“Room Clear,” it’s a new method that’s leaving classrooms destroyed, and has been called a controversial approach to calming students. With the school year in full swing, teachers are sounding the alarm about the method more and more schools are using to deal with out-of-control students.
Room clear is when students have to leave the classroom when a teacher feels someone is being out of control. But what happens after the children leave can be pretty shocking.
In some cases of room clear, students will flip over desks and tear classrooms apart. Teachers have said it can be frustrating, but there aren’t enough mental health providers for kids, so they feel there are limited options.
In Des Moines, one teacher is ready to quit because of this.
“I’ve had my things thrown around the room, ripped off the walls. I’ve been punched, kicked, stabbed with a pencil,” Ashlee May, a teacher in Des Moines said.
In Washington State, using restraint or isolating a student is only allowed when there are threats of serious harm. But whenever methods like this are used, teachers or school security officers do have to report it.
