A former school board member in upstate New York took a photo of this box in an elementary school classroom. She accused officials of building a “timeout box” for students who have disabilities, though it remains in dispute whether children were ever placed inside.Credit…Chrissy Onientatahse Jacobs
An upstate New York district, where most students are Native American, placed its superintendent on leave after images of a wooden box in a classroom spread on social media.
The image from the elementary school was odd: a wooden box tucked in the corner of a classroom, tall and wide enough, it seemed, for a small child or two. But the next image, of the inside, was disturbing: bare walls and a padded floor.
The photos were posted to social media this week by a former member of a school board in upstate New York. She accused officials of building a “timeout box” for students who have disabilities — though families and officials remain in dispute about whether children were ever placed inside.
It has ignited an uproar in the school system, the Salmon River Central School District, a small district with 1,300 students on the Canadian border.
Within days, the school board enlisted a law firm to investigate what happened. It reassigned the district’s superintendent to “home duties” until the review is completed. And it placed several other leaders on leave, including a principal and the district’s special education director.