School Discipline Practices Under Review

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Children’s advocates are urging the Mississippi Department of Education to ban the use of seclusion and restraint for school discipline.

The department has drafted a proposed policy and is taking public comments before presenting it to the state Board of Education.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi says this is one of five states without a policy or law to govern when and how school employees can restrain students or put them in seclusion.

During a public hearing Wednesday, Heather Rhodes said she has a 9-year-old son with autism. She said an employee at a south Mississippi school once put him in a black wooden box called the “chill zone” when he was screaming. Rhodes says she arrived when that was happening, and it angered her.