Canberra principal fired for building 'calm down' cage for autistic student
A Canberra school principal has been fired for building a ‘calm down’ cage to confine an autistic child.
The boy, 10, was locked in the 2m blue coloured cube, which was build for $5195 using school funds, according to an independent inquiry.
The child was put into the cage only once and the cage was in place at the school for only 14 days in March this year (2015).
It was constructed by a builder on March 10 and dismantled on March 24.
It was intended to be a ‘calm down’ and ‘quiet space’ for the student.
The issue came to light when a complaint was made to the Children and Young People’s Commissioner.
The school, the principal and the child have not been identified due to privacy reasons.
ACT education minister Joy Burch said she was disappointed by what the inquiry had discovered.
Ms Burch said it was ‘completely unacceptable’ that a decision was made to build such a structure in response to a student’s behaviour.
“This decision was wrong and the officer responsible will no longer be a school principal or be working within a school,” Ms Burch said in a statement.
“School principals must be held responsible for their actions”.
The inquiry report said professional support and assistance in case management was available to school principals.
A behaviour support team routinely provided support to the school but was not involved in the decision to build the structure.
The inquiry found officers within the directorate failed to act quickly enough when they were notified about the structure.
Ms Burch said that was extremely frustrating.
“The length of time this has taken did not meet community expectations or my expectations as minister,” she said.
