lighten up
USE OF SECLUSION ROOMS
AT 4J CHALLENGED
The recent tragic Sandy Hook school shooting has called
attention not only to gun control, but also to how the U.S.
deals with young people who are behaviorally or mentally
challenged. One controversial method that some Eugene 4J
schools are using to deal with students in its behavioral pro-
grams is to put them in seclusion rooms.
Jennifer Harrison said her son Jared, who has attention
defi cit/hyperactivity disorder and was placed in the behav-
ioral program at McCornack Elementary, was repeatedly put
in a seclusion room and had restraint used upon him from
fi rst through fourth grades. The room, 12-year-old Jared
said, had carpeted walls, a peephole and a screen with a
timer. The 15-minute timer started when a he became quiet,
he said. Jared told EW he thinks the longest he had to stay in
the room was two hours, and he was in the room sometimes
twice a day.
Seclusion room data that Harrison obtained from 4J
shows that in 2010-11 the district used seclusion more than
200 times at elementary schools including Cesar Chavez,
McCornack, Twin Oaks and Camas Ridge.
“The most important thing isn’t our particular story, it is
the numbers of reported restraint and seclusion,” Harrison
said.
Harrison, who is trained in special education herself, said
the information about Jared’s experiences came to light one
day at the end of his fourth grade year in 2010 when she was
called to pick him up early. Since it was the end of the day,
she bypassed the offi ce and went straight to his classroom.
She heard his screaming from the hallway, and upon enter-
ing the classroom, she found two teachers sitting on him.
Jared was not allowed to return to school after the incident.
A review of the 4J restraint and seclusion procedures
used on Jared, conducted by a retired administrator,
found no wrongdoing on the part of the school,
according to a letter to Harrison from former
superintendent George Russell.
Harrison fi led a request for a special edu-
cation due process hearing with the Oregon
Department of Education in July of 2010,
saying Jared was denied a free appropri-
ate public education under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. An Offi ce of
Administrative Hearings judge found in
October 2011 that the district did not
provide Jared with a free appro-
priate education and needed
to, among other things, meet
with Harrison to discuss
transitioning Jared back
to school, complete a
behavioral support plan
and give one hour per
week in social skills
instruction, including
“how to trust adults, con-
fl ict resolution, self-ad-
vocacy, problem-solving
strategies, self-soothing
strategies, dealing with
authority, appropriately
expressing emotion, and
organizational
skills.”
The judge also ruled Jared
should get 30 minutes per
week in counseling dealing
with anxiety, trauma or other
related issues.
When asked if the seclusion
room traumatized him, Jared
said, “Since that’s how school
started for me, I thought that
was just how school was.” He
says, “Sometimes I would kick and scream at the doors and
try anything I could to get out.”
One of Jared’s incident reports from 2008, which calls
the seclusion room a “safe room,” said that “he was in the
room quiet for about 48 seconds before he began to cry un-
controllably. He was screaming that he was scared and that
he could see faces.” When he was allowed to sit outside
the room, “still weeping,” he pulled a loose tooth out of his
mouth and, saying he had blood in his mouth, “demanded to
rinse out his mouth.” The report says he went to the sink and
did so “without permission” but returned to his seat.
Harrison said it wasn’t until her legal case to try to get
Jared help and back in school began that she understood
the full extent of what was happening to Jared. She said,
“I still don’t know how many times Jared was restrained
and secluded.” But she points to the beginning of the use of
seclusion as a time when Jared regressed to thumbsucking
and bathroom accidents. Jared, who is now 12, says, “At the
time I was scared of being alone.”
Harrison said she acknowledges that Jared’s behavior
was problematic. “My son was having many behavior prob-
lems at school, and I do not dispute this, but yelling obsceni-
ties, not following directions or even threatening does not
qualify as ‘imminent threat of serious bodily harm.’”
According to 4J spokesperson Kerry Delf, “The Oregon
Department of Education provides guidelines for the use of
seclusion rooms to ensure student safety and support. These
guidelines state that the use of seclusion rooms is permitted
only as a part of a behavioral support plan when other less
restrictive interventions would not be effective and the stu-
dent’s behavior poses a threat of imminent, serious physical
harm to the student or others.”
Harrison says, “My son’s behavior is shocking, but it’s
important to note that there is not one incident where there
was a real threat of serious danger, after all he was just a
little guy.”
The use of seclusion rooms is controversial. Har-
rison said it is something people expect to see in
prisons and mental hospitals but not elementary
schools. A 2011 study of restraint and seclusion
in children and adolescents in a psychiatric
journal said a systematic review of the past 10
years of literature on the subject found only
seven studies, and “there is some indication
that seclusion and restraints can lead to severe
psychological and physical consequences.”
Jared is now attending school through
HomeSource Charter School, however
HomeSource and Bethel schools just
announced the charter school will
close at the end of this school
year.
Harrison said it was hard
for her to get over feeling
guilty for not protecting
Jared. She is still fi ghting to
get Jared back in school and
get him the counseling and
help the judge ordered. A jury
in April will hear the most re-
cent petition fi led with the Lane
County Circuit Court.
Harrison said it helps Jared
to talk about what happened,
and she wants to make sure oth-
er people know about the use of
restraint and seclusion because it
affects not only the students who
are placed in the rooms, but also
the other kids who see and think
“this is how the ‘different’ kids get
treated. Everyone knew what was
happening to the kids in Room 7.”
— Camilla Mortensen
BY RAFAEL AL DAVE
Taxpayers are surely getting their money’s worth
from hard-working Lane County Administrator
Liane Richardson. In addition to her other duties,
Ms. Richardson has now taken on the role of
sheriff of Free Speech Plaza.
Anybody want to buy a weekly newspaper? Not
this rag, of course, but The Jefferson Review and the
Scio News are currently on the block cheap in order to
“avoid imminent closure,” according to a notice from
the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Cash
only and the deadline for inquiries is Friday, Dec. 21.
Call the owner at 971-3217. Contrary to conventional
wisdom, print publications still have a lot of life left in
them and not all are shrinking to oblivion. Some
media pundits are predicting that newspapers will
make a comeback when advertisers recognize that
print ads have more impact per dollar than web ads.
At least one study has shown that print content has
more credibility and memorability with readers than
web content. One indicator of print’s potential: Rupert
Murdoch is busy buying up newspapers, large and
small.
Off the Waffle is holding an “official End of the
World” grand opening of its new downtown shop
between 8 am and 1 pm Friday, Dec. 21, at 840
Willamette St. The original south Eugene store
remains at 2540 Willamette. See offthewaffle.com or
call 654-4318. Hours at the new location have not
been finalized, say owners Omer and Dave Orian.
Eugene physician Pamela Wible tells us she has
been hired as “the official health-care blogger” for The
Oregonian newspaper. Wible is getting national
attention for her new book, Pet Goats & Pap Smears:
101 Medical Adventures to Open Your Heart & Mind.
Her book describes how she enlisted local residents
to help her design her one-person medical practice,
providing high-quality care with low overhead (her
office is at Tamarack Wellness Center). Find her blog
at wkly.ws/1ee
What’s a cash mob? The Springfield Chamber’s
Greeters Committee is holding its networking
gatherings in local small businesses and encouraging
members to show up expecting to spend $10 at the
business. A cash mob was scheduled at the new
location of Euphoria Chocolate at the Oakway Center
in Eugene Dec. 19. Last month the cash mob at The
Arc Lane County raised $419, which bought 1,200
pounds of clothing for the disadvantaged. See
arclane.org for other ways to support The Arc.
American Denturist College is now open at 1241
Oak St. in Eugene and is enrolling students from
across the nation. The new college expects to train
200 students per year and to generate $8 million a
year for the local economy, according to Todd Young,
director of education. Classes start Jan. 7. The two-
year program costs about $38,000, including books
and fees, according to the school catalog. The Bureau
of Labor Statistics reports that denturists made an
average of $35,000 a year in 2010. Young says the
college will help fill a void from the closing of the
denturist program at George Brown College in Toronto.
Call (800) 544-6267 or email todd@
americandenturistcollege.com for more information.
Mountain Rose Herbs was honored with the 2012
Oregon Sustainability Award at the Northwest
Environmental Conference and Trade Show in
Portland in early December. The business was cited
for its “uncompromising commitment to organic
agriculture, sustainable business practices and a
steadfast focus on the pure aestherics and freshness
of botanical products.” See mountainroseherbs.com
JARED HARRISON
PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
eugeneweekly.com • December 20, 2012
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