McAuliffe mom defends fired principal, praises benefits of de-escalation room

DENVER — As two separate investigations into a"seclusion room" at McAuliffe International School where students of color were allegedly locked in without adult supervision continue, a mom at the school said Tuesday her child benefited from using the room and argued her family's experience also needs to be considered by district officials.

“I adopted him and his older sister from Ethiopia in 2011 and he had a rough go all through elementary school,” Hawthorn said.“He was taken to a room to calm down, but he says it had a punching bag, pillows and he was able to pet a therapy dog named Calder,” Hawthorn said. “There was a great para-professional here who I think is still here, Mr. TJ, who my son really loves. He’s a Black teacher and he still has... he just loves this school because of Mr. TJ and Mr. Dennis.

“We encourage anybody who has any knowledge of this practice throughout Denver Public Schools for you to reach out to Denver Public Schools,” Board of Education Vice President Auon’tai Anderson said during the news conference Monday. Board member Scott Esserman, however, said during Monday's news conference that what happened at McAuliffe during the 2022-2023 school year"was not de-escalation, but seclusion," which are not the same thing.

“And it’s because of how well it went here,” Hawthorn said of McAuliffe. “He was prepared. He passed every class in 9th and 10th grade and he’s on track to graduate early. He only has two credits left. Whatever it is that my son needed to kind of get regulated, Kurt Dennis would give him trail mix almost every day because he was starving after school and he still talks about that. ‘Oh, that’s the principal that would give me a snack every day after school.

Reid works with nearly every school district in the Denver-metro area, and said seclusion rooms or de-escalation rooms can be helpful for children who engage in dangerous behavior.

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