The images depicted what initially appeared to be a piece of furniture: a wooden box with a padded interior and a door that could be closed. The community surrounding the Salmon River Central School District, located in the small upstate New York town of Fort Covington near the Canadian border, was attempting to comprehend what it was looking at and what it meant for the children who had been inside it within hours of it appearing on Facebook in mid-December 2025.
Parent and Akwesasne Mohawk tribal community member Sarah Konwahahawi Herne characterized her response as instantaneous and bodily. She sobbed. She puked. After that, she opened her laptop and began attempting to figure out what to do. She and other parents eventually forced the school district to confront the fact that school personnel were confining children with disabilities in wooden boxes with the door closed, in violation of state regulations that specifically forbid seclusion. The New York State Education Department has now officially confirmed this. At least one of the boxes was constructed by the district. They were referred to by staff as “calming stations.”
Five elementary-age students with disabilities were subjected to this practice, according to the state’s investigation, which was carried out in the months after the December disclosure. It was discovered that parents were not informed when their kids were put in the boxes, which is against rules requiring parental communication and documentation. The necessary information was absent from the behavioral plans of the students. The district’s timeout and physical restraint policies lacked legally required criteria and were not made public. This school year, at least eleven instances of physical restraints—a last-resort emergency measure permitted by state law—were applied to children, primarily elementary-aged students with disabilities. Both the student and the staff member involved suffered injuries in the majority of those incidents.
Different findings came from the district’s own internal investigation, which was carried out by a lawyer it hired. According to that review, only two students used the boxes, and staff never locked or kept the doors closed. There is a significant interpretive difference between those results and the state’s findings. Calling it “a large gap” that “raises even more questions,” Assemblyman Michael Cashman, whose district includes the school, said the state’s findings tell “an absolutely abhorrent story of mistreatment of youth.”
Salmon River Central School District — Timeout Box Scandal — Key Facts
| District | Salmon River Central School District — Fort Covington, NY 12937 (Franklin County, northern New York) |
| Address | 637 County Route 1, Fort Covington, NY |
| Student Population | Approximately 1,370–1,378 students (grades PK–12); 4 schools |
| Demographics | Minority enrollment approximately 70%; roughly two-thirds of students are Akwesasne Mohawk; 51.8% economically disadvantaged |
| Geographic Context | Near the US-Canada border; includes part of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation |
| Interim Superintendent | Ben Barkley (the district’s fourth acting superintendent this school year) |
| Board of Education President | Jason Brockway |
| New Special Education Head | Rebecca Stanley (permanently hired May 2026) |
| Incident Timeline | Wooden boxes built and used November–December 2025; photos surfaced on Facebook mid-December 2025 |
| State Investigator | New York State Education Department (NYSED) |
| State Findings | Five students with disabilities confined in wooden boxes “with the door held shut” — constitutes seclusion, banned under NY education regulations; 6 violations of state bylaws |
| District’s Own Investigation | Attorney Kate Reid: found boxes used on two students who “chose” to enter; “doors only closed by the students themselves” |
| Physical Restraint Data | Students physically restrained 9 times last school year; at least 11 times this school year; most incidents involved elementary students with disabilities; most resulted in injury |
| State Order | NYSED compliance order issued May 8, 2026 — district must reform policies by fall 2026 and submit compliance paperwork |
| Governor’s Response | Gov. Kathy Hochul called behavior “highly disturbing”; ordered state investigation |
| Legislative Response | Assemblyman Michael Cashman: bill to ban timeout boxes in NY schools; Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara: bill requiring independent investigations and 24-hour parental notification |
| Criminal Investigation | One special education teacher placed on administrative leave was arrested by NY State Police in May 2026 for allegedly endangering welfare of a student (May 2025 incident) |
| Key Parent Voice | Sarah Konwahahawi Herne — parent and tribal community member; called for formal apology and accountability for staff involved |
The cultural weight this story carries in a community where about two-thirds of students are Mohawk is what makes it so challenging. The U.S. government has admitted that at least a thousand Indigenous children perished in federally funded boarding schools for generations, depriving them of their language, culture, and frequently their lives. The connection to that history was not abstract when parents in Fort Covington found out that their local school was putting kids in wooden enclosures. “For our children to be placed in boxes just as they would have been in residential schools, it was so heartbreaking and disgusting to me,” Herne stated. Michael Conners, the tribal chief, described it as “incomprehensible.” Another parent recounted asking his eight-year-old son about the boxes and hearing him casually explain that it was where you went if you were upset or depressed. The grandmother of the child had been placed in a residential school.
In a single academic year, the district has now had four interim superintendents. Only in May 2026 was permanent leadership for special education appointed. Wide-ranging changes must be made by fall in accordance with the state’s compliance order. Although there is not much time left in the legislative calendar, proposed legislation in Albany would completely outlaw timeout boxes. The education department stated that these choices are “a matter of local control,” so the state has not mandated the termination of employees engaged in the construction and use of the boxes. That doesn’t satisfy Herne. She demands an official apology. She desires responsibility. She wants what she refers to as “basic honesty about what happened and who allowed it,” rather than a witch hunt. “If they have to stand up and admit they were wrong,” she replied, “that helps us all heal.”
