School Stuffed Autistic Boy in Bag as Punishment, Mother Says

The mother of a 9-year-old autistic boy said public school employees stuffed her son into a ball bag for misbehaving.

Sandra Baker's son Chris is enrolled in a special needs program at Mercer County Intermediate School in central Kentucky. She said she was called to the school on Dec. 14 after receiving a call that Chris had been acting up.

"When I walked in," Baker told CBS affiliate WKYT-TV, "I went down his hallway, and I saw this big green bag laying in the floor beside the aide that was sitting beside the bag, and I saw it moving."

She was told Chris was in the bag as punishment and that it was a form of therapy.

"It was a drawstring at the top and it had a hole about this big around left in the top of it," Baker described, indicating a small opening. "There was no way he could get out of it, could not get his head through it if he needed to."

Baker said she was particularly concerned about what could have happened in the event of a fire.

"The comment I got on that was well, we would have drug the bag out the school," she said. "It's OK, just drag my son out some steps and break his bones."

State education officials are investigating the matter.

"Upon learning of the allegations, the school system reviewed the incident immediately, and the matter is being handled consistently with school district policies and with state and federal law," Mercer County Schools Interim Superintendent Dennis Davis said in a news release, according to WKYT.

The district declined to comment on specifics, saying only that its employees receive appropriate training and certification, according to the station.

More than 700 people have signed an online petition decrying the school's actions.