Native kids with disabilities were held in wooden boxes. Sweeping reforms are coming

Education Native kids with disabilities were held in wooden boxes. Sweeping reforms are coming May 14, 20265:16 PM ET Brian Mann Officials in the Salmon River Central School District in Fort Covington, New York, have acknowledged that wooden boxes were constructed and used to confine elementary school children, including Native children, with disabilities. The practice was ended in December 2025 after these images, confirmed as authentic by school officials, circulated on social media. In a new report, New York's state has ordered sweeping reforms at the public school. Used with permision/Photos provided by Chrissy Onientatahse Jacobs hide caption toggle caption Used with permision/Photos provided by Chrissy Onientatahse Jacobs Fort Covington, New York - Rumors spread on social media over the winter: School kids with disabilities in the Salmon River Central School District, including Akwesasne Mohawk children, were being confined by special education teachers in wooden boxes. Sarah Konwahahawi Herne was devastated. "It was so unfathomable that our children were seeing these boxes and hearing children screaming in these boxes," said Herne, a parent and a member of the tribal community. "I cried, I threw up and I immediately grabbed my laptop and said, What are we going to do?" "I cried, I threw up and I immediately grabbed my laptop and said, What are we going to do?" said Sarah Konwahahawi Herne, a parent and a member of the tribal community. NPR/Brian Mann hide caption toggle caption NPR/Brian Mann Local school officials later confirmed that at least two boxes had been built and used by staff in November and December of 2025. That disclosure sent more shockwaves through this region of small Upstate New York towns just south of the U.S.-Canada border, which includes the sprawling St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. Sponsor Message Officials with New York state's education department have now quietly issued an official order requiring sweeping reforms in the district. Acco...