An investigation is underway at Blueberry School in Parkland County after a group of parents allege their students were mistreated by staff members.
Brittany Payne has a seven-year-old son who attends the school west of Stony Plain. When she picked up her son after the school’s Christmas concert on Dec. 14, she said a teacher had left him locked in a room.
“First, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on,” Payne said.
“As soon as I saw her pull out a set of keys to let me access my son, I immediately knew something was wrong.”
According to Payne, the teacher said her son was angry and acting out, therefore, he was placed in a sensory room to de-escalate the situation.
That’s when her son told her he’d been placed in the room more than once.
“Seeing him like that, it’s heartbreaking. Just to see your child treated that way. And having no idea about it,” she said.
Payne was concerned about the room he was locked in, which had a few miscellaneous items and cardboard scattered around it.
The mother is worried about the misuse of sensory rooms as seclusion rooms, and worry about the safety of students.
Seclusion rooms are used when students with developmental disabilities act out and are potentially dangerous to their caregivers and teachers.
The rooms are used to give disruptive students a chance to settle down, but many parents of children with developmental disabilities had complained the rooms were harmful to their kids and needed to be banned.
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The former NDP government had moved to ban seclusion rooms but the UCP reversed the decision and in 2019, introduced standards for how and when seclusion rooms can be used, including that they should be “tools of last resort.”
Payne said she was never informed about her son misbehaving to the extent of being removed from the rest of the class or during a concert.
She said she was aware of behavioural issues but is normally informed by the school.
“I’ve never received a phone call. I’ve received an email. You know, basic generic, ‘had a rough morning, lost recess, but turned around afternoon was great.’ Or ‘just wasn’t a good day, we’ll try again tomorrow.’ Just generic things like that. But never ever any notification whatsoever about any of these rooms in this school,” Payne explained.
It wasn’t until Payne shared her experience online that other parents, including Amanda George, found out it was happening to their children too.
“We think parents should be contacted every single time there is an incident,” George said.
“I was very concerned and livid, obviously. If teachers are misusing this room and not having proper protocols in place in order for it to be used by students.”
Payne and George handed out flyers explaining their stories to other parents dropping off their children at the school.
In a statement, Parkland School Division said it is aware of reports and social media activity regarding the matter and has launched an investigation.
“Blueberry School does not have a seclusion room nor is school staff locking students in rooms as a behavior intervention,” the statement began.
“All doors at Blueberry School, while equipped with locks on the outside for security purposes, are designed to be opened easily from the inside, in accordance with fire code, ensuring that students can exit the rooms without any impediment or restriction. There are a number of instances where students work in locations outside of a classroom (either individually or in small groups),” the statement continued.
The school division added schools have break-out spaces and sensory rooms to support students’ sensory and regulation needs, which includes spaces to employ de-escalation strategies.
The rooms are used for multiple purposes including assessments, consultations, and small group activities.
“We are aware of social media activity pertaining to the use of the breakout space/’sensory room’ at Blueberry School. Unfortunately, some of these posts contain misinformation,” the statement concluded.
Payne said she appreciates the school division acting on the incident.
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