Virginia Beach School Board bans the use of seclusion rooms

February 26, 2026 Guest User

Virginia Beach School Board Member Alveta Green listens to Julie Xirau speak Tuesday during a school board meeting. Xirau is the mother of Joshua Sikes, an 11-year-old student with autism who died in November 2024 days after being placed in a makeshift seclusion area. The board voted on a new policy to limit seclusion but didn’t outright ban the practice. *Photo by John-Henry Doucette // VCIJ*

Virginia Beach reported the highest use of student seclusions in the state. A new policy limits the controversial practice for children in crisis.

Virginia Beach schools, special education leaders re-examining student seclusion policies

May 27, 2025 Guest User

A photo of Josh Sikes sits in his mother, Julie Sikes, apartment in her Newport News, VA apartment, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. 11-year-old Josh Sikes died last November days after he was restrained in his SECEP classroom at Pembroke Elementary School in Virginia Beach. *Photo by William Tiernan.*

The treatment of a fourth grader in a special education classroom prompts administrators to question tactics, policies following VCIJ at WHRO investigation.

Death of Autistic Boy Renews Questions About the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools

May 7, 2025 Guest User

Julie Sikes, in her Newport News, VA apartment, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, holding her phone with a picture of her son Josh Sikes. *Photo by William Tiernan.*

No one knows what caused 11-year-old Josh Sikes to die last November. But his final moments in a Virginia Beach classroom have led to investigations and renewed questioning over techniques used by Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs.

Moving toward independence

April 6, 2023 Guest User

On Thanksgiving 2022, Barb Baxter shared a moment with her son, Pete, in the family’s kitchen. Pete, 24, is autistic and has an intellectual disability. He recently moved into a Charlottesville apartment with the steady support and supervision of family and community.

The road to adulthood begins for most when they graduate from high school and move on to a first job or college, to paying bills and living on their own. But for people with cognitive disabilities or autism, leaving high school is a more monumental step, one that will transform their relation to their families and the community that supports them.

That monumental step has been on the minds of Andrew and Barb Baxter, both 57, of Charlottesville, Va. for years. Their 24-year-old son, Peter, is on the autism spectrum and has an intellectual disability.