The Daily Caller is reporting that the photos show a room the size of a telephone booth being used at Mint Valley Elementary School in Longview, Washington to punish students who misbehave.
When asked by Portland's KATU-TV why the school was using the room, the principal said it was an "isolation booth" for students with behavioral disabilities. The superintendent of Longview Public Schools said it was a useful therapeutic tool that had been used on children for the last several years.
Sandy Catt, a spokesperson for the school district, said some parents allow their children to be put in the booth if it is deemed necessary and none of them have complained about the device. She went on to say that some students voluntarily enter the booth in search of quiet time.
The fury erupted over the booth when the eight year-old son of Ana Bate was forced to sit outside the booth as punishment for horseplay in the school yard. While watching students being sent to and from the booth, he became traumatized and frightened.
"[He was] thinking it was scary, it was abusive, are they going to do this to me?" Bate said.
She was able to snap pictures of the booth and posted them on Facebook.
KPTV reports that the school's principal has since sent a letter to parents explaining that the booth is only used as aversion therapy for special needs children.
"We want to stress that the booth is not used for punishment and it is not used by students other than those whose parents have participated in that child's individualized education plan," the letter reads. Isolation booths are permitted in the state of Washington with written parental consent."
However, other parents claim that their general education children were placed in the booth as punishment without parental permission.
"[My son] said that's the naughty room," said Candice Dawson, whose son does not have special needs. "That's what he called it. He said when kids are naughty they get put in there."
Officials say they are investigating the allegations and are reviewing how the isolation booth should be used in the future.
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