Teacher and two aides 'locked autistic students in dark bathroom' at Florida school

A Florida teacher and two aides have been arrested for allegedly abusing two autistic children by locking them in a dark bathroom or blowing loud a whistle in their ear as punishment.

An aide at the Silver Sands, a school for the children with disabilities, was so horrified by the abuse teacher Margaret Wolthers and aides Diana LaCroix and Carolyn Madison used as punishment towards the autistic children that she reported the incidents to the school police officer. Her report prompted an investigation.

The victims are eight-years-old and 10-years-old.

Okaloosa Sheriff Larry Ashley told the Daily Beast that while police only recently heard of the abuse in September, “it had been going on for some time.” The investigators are looking to see if there are other victims.

If the students were getting out of hand, Mr Ashley said either Ms Wolthers or the aides could have contacted the principle, the school resource officer or the parents.

However, despite state laws specifically outlawing seclusion, Ms Wolthers and the aides put a misbehaving child alone in the bathroom on at least three different occasions.

One of the three women arrested is the wife of the sheriff’s deputy.

“Classroom aides who witnessed the incidents say the victims would scream and cry when placed in the bathroom, and that one was contained for up to 90 minutes,” Mr Ashley said.

Among the children victimised by the educators was a student extremely sensitive to sound and wore headphones to protect him from loud noises. As punishment, Ms Wolthers and the aides would allegedly “intentionally and maliciously” blow a whistle directly in his ear while pinning his arms down.

In other incidents, they would allegedly use a whistle to threaten him into obedience.

Silver Sands superintendent Marcus Chambers told the Daily Beast the staffers, who have worked at the school for years, were placed on administrative duty during the investigation. Following their arrest and charges, Ms Wolthers and her aides are suspended with pay pending on the outcome of the criminal case.

Mr Chambers added that the district is working to improve their training on how to handle misbehaving children and mandatory reporting of abuse. The superintendent said staffers received training, but the arrests made it evident that “we need to do even better.”