“Nobody should be put in a small, scary room with a big door covered with locks.”
There’s a tiny room at Kawangun State School in Queensland that’s supposed to be a “time-out” area for problematic students.
But it’s more like a frightening jail cell used to sequester away special needs children, according to outraged parents from the Hervey Bay school.
The so-called “withdrawal room” is dark, two metres square, secured by at least two locks and contains minimal furniture.
Now, a number of concerned parents have told their story to A Current Affair — and they are variously calling for an apology, and for criminal charges to be laid.
Kelly-Ann Brooks’ son Tate was locked in the room regularly for minor behavioural infractions.
According to the school’s records, Tate — who has autism — sometimes banged the walls and screamed during his “time out” in the small room.
When Ms Brooks went to Tate’s classroom one evening after school to collect one of his toys, she finally had the chance to see the room with her own two eyes — and was disgusted at what she found.
“I had to unlock the top lock, I had to unlock the bottom lock and then open the door handle to go in,” she told A Current Affair.
“Children with disabilities shouldn’t be treated like this,” she said.
“Nobody should be put in a small, scary room with a big door covered with locks and locked in there to calm down. It’s totally outrageous.”
Fearing nobody would believe what the space really looked like, she took photos of the “withdrawal room” and allowed them to be broadcast by the Channel Nine program.
The images show a dark space with a threadbare mattress and a few cushions strewn across the floor. The single window appears to be boarded up, and there are no toys or learning materials visible.