Washington Post

E.W. — that’s how he is identified in the report — is an 8-year-old diagnosed with trauma and post-traumatic stress whom the District placed at Rock Creek.. That’s the private special education school in upper Northwest closed by OSSE earlier this month after an investigation revealed many problems, including staff members who improperly restrained or isolated exceptional education students.

 

On May 23, according to a Rock Creek employee who came forward to OSSE, E.W. arrived at school without his medication, leaving him “running around aimlessly, knocking over chairs and books, and hitting the wall.” He was placed in a 5-by-5-feet “isolation room,” where for the first five minutes he was “highly escalated, kicking walls and jumping around the room.” Five minutes later the lights were turned off, first for about two to three seconds, then again for about two minutes.

 

“When the lights were turned back on, the student was sucking

[his] thumb and alternated between a fetal position and a seated position against the door. Instead of being removed, he was kept in the room for 41 minutes, said the employee, who viewed a videotape of the incident that was later obtained by OSSE. There was no evidence on the tape that any senior personnel were monitoring his seclusion, as required by District regulations, the report said.

 

Read Full Article by Bill Turque at Washington Post here.