Florida School Staffers Charged With Using Dark Room, Whistle to Torment Autistic Kids
https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-school-staffers-charged-with-using-dark-room-whistle-to-torment-autistic-kids?ref=scroll
A teacher and two aides at a Florida school for the disabled were arrested for allegedly punishing autistic children by locking them in a dark bathroom or blowing a loud whistle in their ear as punishment, authorities said.
Another aide was so disturbed by the repeated abuse at the Silver Sands School in Fort Walton Beach that she reported it to a school police officer, which sparked an investigation, the Okaloosa Sheriffs office said.
The students were between the ages of 8 and 10.
Sheriff Larry Ashley said that while police learned of the abuse in September, it had been going on for some time and investigators are looking for other victims.
He said teacher Margaret Wolthers and aides Diana LaCroix and Carolyn Madison could have called the principal, the school resource officer or the parents when kids were difficult to handle.
Instead, on at least three occasions, they put a child alone in the bathroom, even though state law explicitly outlaws seclusion. One of the educators is the wife of a sheriffs deputy.
Classroom aides who witnessed the incidents say the victims would scream and cry when placed in the bathroom, and that one was contained for up to 90 minutes, Ashley said.
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Cruel MFs. Lock them up