ALBANY — The revelations last week that a school district near the Canadian border was using wooden “timeout” boxes to confine children, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday called for the state Education Department to take “swift action to investigate and rectify this situation.”
“The reporting coming out of the Salmon River Central School District is highly disturbing and raises serious questions regarding the safety of children at this school,” Hochul said. “As a mom, I know firsthand the trust parents place in our schools, and the teachers and administrators who work with our children. School should be a place where every child is safe, respected and supported.”
The three boxes, which have padded walls and stand about about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide, were located at two elementary schools in the district in Franklin County. On Monday, pictures of one of the boxes were posted on Facebook, prompting the school district to publicly acknowledge their existence for the first time.
Subsequently, multiple parents have said after speaking with their children that they believe they may have been held inside the boxes. They included parents of autistic and non-verbal students. The district said this week the boxes had been removed and disassembled…