Native kids with disabilities were held in wooden boxes. Sweeping reforms are coming

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5821682/salmon-river-mohawk-children

Fort Covington, New York - Rumors spread on social media over the winter: School kids with disabilities in the Salmon River Central School District, including Akwesasne Mohawk children, were being confined by special education teachers in wooden boxes. Sarah Konwahahawi Herne was devastated.

(snip)

Local school officials later confirmed that at least two boxes had been built and used by staff in November and December of 2025. That disclosure sent more shockwaves through this region of small Upstate New York towns just south of the U.S.-Canada border, which includes the sprawling St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.

(snip)

According to the report obtained by NPR, the state's investigation found at least five elementary-age students with disabilities were confined in a "wooden box for a timeout."

"They were subjected to seclusion when they were placed in 'stations' with the door held shut," states the May 8 order. The report, which offers no details about the children's ages or ethnicity, found that "station" was the district's euphemism for "a wooden box." It also concludes that parents of children held in the boxes weren't notified, a violation of state regulations.

[yardwork]

1. It just never stops.

[malaise]

3. Monsters live among us

That is all

[yardwork]

13. They really do and they're always going to be here.

We have to figure out how to work around them and thwart them.

[Spazito]

2. Despicable.

[Takket]

4. unlawful imprisonment is a felony

[Solly Mack]

5. ...

[patphil]

6. The school district could be subject to lawsuits by the parents.

This is going to get messy, and expensive. Any teacher involved has probably self-ended their career.

[brer cat]

7. There is truly no bottom for these people. They have no compassion.

[AZ8theist]

8. Disgusting.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. But, remember... as a gay male, I would not be allowed to work in any educational capacity in some states...

Yet, those states would do things like this and just shrug when it comes to light.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. which states?

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. If I were to try and get work as a teacher in my home state of North Carolina, they would laugh me right out the door.

Assuming they did not arrest me for being gay in a school zone.

A friend in Virginia went through something similar. Once they suspected that he was gay, they suddenly found much fault with everything he did and basically ran him off. Could he have done something? Sure, if he was a Rockefeller.

I worked in a private catholic school in another state for almost a decade. I was able to do so because they did not know and I did not say. Once it became obvious... suddenly, they were not as 'agreeable' as they once were. They found a pitiful excuse to fire me and they did so. Could I have done something about it? Not really.

The main thing that makes me feel good about that time is that, afterwards, a large number of the parents and kids were able to let me know that they felt the situation was really stupid. Not that any of those high powered lawyer parents would help me do anything about it, but they were 'understanding', which is about the best outcome I could hope for.

[ihaveaquestion]

10. OMFG Does it never end? nt

[Passages]

12. The responsible individuals will hopefully be prosecuted and serve time in a box....excuse me, a jail.

How people lose their humanity is deeply troubling.

[JI7]

14. Is this what Magholes mean when they say they made them civilized ?

[peggysue2]

16. As some of you might know, my granddaughter Cassandra is disabled

If my daughter-in-law ever got wind of something like this in her school district, she'd be running to the school, materials in hand ready to build boxes for said 'teachers.'

This is so egregious in nature, primitive, the way the 19th century boarding schools were run--cruel, punitive with little empathy. To treat disabled kids like is monstrous.