AMHERST — Despite concerns about inappropriate use of restraints and seclusions at Fort River and Wildwood schools, all 98 occasions for their use since the start of the 2024 school year were proper for deescalating concerning behaviors, according to a recently completed investigatory report.
With the Special Education Parent Advisory Council bringing forward worries about how the district has used so-called blue rooms, timeout or seclusion spaces and oasis areas, investigator Jeffrey M. Sankey, a special education lawyer in Mansfield, issued a report determining the district’s policies and practices have been in accord with state law.
“I found that the restraint reports and the timeout logs were in compliance with regulations,” Sankey told the Amherst School Committee last Thursday.
Sankey added that he didn’t find any improper use of restraints, or timeouts, such as for discipline, punishment, property destruction or disruption of classrooms, and that their use was always prompted by safety concerns and potential self-harm. With all done for permissible reasons, Sankey said trained staff handled these, always with another observer, each for less than five minutes and caregivers were notified almost always the same day.
“The district, through both its policies and practices, has appropriately balanced the competing interests of reducing dysregulated behaviors and minimizing the effect of restraints on students with its obligation to provide a safe educational environment for students and staff,” he wrote.
For Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman, the information will allow for growth and meeting changing state regulations, even as the report found the existing practices were rooted in compliance and always what she said was “an emergency response of last resort.”
“We are growing as a district, and growth requires us to acknowledge what is working while also being honest about where we can improve,” Herman said.
The new state rules clarify the legal differences between voluntary time-outs and involuntary seclusion, and prohibit confinement except as a last-resort emergency intervention.
But despite the conclusions of the 22-page report, SEPAC representatives remain concerned about what is happening, pointing out that the new Amethyst Brook School already has so-called sensory rooms.
Ellen Jedrey-Guidera, a representative of SEPAC, said people are disheartened that seven, 6-foot by 8-foot rooms with brown padded walls are in the building. “For families touring their brand new school, and to the young students walking in, the message was clear: little has changed from the blue rooms of Fort River,” Jedrey-Guidera said.
Jedrey-Guidera said families agreed to be interviewed by Sankey because they wanted to make sure the trauma they’ve experienced could be prevented through stronger policy. Yet only three of seven families who shared stories with SEPAC spoke to the investigator, and one family’s account was not included or investigated thoroughly, she said.
“A finding that policies or practices did not constitute a legal violation does not mean that the experiences families described were insignificant, or that there is no need for change,” Jedrey-Guidera said. “It also doesn’t mean that children weren’t harmed.”
School Committee members indicated they remain troubled, especially by the quantity of restraints. “It’s still so disappointing to see our numbers so high, and so high compared to so many other schools in the state,” Bridget Hynes said.
Those cases involved the same child repeatedly being restrained, such as one restrained six times at Fort River in the 2024-2025 school year and one at Wildwood 22 times that year, and another seven times. Overall uses of restraints appeared to be down in 2025-2026, though data is incomplete, but still a few students accounted for multiple restraints.
Committee member Laura Jane Hunter wondered where the line is for one student to be restrained so many times, and whether a change in placement, to another school, was needed.
Herman made the decision to hire Sankey, in consultation with the school attorney, over concerns about student safety, and whether practices were consistent with state regulations.
“I authorized the investigation because taking concerns seriously requires more than saying that we’re listening,” Herman said. “It requires us to examine our practices, put the mirror in front of us and confront whatever the findings may reveal.”
Herman said staff is being trained across the district, behavior supports are being reviewed and there are discussions about installing cameras in the sensory spaces. She hopes professional development training mandated by policy will lead to positive change and address student dysregulation.
Carolina Davis, a parent-guardian of four, addressed the School Committee, observing the blue rooms appear the same in the new school, aside from the color of the padded walls.
“They were in violation, as far as my family was concerned,” Davis said. Davis said one child was excessively restrained and another continues to struggle, as an adult, from her experience at Fort River.
Another public comment was made by Jennifer Curiale, also a member of SEPAC, who criticized the report in writing:
“The fact that Attorney Sankey found the district to be in compliance at all times and made
no suggestions for improvement whatsoever felt like a betrayal of the caregivers who came
forward,” Curiale wrote. “The caregivers had no motive whatsoever other than to improve conditions for students with disabilities in our district. They were brave, vulnerable and hoping for real, substantive change.”
Sankey said he was impressed by the data presented and he also complimented those caregivers who spoke to him, and for the input provided by SEPAC.
“I think your staff was professional, the people I dealt with were very open with me,” Sankey said.
