CHENEY, Wash. – A former student from Cheney School District has settled a lawsuit for $258,000 over alleged misuse of restraint and isolation practices. The student claims these practices caused severe emotional and psychological harm.

According to court documents, in 2011, as a kindergartener the student was locked in an isolation room for such a long period that he began chewing through the padded walls.

His mother repeatedly spoke with school staff to reduce the use of restraint and isolation. An agreement was made to notify her immediately if her son was placed in the time-out room again.

Despite the agreement, the student’s mother described another incident she came to pick him up from school to find her then 6-year-old son again in the isolation room without her knowledge. There

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