RavBytes: Francis Howell School District's Padded 'Time-Out Rooms'

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Parents love to make idle threats; it is what they do best. Almost as often as you hear, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it," you hear parents wishing for, or saying they will lock their children in, padded rooms. Idle? Yes. Complete fantasy? Not in the Francis Howell School District. KMOV.com is reporting

The Francis Howell School District is defending its use of padded rooms it calls "time out rooms."

A child advocacy group claims teachers have used those rooms to abuse and neglect students.

The rooms are about the size of closet and have padded walls.

The child advocacy group, Missouri Protection & Advocacy Services, issued a press release earlier this week stating that teachers at the district's Hollenbeck Middle School were putting kids in the padded rooms for a 'time out.' The district admitted to having the rooms and defended them to KMOV, saying

...the rooms have been around for years and are used only for special needs students who have sudden, emotional and violent outbursts.

My whole view on life has just been shifted. Those parental threats were never idle, were they?! Good thing I don't have kids, they would have been sitting in a chair or a corner for time out - how embarrassing.