Locked in a dark room, dragged around on leads and wrapped up in blanket ‘like a sausage roll’: The horrific catalogue of claims from parents who say their children were abused by staff at an autism school

• Parents say their children were mistreated at Marnebek School, Melbourne
• Some were allegedly locked in dark rooms, others dragged along hallways
  
• The alleged incidents took place between 2010 and 2012
• Parents accuse education department of a 'cover-up'
  
• School and education bosses deny all the allegations
  

By Kate Lyons

Published: 05:32 EDT, 19 May 2014 | Updated: 13:07 EDT, 19 May 2014

A group of parents of autistic children have come forward with complaints against a special needs school in Melbourne with allegations that staff locked children in a darkened room, led them around the hallways on leashes and wrapped one boy in a blanket to restrain him.

Two parents have taken their case to the Human Rights Commission and a third is currently before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over incidents that allegedly occurred between 2010 and 2012 at Marnebek School in Cranbourne, which caters for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The woman before the tribunal, who is suing the Victorian government and who cannot be named, has alleged teachers locked her son in a fenced-off courtyard as a form of punishment and restrained him during school assemblies, even though he found them distressing.

Rebecca Cobb (centre), holding her daughter Shelby, has complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the treatment of her son Tristan (in green), whom she claims was locked 'terrified' in a dark room as a punishment. Chris Scandolera (back row, right) is also complaining to the AHRC about the school's treatment of his twin boys Harley and Matthew (front, in striped jumpers)

Another woman, Cranbourne mother Rebecca Cobb, is taking action through the Australian Human Rights Commission on the basis that her son was discriminated against because of his disabilities, after finding him locked in a darkened room for misbehaving.

On March 6, 2012, Ms Cobb was asked to come to the school to pick up her son Tristan, now 11, who had apparently been acting up in class. According to the teacher's notes, he had refused to do the work set for him, but was not acting in a violent or threatening manner.

When Ms Cobb went to collect him, she found him locked in the 'time-out room', a dark empty room 'about the size of a disabled toilet.'

Tristan was lying on the floor of the small room, which had a boarded up window and the lights switched off. She said that at the time it happened, he was 'terrified' of the dark, so she couldn't imagine that he had turned off the lights himself.

'I saw him lying on the floor, crying his eyes out, he had a (self-inflicted) bloody nose… when I opened the door he jumped up and he was like: "Mum, take me home".'

Ms Cobb found Tristan locked in the room on two other occasions. The second time, which occurred on March 10, 2012, a small chair had been left in the room, which Ms Cobb said could have been a safety risk.

'If he is in a fit of rage, all he has to do is trip over, impale himself [on the chair] and no one would know,' she said.

Chris Scandolera took his twin sons Matthew (left) and Harley out of Marnebek School amid concerns about their treatment

Matthew (left) and Harley Scandolera left the school in 2012 after their father allegedly saw children being led around with leashes

On one occasion, the woman's daughter told her that a teacher dragged her in there 'kicking and screaming'.

The girl was put into the room toward the end of the school day and did not understand what was happening.

'She honestly thought, because there was no answer when she was kicking and screaming, she actually thought she'd been pushed in there, locked in there and had been left there for the night,' said the woman.

Julie Phillips, a disability advocate for the Disability Discrimination Legal Service, who is helping all the parents with their claims, said: 'The purpose of these rooms is to punish the child, it's a very barbaric way of dealing with challenging behaviours and complex disabilities… It's just 19th century stuff.'

Ms Phillips says the parents have been 'pushed into' taking legal action because the Victorian Department of Education has ignored their requests for an investigation and seems 'completely disinterested' in the issue.

The alleged incidents took place between 2010 and 2012. The school denies the parents' claims

She claims that when the parents initially voiced their concerns last year, the Department of Education responded by sending someone to the school to look at its current practices.

'That is a cover-up. If [the Department of Education] were concerned, they'd get an independent inquiry,' said Ms Phillips.

She also alleges that stories of the 'time-out room' are 'just the tip of the iceberg'.

Ms Cobb said her first indication that anything was wrong at the school came in 2009, just one year after her son began attending Marnebek, when she saw a teacher wrap up a distressed child in a blanket 'like a sausage roll' and drag him along the corridor.

The boy, aged 10 or 11, had become upset when he dropped a stress ball he had been carrying while walking back to class, said Ms Cobb.

When he tried to go back so he could pick up his toy, three teachers threw a blanket on the ground, tackled him, wrapped him up in the blanket and dragged him down the corridor, she claims.

'I was just shocked. I don't know this child, so I didn't know what his issues are. But he wasn't doing anything, he just wanted his ball,' said Ms Cobb.

One woman alleges teachers at Marnebek School locked her son in a courtyard (pictured) and left him there unsupervised, as a punishment for misbehaving

She also alleges that the teachers would use physical restraint to get children to perform in Christmas concerts.

'At a Christmas concert, a child would go to walk off stage. [The teachers] would grab them and walk them back onstage… If that didn't work, they'd get them to sit down and they'd sit behind them and restrain them with both arms, sort of bear hug them,' she said.

Chris Scandolera pulled his twin sons, Harley and Matthew, from the school in 2012 after he became concerned about their treatment and he has since complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the school.

Mr Scandolera said he saw children being led around the school on leashes, attached to harnesses around their chests and at least in one case this was done without the consent of the parents.

'My understanding was that the mother was not happy with him being put in the harness,' he said.

Mr Scandolera was also concerned about the emphasis the school placed on medicating the children.

'Almost everyone was pushed to have their kids on medication,' he said. 'When I removed [sons Harley and Matthew] off Ritalin, [the school] went over my head to child protection trying to force me to keep them on the Ritalin, and I had to leave them on it,' he said.

Mr Scandolera says the school would refuse to communicate with parents and would not seek alternative ways of treating the children, even if the methods they were employing were not working.

'They were putting my boys into isolation and time out and their tantrums and mood swings would worsen, yet they continued to do this as a means of punishment instead of looking at other solutions,' he said.

Since Mr Scandolera removed the children from the school in 2012 he has seen a marked improvement in their development and behaviour.

'The boys have come so far… They're starting to read, they're stringing words together,' he said. 'It's not a miracle, it's the fact that they're in a school that knows what they're doing,' he said.

All allegations were put to the school and the Department of Education.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning said they were satisfied by 'current practices' at Marnebek School and stated: 'The Department denies the allegations and will vigorously defend the matter at VCAT.'

The principal of Marnebek School, Karen Dauncey denied that the school ever punishes children by isolating them or leaving them outside without teacher supervision, adding: 'Our school is a very caring school where the students are at the centre of everything we do.'

The case is currently before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.