Denver police open investigation into use of “seclusion room” at McAuliffe International School

The Denver Police Department has opened an investigation into the use of a “seclusion room” at McAuliffe International School, an agency spokesman confirmed Friday, a day after Board of Education members called on law enforcement to look into the middle school’s use of a locked room as a potential disciplinary tool.

On Thursday, three board members announced Denver Public Schools was investigating the use of the room after receiving an email from a McAuliffe employee who alleged students of color had been locked inside the room multiple times during the last academic year. The directors — Auon’tai Anderson, Scott Esserman and Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán — called on state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter.

During the 2022-23 academic year, at least three students were placed in a “de-escalation room” at McAuliffe that was used inappropriately as an “incarceration room,” DPS officials said in a statement released Friday evening.

The Denver Police Department received a report about the use of the seclusion room at McAuliffe and an investigation is ongoing, spokesman Jay Casillas told The Denver Post on Friday. He said he could provide no other details about the probe, given its early stages.

The Colorado Department of Education indicated Friday that it may also investigate the room at McAuliffe. A spokesman said the agency was “aware” of the media reports of the room and that AdvocacyDenver, a group that works with children with disabilities, plans to file a complaint with the department against McAluiffe for violating state law.

“As of today, CDE has not received a complaint regarding the allegations reported in the press,” spokesman Jeremy​ Meyer said in a statement. “This said, based on the allegations made in the media, CDE will very likely have a role in investigating this issue. CDE will continue to closely monitor this situation, gather information and determine what our next steps will need to be in the near future.”

The investigations come about a month after the district fired McAuliffe Principal Kurt Dennis after he spoke in a television interview about DPS employees being required to check students for weapons, including one who Dennis said was charged with attempted murder. The interview followed a March shooting at East High School in which a teen undergoing a weapons search shot and injured two deans,

DPS officials have said Dennis shared confidential student information in violation of state and federal laws during that interview. DPS also cited other reasons in its termination letter, including that Dennis violated policies by repeatedly trying to remove a student of color from the school despite district officials telling him such a move “was not available or appropriate.”

The district alleged in the letter that there have been multiple complaints and investigations into McAuliffe’s use of discipline in recent years, including one that found an “overuse of out-of-school suspensions” disproportionately affected students of color, according to his termination letter.

The board members alleged that the seclusion room at McAuliffe was created under Dennis’s leadership. They shared photos of the room they said were taken Wednesday that showed locks on the windows to the room. They also provided a screenshot from an undated video that showed a lock on the outside of the door, a measure that would prevent anyone inside from leaving.

David Lane, an attorney representing Dennis, said Thursday that the room in question was a “de-escalation room” and that Dennis put a latch on the door in January because he was afraid someone would get hurt if a student tried to open the door and an administrator tried to close it.

Lane said the district is “retaliating” against Dennis for speaking out earlier this year and exercising free speech. He has previously said that he plans to pursue legal action against DPS for violating Dennis’s First Amendment right to free speech.

Dennis, in a statement released to Denverite, acknowledged locking students in the room alone.

“In light of this situation, I made the decision to have a latch put on the outside of the door that allowed us to secure the door from the outside while the student de-escalated alone inside the room,” Dennis wrote, adding that school leaders could see into the room via a window in the door.

Dennis has not responded to previous interview requests from The Post and, on Friday, Lane said his client was not speaking to the press.

The latch on the door to the seclusion room was removed in April, Anderson said.

Latest flashpoint

The firing of Dennis has been the latest flashpoint between DPS and community members over how the district has responded to school safety and its discipline policies.

Parents and school board candidates have called for current board members to reinstate Dennis as McAuliffe’s principal — although even if the board votes to overturn his termination, it’s unlikely Dennis would return to the school.

The recent allegations by the district are a “further distraction from the issue DPS parents have been asking to be addressed that really involve safety,” McAuliffe parent Katie Rustici said Friday. “We don’t have answers on what to do with students displaying violent behaviors. We are leaving our teachers and our administrators really exposed and inadequately trained.”

She said she has supported reinstating Dennis as principal and wasn’t sure if the recent allegations would change her opinion since the investigations are still ongoing.

“The timing just seems a little coincidental to me,” Rustici said. “It would be helpful to have all the facts because I don’t think we have those right now.”

Report filed with police

Anderson, the school board’s vice president, said he received an email Tuesday evening from an anonymous McAuliffe employee who said students of color had been locked inside a room at the school multiple times.

After receiving additional information from the employee, Anderson said district officials told him that, as a mandatory reporter, he was required to inform police of the allegations. Anderson told The Post on Friday that he relayed to police the employee’s allegation that students were dragged through hallways screaming and then locked inside the room as school administrators stood outside until the children calmed down.

“Yesterday we received more information from the anonymous whistleblower that rose to the level for filing an official mandatory report to the Denver Police Department,” he told The Post. “I have agreed to comply with the ongoing investigation with Denver police.”

Of the three students the district said were placed in the room at McAuliffe during the 2022-23 school year, one did not have an Individual Education Plan — known as an IEP — or a 504 plan, which would have allowed the use of a de-escalation room as a type of intervention for certain behaviors, DPS officials said.

IEPs are educational plans for children with disabilities and those who receive special education and other services at school, and 504 plans provide teachers and administrators with instructions on how to meet the needs of students with developmental disabilities.

Policy, legal ramifications

Locking a child in a room alone violates DPS policy, which states that if a student is placed in seclusion then at least one employee must be with them at all times. Staff must also notify parents within one school day that “monitored seclusion” was used on a student, according to the district’s policy.

A de-escalation room must also have adequate lighting, ventilation and size, and “to the extent possible” it should also not have any “injurious items,” the policy states.

DPS has de-escalation rooms across the district. These are quiet rooms students use to calm down, but children must enter voluntarily and are with an adult at all times and the door remains open, district officials said in a statement.

The district issued a memo in 2019 with guidance on how schools can create de-escalation rooms, the DPS statement said.

“We have learned that what is said to have allegedly occurred at (McAuliffe) was not de-escalation but seclusion,” district officials said in their statement, adding, “The ‘de-escalation room’ being used at (the school) was clearly not in compliance with DPS stated guidelines.”

Seclusion, which is prohibited at DPS, occurs when a student is locked inside a room by themselves until they calm down, the district said.

It’s unclear what, if any, criminal charges could come from the police investigation.

Lane confirmed Friday that he has spoken to Denver police regarding the case, and said the officer he talked to was “not aware of any crime that has been committed.”