room as an intervention tactic, according to DPS.
