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More than 50 Minnesota school districts are confining students with disabilities in seclusion rooms — a practice banned or extremely limited in 21 states — and this largely hidden system has persisted precisely because it affects a small number of students and remains mostly hidden from the general public. The Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) set out to document the state's seclusion rooms for the first time, photographing more than 80 of them and documenting their locations in a report titled "Children in Confinement: Seclusion in Schools." The 50 school districts maintain 194 registered seclusion rooms across 100 school buildings across the state. "I think the average person does not know this is happening in their schools. When they see the rooms and they find out how they're used, the average person is appalled and is very upset and curious as to why this antiquated and traumatizing practice is still allowed in our schools," said Jessica Heiser of the MDLC. "Nobody wants their kids in one of these rooms. As a parent, I cannot look at this room and say in good grace that there is a single child that deserves to be locked in a cinder block room in a school," Heiser said.
This egregious problem also exists in many other parts of the country:
Black students with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to seclusion, making up just 12% of students with disabilities in Minnesota but subject to 22% of all instances of seclusion. "It is unquestionable in every state, including our own, that seclusion and restrictive procedures in general, like holds on children and locking children in rooms by themselves, is used against boys of color with disabilities more so than any other demographic," Heiser said, adding that multiple federal investigations have led to banning seclusion in particular states or school districts because data show it is disproportionately used on boys of color. Students with autism make up about 16% of students with disabilities but experience more than one-third of all seclusion episodes. Just 10% of students with disabilities are in the emotional or behavioral disability category, while they experience about 2 of every 5 seclusion episodes. Seclusion is primarily used on students between the ages of 6 and 10, and Heiser is direct about why: "It really just comes down to how easy is it to grab a kid and put them in the closet? It's easier when they're littler."
In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law that banned seclusion for students with disabilities from birth through third grade, and the Minnesota Department of Education recommended that the state work towards eliminating the practice entirely by the start of the 2026-27 school year. That progress has been actively blocked: legislation was proposed to rollback the 2023 ban, and a Seclusion Working Group met 11 times — yet nearly every voice at the table rejected the practice. "The seclusion working group, everybody around the table, except Sen. Seeberger, said 'We don't want this practice,'" said Jessica Webster, an attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. "What a bizarre place for us to be standing that all of the voices agree that this is a harmful and traumatic practice that we shouldn't be using, but we're still using it." During the 2023-24 school year, state data show that 553 students with disabilities were placed in seclusion 3,451 times; even after the K-3 ban, 358 students were given 1,867 episodes of seclusion in the 2024-25 school year.
The most recent policy guidance from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights states that repeated use of seclusion for the same student by a school is likely a violation of the student's rights — yet children with disabilities are still being locked in cinder block rooms in Minnesota schools while the public remains unaware. Community Builders must know the truth: this antiquated and traumatizing practice is hidden, it is discriminatory, it is used disproportionately against students of color with disabilities, and it is a rights violation. Districts like Minneapolis Public Schools, Fridley Public Schools, Spiro Academy, and Intermediate District 287 have already eliminated seclusion — proof that it can be done. Community Builders are called to be Upholders and Defenders of the Victims of Oppression — It is clear who the victims are.
Read the Full Article: Many Minnesota schools still use seclusion rooms for students.
By: Melissa Whitler, Minnesota Reformer
