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Virginia Beach School Board Chairperson Kathleen Brown said the proposed policy could address concerns of parents and reviewed if there are unintended consequences. Photo by John-Henry Doucette // VCIJ
The Virginia Beach School Board may ban the use of seclusion rooms in city school buildings, a step to curtail the controversial practice of isolating troubled students in emergencies.
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Julie Xirau, in her Newport News, VA apartment, holds her phone showing a picture of her son Josh Sikes. Photo taken in March 2025. File photo by William Tiernan.
The mother of Joshua Sikes, 11, claims her son was injured in a classroom run by Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs days before his death. A wrongful death suit seeks $150 million
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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.
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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.
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