The faculty of the Shelter Island, New York, school live each day fearing that at any moment some cranked up pre-teen will stick a shiv in their neck. There’s no history of violence in the school, and the staff hasn’t ever said they were afraid, but that’s the only way to explain why they’ve built a solitary confinement room to harbour students who act up.

They call it a "time-out" room, but with its darkened windows, padded walls and back exit chained shut, it’s more in line with something found in a prison. Deborah Ross’s seven-year-old son was recently brought to the room, ordered to kneel and rolled up in a gym mat before being sealed in. For the next two weeks, the boy barely spoke.

"No educational good can come from this," Ross said. If any is intended, school officials aren’t willing to share how. Ross has filed a complaint with police and plans to take legal action.

» Scott Saxon