Mother says her 3-year-old was restrained with duct tape and straps at a South Boston school

Boston Public Schools officials say staffers at a South Boston school have been placed on leave after a 3-year-old preschooler was restrained to his chair with nylon straps and duct tape.

The incident took place February 14 at the James F. Condon School, according to Anacelia Cuevas, the Boston mother of the 3-year-old.

While staff are allowed to restrain students under some circumstances, BPS officials acknowledge this particular incident was "inappropriate" and alarming.

“As soon as we were made aware of this incident we took immediate action and placed staff members involved on leave,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement shared with WBUR on Monday.

“Our investigation remains ongoing, and we want to reassure all BPS families that we are working with our entire community to ensure that every student feels safe, secure, and welcome,” Skipper added.

Cuevas said in an interview with WBUR Monday she only recently learned that her son — who is largely non-verbal — was strapped to his chair at the school on Feb. 14.

Cuevas said the state’s Department of Children and Families informed her about the incident Wednesday, two weeks after a teacher at the Condon had reported the restraints as a potential instance of abuse.

Through two successive DCF reports, Cuevas said she learned that her son was bound to an ordinary classroom chair with nylon straps which were, in turn, "duct-taped to the floor."

Upon receiving the news, Cuevas pulled her son from the school. She said she was never contacted by Condon staff or district officials in the two weeks since the alleged incident took place.

The district’s failure to communicate the incident to Cuevas is a clear violation of BPS’s latest guidance, adopted in 2021, which dictates that a school's principal should try to inform parents of the use of restraints within 24 hours, and otherwise to notify them in writing within three business days.

Under the Boston Public Schools code of conduct, staff are allowed to use “reasonable physical force” to restrain students, only when those students could hurt themselves or others and alternative approaches have been deemed ineffective. Similar safeguards apply at the state level.

But the use of unauthorized “mechanical restraints” — physical equipment used to restrict a student’s movement — is prohibited in public schools statewide.

Cuevas believes her son has autism, though she said he has not been formally diagnosed due to the months-long waitlist for consultation with a neurologist.

She said he's not violent. “This is a baby, basically,” she said. “How much harm can he possibly do? He’s not a criminal, he’s a toddler.”

In a letter sent to families with children in the Condon’s pre-kindergarten programming last Thursday, Mary Driscoll, the Region 2 superintendent, said the incident “regarding the inappropriate use of restraints” recently came to her attention and is being "addressed consistent with school and district policies."

District officials did not say how many school employees were placed on leave, or provide their positions at the school.

Massachusetts public schools reported 6,570 instances of restraint affecting over 2,000 students and involving some 538 injuries to students or staff, according to state data collected in the 2022-2023 school year.

Within the Boston Public Schools, the use of restraints has trended down of late, from at least 136 students restrained in 2016-17 to at least 87 last school year. The same data shows that the Condon K-8 hasn’t reported an instance of restraint since the 2017-18 school year.

But this isn’t the first sign of flawed reporting in the district: state education officials have alleged that BPS failed to report 89 cases of restraint in the 2021-22 school year.

Cuevas said she hopes BPS “isn’t taking [her concerns] lightly” and that her family is currently contacting attorneys to pursue a possible lawsuit against the school district.