The Virginia Beach School Board voted 11-0 last week to ban seclusion room use in school buildings.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach School Board last week voted to ban the use of seclusion rooms in buildings owned by the city’s school system, even if those rooms are in use by contractors and not by the school division itself.
The decision comes after a Virginia Beach mother filed a $150 million lawsuit against Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs (SECEP), alleging her 11-year-old son, who had autism, was mistreated at Virginia Beach’s Pembroke Elementary School just days before he died.
The complaint included pictures of what the lawsuit alleges was a space where the child was confined: boxed in with furniture bound together with heavy-duty straps.
The lawsuit alleges the fourth-grader, Josh Sykes, died days later of head trauma.
Although Pembroke is not one of the schools that was using full seclusion rooms, the Virginia Beach Special Education Advocacy Committee advised the School Board to ban the use of seclusion.
Some School Board members shared their thoughts during Tuesday’s meeting ahead of the vote to ban seclusion rooms, which passed 11-0.
“I hope we will continue to have dialogue, because I believe that this is a step in a right direction, but I would like to see us get to a point where we have no seclusion for any reason,” said Dr. Alveta Green. “Even though we are making significant changes to the policy, I hope this is the beginning of ongoing discussions.”
Prior to last week’s decision, there were five seclusion rooms at two schools in Virginia Beach: three at Renaissance Academy and two at Windsor Woods Elementary School, said School Board Attorney Kami Lannetti.
Dr. Roni Myers-Daub, executive director of programs for exceptional children in Virginia Beach, said up through January of this school year, seclusion had been used 96 times for 22 different students by SECEP.