The first case was heard back in January, 2011. A teacher in Santa Fe, N.M., was placed on administrative leave for allegedly locking a disruptive student in an outdoor cage that contained toxic chemicals, and leaving him there unattended. The 15-year-old student eventually kicked the gate open to free himself after several minutes in the cold.
No matter what the teachers actual intentions were, this method of discipline was clearly unacceptable. The teacher was subsequently looking at charges of child abuse and false imprisonment.
Another incident took place today (March 15), and involves an eighth-grade student at McDonogh City Park Academy in New Orleans. The student was put into a cage for disruptive behavior, and left unattended for periods at a time.
But possibly one of the most interesting things is that the cage appears to be built for the sole purpose of an in-house “school incarceration,” as nothing else in the picture warrants the need for a gate.
The boys mother, Latricia Davis acknowledged that her son has discipline problems, but she said she is willing to work with the school to resolve them, and she was shocked that he was put into the cage.
“This speaks in volumes to me,” Davis said. “It puts things in the kids' minds saying, 'You are not worth anything or it's OK to be behind bars or locked up in a cage.' It's so many things, and it hurts my heart because I would not lock my own child in a cage, so I don't appreciate someone else doing it.”
What are your thoughts of students being locked in cages as a form a discipline?
sources: WDSU – Huffington Post
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