Like other schools in Illinois Gages Lake tends to put students into a timeout area for relatively minor offenses. Illinois law does allow timeouts but only if the children are in danger of hurting themselves or others. Gages Lake used timeout for students who were not in danger and, in essence, put them in danger by grabbing children by the wrists, shoving them into walls and throwing them to the ground in a cluster of four seclusion spaces — some with lockable doors, others open — that the school calls “the office.” At least one of the school aides treated the kids in such a way that he has been charged by prosecutors that he used excessive force on students.
It looks as though this behavior has come to light only in the last year as reported timeouts have gone from 270 to 1,708 in that period.
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