Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has ordered schools to stop locking up students alone in “time out” rooms. The order came a day after the publication of a joint investigation by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune showing how widespread the practice is. By law, students can only be placed in isolation if they are a danger to themselves or others. But the investigation showed isolation is widely used for other reasons, such as refusing to do classwork or spilling milk, either as punishment for the misbehavior or because teachers were frustrated.
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