Education official reviews padded-room complaint

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A state education official will review a complaint that a Waupun elementary student with autism was repeatedly placed into a seclusion box to discipline him.

The “Fond du Lac Reporter” said Mandy Rennhack had asked special-education teachers to stop placing her 9-year-old son Ty into a 5x7-foot plywood box when he was having discipline issues – that she’d pick him up from school instead.

A few months later, Rennhack said she was upset to learn that the box was used again. Waupun Interim Superintendent Donald Childs told the paper it’s an accepted practice to place a child into a secluded padded room if the youngster’s behavior causes harm to himself or others.

Tags: wisconsin, education, k12