Several parents have filed suit against Milwaukee Public Schools over a former paraprofessional who admitted locking students in a boiler room before he resigned in November 2023 following an investigation.
The lawsuit says the man repeated locked three students in the room, dubbed the “dungeon” by students, over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school year before his resignation, WITI reports.
He told investigators he did it as a “scare tactic.”
And apparently, it worked.
The lawsuit said the boiler room was filled with “chemicals, cleaning agents, boilers, and other machinery,” making it hazardous to students who were locked in the room with the lights out.
“[Staffers] would require the students … to remove their shoes once locked inside ‘the dungeon,'” the complaint says, according to Law&Crime. “Locked in the dark, [the students] were subjected to the harsh smells of the chemicals and cleaning products that were stored in the boiler room. Sometimes [the paraprofessional] would use his body as a barricade to the door to ensure the confined student was not able to leave the boiler room.”
A video obtained by WITI shows the paraprofessional putting a child into the boiler room and barricading the door to keep the child inside. The child remains inside for about a minute until the paraprofessional drags the child out by the arm.
The lawsuit names three addtional staffers it says knew about the abusive behavior at Thurston Woods School, a K-8 school in Milwaukee.
“Concerningly, MPS did not report any of these instances of seclusion and restraint to the Department of Public Instruction, in violation of Wisconsin law,” attorney Drew DeVinney said in a statement. “Additionally, the sole video produced by MPS shows multiple staff members in the vicinity of this unlawful conduct when it occurred and that no one intervened to stop it.”
The school system declined to comment about the lawsuit but said it is “committed to maintaining safe and welcoming learning environments for all students and staff.”
“The district thoroughly investigated this matter in 2023 and took appropriate disciplinary action which included termination of employment,” the district said.
It did not comment on any harm to students who were mistreated in the incidents.
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[Featured image: Thurston Woods School/Google Maps]