Utah school kept special needs child alone in padded room dozens of times, mother says 

SOUTH JORDAN — A Utah mother says her daughter's school repeatedly placed the young girl in a room the size of a closet alone on multiple occasions.

It's a practice known as seclusionary time out.

Alisha Hadden said her daughter, Gracelynn, 9, was held alone in the space dozens of times over two years at Elk Meadows Academy in the Jordan School District.

"If I were to do this to my child, I would be arrested. I would be investigated. I don't understand how it's okay at school," Hadden said.

Gracelynn calls it "the booth." Hadden told KSL-TV it is a small, padded room the size of a closet, with a window near the top for staff to observe the student as they hold the door closed.

Hadden said her daughter has autism and is sometimes prone to outbursts.

"I used to joke that Gracelynn will lead the world either by force or by kindness," she said.

What are the rules?

Under Utah state rule, seclusion rooms are permitted in schools for emergency safety interventions but must meet specific criteria:

• Seclusion can only be used if a student poses "an immediate danger to self or others."
• A student can be secluded for no more than 30 minutes per session.
• Seclusion cannot be used as punishment, and parents must be notified before the student leaves school for the day.

If the child is secluded for more than 15 minutes, the parent must be immediately notified.

Parents can also request additional notes. Hadden said she received notifications in the form of "seclusionary time-out" reports, detailing her daughter's time spent in the room.

According to school records, Gracelynn was secluded 18 times in first and 24 times in second grades, sometimes as many as three times in a single day.

Jordan School District declined KSL Investigates' request for an interview about Gracelynn's case and its policy around seclusion.

However, in a statement, they wrote, "Student and staff safety is the top priority in Jordan School District. These spaces are very rarely used, only in extreme cases for brief amounts of time for the safety of students and staff. The spaces are used for emergency safety interventions in accordance with strict state and district requirements and only by highly trained staff."

Which districts use seclusion?

During the 2020-2021 school year, at the height of the pandemic, Utah schools reported secluding students roughly 1,300 times.

KSL Investigates reached out to all 41 Utah school districts to gather information on their use of seclusion rooms. Fifteen districts did not respond, but of the 26 that did, more than half reported using the practice, although some said it may be in an empty classroom, not necessarily a padded room.

The Utah State Board of Education defines seclusion as any scenario where a student is placed alone in an enclosed area and prevented from leaving.

Why some students are disproportionately affected

A recent report from the Utah State Board of Education shows that students missed nearly 60,000 days of class due to exclusionary discipline, including seclusion, in 2023 — an increase of over 10,000 days from the previous year. Nearly 80% of these cases involved students with disabilities, such as autism.

Student Services Coordinator for the Utah State Board of Education KrisAnne Lewis oversees physical and mental health initiatives. She says students with disabilities may be more likely to be secluded because they often display behaviors that can escalate into safety concerns. However, she emphasized that seclusion "should only be used as the last resort."

"We want to ensure that students with disabilities are not being targeted," Lewis added.

In Utah, each district is required to have an Emergency Safety Intervention Committee to monitor seclusion cases and ensure they follow appropriate protocols. Lewis noted that her team is available to assist districts with higher numbers of seclusion incidents.

"We do provide trainings to additional districts, especially those with higher numbers of seclusion," Lewis said.

The Utah State Board of Education is set to meet Friday to discuss the possibility of requiring each district to develop its own specific protocols in addition to existing state regulations.

While Lewis acknowledged that ideally, seclusion wouldn't be needed, she said it sometimes becomes necessary to keep both the student and others safe.

Hadden, however, disagrees. She believes the practice should never be used and fears the long-term effects it may have on her child.

"They're learning that adults can't be trusted. That they can't trust themselves. That whenever they have big feelings, they have to be away from people, that they can't share that or work through that with people," Hadden said.

Contributing: Annie Knox and Emiley Morgan Dewey

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