A very sad article appears in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution today about the unnecessary and tragic death of a North Georgia youth at an alternative school. The child hanged himself after being left for hours alone in a “seclusion” room. My friend Wyc Orr represents the mother and father of the child and they are in good hands.
The school’s actions really are indefensible with obviously tragic results. This school had put the child in the “seclusion” room 19 times in his final two months there. The school’s own policy required the teachers not to leave a student in the room for more than 25 minutes, but this poor child was left alone for over seven hours. And in an unbelievable act of stupidity, a teacher gave this child some string to hold up his pants and then left him alone for hours on end, during a time when this child was having a difficult time emotionally. The mother states had they just called her she would have come and picked him up. So one has to wonder “if only….”
Why didn’t the school call the mom? Why did the school callously leave the student alone for seven hours? Why did the teacher give the child the rope with which to hang himself? What is going on here?
All I can say is my heart and prayers go out to the family and I pray the jury delivers the justice so richly deserved in this case. I will keep you posted.