A Hicksville family has filed a $190 million lawsuit against Nassau BOCES and the Hicksville School District after a developmentally disabled teen was allegedly locked up in a "time-out room."
William Schafer says his son Billy was locked up 45 times for as long as 50 minutes in a 4 by 5 foot blue room with no windows or lights and locks on the door. Schafer says his son is claustrophobic, autistic and prone to seizures. According to Schafer, the Rosemary Kennedy School knew about these problems and locked Billy up anyway.
Schafer says Billy now has nightmares in which he cries, "no blue room." He says Billy is terrified to go to school and distrusts his parents because, even though they were unaware of what was going on, they forced him to go to school.
State education guidelines say parents must be informed if a "time-out room" is in use and that the doors must be unlocked. The school refused to comment because of the lawsuit.