As a followup to yesterday's post on isolation practices, the explanation another district for its isolation rooms is worth noting.  The Center Consolidated School District, Colorado, has been using isolated study in 4 foot by 6 foot rooms as an alternative punishment to expulsion for ten years. The district reasons that isolation is preferable to classroom disruption or school exclusion.  The former harms other students.  The latter harms the disciplined student and the school, based on the likely effects on dropout rates. According to the superintendent, parents are given the choice between expulsion and isolation, in which students will be provided study materials. During the last 10 years, about 40 students have been placed in isolation and, over the last year alone, the dropout rate plummeted from 13% to less than 2%.

Last spring, some parents began complaining about the program because the rooms had doors on them that could potentially be locked, although the district indicates they never were.  But to ease parental concerns, the district agreed to removed the doors completely, to increase supervision for the students, and to ensure exercise twice a day and lunch with the rest of the student body. There have also been limits established on the maximum length of time a student will be kept in isolation: eight weeks for high school students, six weeks for middle school students, and four weeks for elementary school students.

This form of isolation, however, is distinct in important ways from those discussed in prior posts. First, these Colorado rooms sound more like in-school suspension that includes school work, supervision and some level on interaction.  In that respect, one might argue that they are not isolation rooms. The isolation rooms at use in some other districts appear to be just that: rooms that isolate students from any outside stimuli, whether it be teachers or books.  The padded walls only reinforce this point.  Second, the motivations of the districts seem different.  In Colorado, the motivation seems to be help the student stay on academic track and avoid school exclusion.  In the other cases, the motivation seems to be to lock a student away for a period of time.  In short, the justification for one type of "isolation" room does not necessary follow for another type.  

More on the Colorado district story here.