Handcuffs were used on Kent, WA elementary students | Seattle Times

Handcuffs were used on Kent elementary students

By J. Patrick Coolican
Seattle Times staff reporter

The Kent School District, already facing criticism for handcuffing middle- and high-school students, said the metal restraints have been used five times this school year on elementary students.

A description of the only instance at an elementary school that is documented, obtained through a public-records request, reveals a fifth-grader handcuffed despite his principal asking that he not be because of a medical condition.

The student was described as 4 feet 10 inches tall and 80 pounds. When he refused to get into security officer Holly Hoel's car to be driven home, "I put the handcuffs on him with his hands behind his back and locked the cuffs," Hoel wrote in her report.

In one case where handcuffs were used, the student was found with a 3-inch knife. In another case, the student's parents asked that he be handcuffed.

More at the Seattle Times

Is this an April Fool's joke?

I teach in this school district.

where the little black girl was assaulted by a big white security officer for wearing an anti Bush T-shirt?

Now I know why I left. One of the worst districts ever from an administrative standpoint. Good riddance.