The practice of putting kids with special needs in school seclusion rooms is a human rights abuse that should be banned immediately, according to one advocacy group.

Salmon Arm residents Jackie and Kirk Graham came forward this week to allege their seven-year-old son Deacon, who has Down Syndrome, had been repeatedly locked in a small, windowless room at his school for misbehaving.

The parents said this was done without their knowledge or consent.

“I think it’s awful,” Jackie told CTV News Tuesday. “It breaks my heart for my son, [and] for other kids in B.C. whose parents have no clue that this is being done.”

Special needs advocacy group Inclusion B.C., which first brought the issue of seclusion rooms into the spotlight with a damning report two years ago, applauded the family for coming forward and sharing their story.

Executive director Faith Bodnar said it’s just one example of how the provincial government has failed to act on Inclusion B.C.’s shocking report, which cited cases where students with special needs had allegedly been locked in small rooms, closets and even stairwells, sometimes for up to three hours.

“It’s a pretty barbaric and I think intentionally cruel thing to do to a child,” Bodnar said. “If we were doing that at home, we would have every reason to expect child protection to be called on us as parents… I just don’t understand how it’s considered good practice in a school.”

On Wednesday, Inclusion B.C. called on the government to ban seclusion rooms, sometimes known as "safe rooms" or "quiet rooms," as well as the use of restraints on children who are acting out.

If nothing else, Bodnar said schools must be required to inform parents when their children have been locked in such rooms.

“Students are being harmed every day like Deacon, and unbeknownst to their parents… the majority of whom find out accidentally,” she said.

Bodnar said there are alternative behaviour intervention strategies that have been around in B.C. for 25 years, if only the government would pay for the training to implement them.

According to Bodnar, resorting to seclusion rooms instead is “archaic” and amounts to “a human rights abuse.”

But B.C. Education Minister Mike Bernier said there is room for them in the province’s schools, provided they are used properly.

Bernier said the government will ensure schools understand how and when to use seclusion rooms by issuing official guidelines to districts at some point in the coming months.

“It’s all about making sure the school districts have some tools in place and really understand how they’re going to be using these if and when they’re ever appropriate,” he said.

“It’s about making sure students in the classrooms are safe and the teachers as well.”

The minster wouldn’t offer any specifics about what the guidelines will include. Asked about a potential mandatory requirement to inform parents, Bernier only said “it’s really important as a parent that you have a good relationship with the teachers and with the school districts.”

The North Okanagan-Shuswap School District issued a statement Wednesday describing the room Deacon was put in as a “calming room” where any student can be placed to cool off before being returned to class.

Superintendent Glenn Borthistle also assured Deacon was never left alone.

“In this particular case, when the student has been in the calming room he has always been supervised by an adult. Sometimes with the door open and an adult in the room with him. Sometimes with the door closed and the adult directly supervising him through the window in the door,” Borthistle said.

The school district did not confirm how many times the seven-year-old has been placed there.

The Grahams said the room Deacon was locked in is nine by seven feet, windowless, and has a sign on the door indicating the lock would disengage in the event of a fire.

They have vowed not to let their son return to the Salmon Arm school if staff continue to use it.