School seclusion room expansion approved by Minnesota Senate
School seclusion room expansion in Minnesota
After a very personal debate over the controversial behavior strategy, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill on Thursday giving schools more leeway to seclude kids as long as they have parental permission.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Seven months into a ban on schools using seclusion rooms for young students, the Minnesota Legislature is on the verge of allowing their use more commonly.
A personal debate
'Not great, but needed':
After a very personal debate over the controversial behavior strategy, the Minnesota Senate passed an education bill on Thursday giving schools more leeway to seclude kids as long as they have parental permission.
Seclusion rooms were a necessary evil in the school life of Sen. Judy Seeberger’s son.
He’s on the autism spectrum and was late in learning how to control aggression, especially towards authority figures like teachers.
"He's a wonderful young man today," said Sen. Seeberger, (DFL-Afton). "And when I asked him about the use of seclusion, he shakes his head. He said, 'You know, it wasn't great, but it needed to be done.'"
What's the issue?
Defining seclusion:
Under Minnesota law, a seclusion room at school has to be at least 6 feet by 5 feet. It has to be well-lit and ventilated, have a window for observation, and it is locked from the outside.
"Anything other than that is not a seclusion and there is no ban on that, okay?" said Matt Shaver, senior policy director for Ed Allies.
When the legislature acted to limit them in 2023, about 450 seclusion rooms existed.
State data shows schools used them around 4,000 times that school year, mostly for students with disabilities who struggle to regulate emotions.
Why not?
Separated unequally:
But advocates say it’s not an effective intervention, especially for younger learners.
"We can see from the data that the state has collected over years and years and that it's the same kids over and over and again," Shaver said.
Each secluded student averaged 10–15 trips to the room during a school year.
And the intervention has been more commonly used on Black and biracial students.
"I have grave concerns that we are putting any of these young children in this situation," said Sen. Nicole Mitchell, (DFL-Woodbury).
Mitchell also has experience with children with disabilities.
She says seclusion can eventually lead to worsening depression, social isolation, and anxiety.
Advocates opposing their use in schools recommend sensory rooms or supervision by a padded adult instead.
Abusive usage
Changing the law:
When FOX 9 reported on abuse of seclusion rooms in 2017, we found schools often used the rooms as punishment.
"It's a jail cell," said the mother of a child who'd been sent into seclusion.
That’s part of what prompted the 2023 legislature to ban seclusion rooms for kids in third grade and below.
Sen. Seeberger says her 2025 update to the law requires parental permission through sixth grade and still won’t allow seclusion as discipline, but keeps the rooms as a tool of last resort.
"My concern is this," Sen. Seeberger said. "Staff have no other option when a student is aggressing and could potentially hurt someone that they will call law enforcement who then will take the child into custody."
What's next:
As of now, the House education bill does not include Seeberger’s update, but that could change before final passage.