A federal appeals court has ruled that a school district’s use of a time-out room for an elementary school student with disabilities did not violate the student’s constitutional rights.
The case involves an Oklahoma boy who was repeatedly placed in a time-out room. According to court papers, the room was large enough for a student and teacher, with a light, a window, and an unlocked door, he was placed in the room for not more than four minutes each time.
At the parents’ request, the boy’s individualized education program (IEP) was amended to prohibit placing him in the time-out room, but the parents contend school officials continued to do so. On one occasion, the boy was placed in the room under duress, at which time the principal placed a chair in front of the door and ordered the teacher to continue with her lesson plan for the rest of the class, over the boy’s yelling to be let out of time out.
The parents sued the school district under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, arguing that the act of putting their son in time-out room was an abuse of government power that “shocks the conscience” under U.S. Supreme Court precedents.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected the parents’ suit, calling the action of the principal “a careless or unwise excess of zeal rather than a brutal and inhumane abuse of official power.” Read the full ruling here: http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/11/11-6194.pdf.
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