BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE
THE VIRGINIA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AT WHRO
Virgnia Beach - Following allegations about the mistreatment of an 11-year-old autistic student, a special education advisory panel is recommending Virginia Beach public schools ban the controversial practice of seclusion.
The Virginia Beach Special Education Advisory Committee, which includes parents of children with special needs, is scheduled to formally request the change during a June 24 school board meeting.
“We do make recommendations, but none as consequential as this one, none as big as this one,” Meghan Ashburn, the committee chairperson, told VCIJ at WHRO, “and none that has the potential to make such a big impact as this one.”
Seclusion is defined in Virginia as “the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving,” and it is meant only as a crisis response to prevent serious harm.
Other Virginia districts have stopped using seclusion, a much-debated technique that federal data show most often affects students with special needs. Fairfax County and Norfolk stopped secluding students in recent years, and Loudoun County banned the practice in February.
Across the commonwealth, just 22 of more than 130 public school divisions reported at least one seclusion incident during the 2023-2024 school year, according to the most recent data reported by the state.
Data for the Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs, which manages and operates special education classes serving eight Hampton Roads school divisions, shows seclusion incidents in three communities it serves — Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach – during the 2023-24 school year.
Virginia Beach reported the largest number of seclusion incidents among Virginia public school divisions in the 2023-2024 school year. All 281 incidents were related to SECEP programs within the city.
Advocates for special needs students for years have sought to limit or ban the use of seclusion, and organizations such as the Virginia PTA have backed ending seclusion in schools and educating people about the risks of using the tactic to try to calm a student in crisis.
In January, then-outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote a letter that warned seclusion and physical restraint can have lasting, negative effects on children.
“The rejection of seclusion and the shift away from reliance on restraint in our nation’s schools and early childhood programs is long overdue,” Cardona wrote.
In its recommendation to end seclusion in Virginia Beach, the advisory committee quotes from a 2022 federal report that says it’s not “aware of any evidence-based support for the view that the use of restraint or seclusion is an effective strategy in modifying a child’s behaviors that are related to their disability.”
Several states, including Maryland, have ended the use of seclusion in schools.
Guy Stephens, who founded the Maryland-based nonprofit Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, said Georgia was one of the first states to end the use of seclusion in 2010, six years after a 13-year-old boy hanged himself in a seclusion room.
“Unfortunately,” Stephens told VCIJ, “it’s often a tragedy that leads to change.”
In Virginia Beach, the advisory committee wants the district to continue a review of restraint and seclusion rules, prohibit seclusion and ensure SECEP complies with changes. It also wants Virginia Beach school administrators to have greater awareness of what happens in SECEP classrooms.
If Virginia Beach adopts the committee’s recommendation, the prohibition would apply to all classrooms within the city, including those overseen by SECEP.
“It needs to be all hands on deck to make sure those students are being treated respectfully, that nothing bad is happening to them,” Ashburn said.
The call for change in Virginia Beach comes eight months after the death of Josh Sikes, an 11-year-old child with autism and an intellectual disability. He suffered a seizure days after he was allegedly enclosed in a makeshift seclusion space in a SECEP classroom, according to an internal SECEP report obtained by VCIJ.
The state medical examiner’s office in May found Josh died of natural causes related to a seizure disorder.
Virginia Beach police, Child Protective Services and SECEP have been investigating whether the alleged treatment of Josh at school had anything to do with his death or was improper, according to the SECEP report. A bruise found on the boy’s leg was discovered a day after he was placed in a “safe area” in the corner of his classroom, the report said.
City police said a death investigation is ongoing.
Josh attended Pembroke Elementary School in a classroom operated by SECEP. Pembroke Elementary does not have an authorized seclusion room, according to a presentation to the advisory committee in May. SECEP oversees two Beach locations with authorized seclusion rooms. In May, SECEP Executive Director Laura Armstrong said an “impromptu seclusion area” like one pictured in a photo of Josh’s class is not allowed in any classroom.
An exclusive investigation by VCIJ described how SECEP employees sometimes kept Josh enclosed in a corner area of the classroom when he had outbursts, according to the SECEP report. The area included bookshelves strapped together, according to the report, where a student could be enclosed on all four sides. VCIJ published a photograph of the area taken by a SECEP employee.
In March, Julie Sikes, Josh’s mother, told the advisory committee about her son’s experience, and she attended the June 9 meeting when the group finalized its recommendation. After the meeting, she called the recommendation a step in the right direction, though she hopes to see an end to restraining students, too.
“It was a good first step,” said Matthew Moynihan, Sikes’ attorney, “but by no means is it the last step.”
Reach John Doucette at jhd@princessanneindy.com.
Virginia Beach Public Schools are a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds WHRO's license.