If you read last week’s Capital Times, you were no doubt shocked to learn Wisconsin schools are allowed to confine students to so-called seclusion rooms when their behavior becomes too unruly or violent to manage otherwise. It sounds like a hazing ritual dreamed up in a British boarding school, or at best a scene straight out of Matilda. One mother recounted the tale of finding her son locked in a small closet in the girl’s locker room, and another claimed her son suffered a psychotic break because of repeated confinements within his elementary school.

It’s a difficult topic to address. The idea of a second grader spending his entire school day locked in a small room by himself is heart wrenching. Never mind the use of these measures is unregulated by the state and usually unreported by schools.

But beyond that sympathetic ache is the difficult truth: There are children in public schools whose behavior can become out of control to the degree that it poses a danger to other students and staff. Many of these are students with mental illnesses and developmental problems; students who a generation or two ago might have been placed in hospitals or other institutions. Along with the mainstreaming of special needs children has come the mainstreaming of some of the specialized techniques developed to ensure the safety of their caretakers and peers.

This is not to excuse the wanton or putative use of seclusion and restraint. Subjecting children to coercive measures is conscionable only in the most extreme cases where the safety of others or the child himself is in immediate danger. In psychiatric hospitals where the most troubled students sometimes go when the ability of the school to care for them is exhausted, seclusion and physical restraint are used rarely and with great reluctance by staff. Caretakers must have tried all other behavioral interventions, constantly monitor a child in seclusion and frequently reassess whether it is necessary. Hospital administrators often review with the staff cases in which coercive measures are used and identify actions that could have been taken to avoid the situation.

In the classroom, the goal of educators should be to decrease the frequency with which such interventions are required. This is the job of teachers, classroom aides, social workers, psychologists and other members of the team of professionals who provide support, encouragement and education to students. Patience and early action by sympathetic and attentive staff can often deescalate situations that would otherwise end in seclusion.

The fact that the Madison Board of Education is reviewing a proposal to cut its already overworked staff in each of the above mentioned fields is not encouraging. Faced with a $29.8 million budget shortfall in the upcoming year, district administrators drafted a proposal of 202 cuts that could be enacted to save a total of $30.5 million. Among them was an increase in the allowable special-education teacher to student ratio. A single high school special ed teacher would be expected to oversee 16.5 students, and the district would eliminate 23.5 positions. School psychologists, social workers and nurses would also find their ranks thinned or pay reduced.

In contrast to the proposed drastic cuts in educational staff, only one (currently vacant) administrative position was suggested for elimination. Likewise, salary cuts for district officials were conspicuously absent. This sends a powerful message to teachers and the public: Administrators are more in love with administrating for administration’s sake than they are with their mission of supporting educators in the classroom.

This last point is important. Public schools may be the best and least restrictive environments in which students with exceptional needs can learn. However, making it work requires well-trained and dedicated educators who feel supported by parents, administration and their community. In refusing to take some share of the pain of proposed spending cuts, district officials have undercut part of that support. If the community goes along with the plan, another would be lost.

That brings us back to where we started. It is important that teachers be allowed the option of seclusion as a last resort in the most extreme of cases. However this demands accountability from both educators and administrators. Officials must know teachers will use drastic measures responsibly and only as a last resort. Educators need to trust that district administrators take the mission of educating students seriously and are willing to share in whatever sacrifices are demanded by difficult fiscal circumstances.

Geoff Jara-Almonte ([email protected]) is a third year medical school graduate student.