DEL MAR — The family of a former Sage Canyon School student is suing the Del Mar Union School District, alleging their daughter was repeatedly placed in isolated confinement over several months without their knowledge.
The lawsuit was filed by Genevieve Goldstone on behalf of her daughter N.G., who is no longer a student in the district. The complaint also names Sage Canyon Principal Maria Parker and district Special Education Director Nadine Schick — in addition to two behavioral specialists and an instructional aide — as co-defendants, and states they encouraged and directly participated in systemic abuse of her child.
Goldstone states that when N.G. was in third grade, she was placed in the district’s Social Emotional Learning Foundations program at Sage Canyon to address some of her special needs, including ADHD. In late 2023, after leaving the classroom one day without permission, she was forcibly led by school personnel into a “reset room” inside the classroom.
After noticing injuries on her daughter’s wrists and hearing about how she was confined inside the room, Goldstone said she called an emergency meeting with school personnel in November 2023 and told them never to do it again.
Despite this, personnel continued to place N.G. inside the “reset room” multiple times per week over the following months without Goldstone’s knowledge.
Goldstone said district personnel never explicitly admitted to using this room. Their daughter informed them of the full extent of what had been happening in February 2024, and they subsequently removed her from the district.
“I trusted that there was something that I was missing, and I trusted that they wouldn’t use any methods that were going to be harmful for my child,” Goldstone said. “It was just a process of hearing more about it from her and seeing her become more fearful of the school and of staff, to the point that she was showing real signs of trauma.”
The lawsuit states that the room was barricaded shut with a makeshift wall, with no one visually observing the students while they were inside. While in the room, N.G. would scream, strike the walls and ask to be let out, and heard other students do the same when they were inside, Goldstone said.
As a result, N.G. has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and has required long-term therapeutic interventions as well as medical treatment.
“Defendant Del Mar Union’s employees involuntarily confined N.G. in the Room solely because of her disability and the known symptoms of erratic behavior arising from that disability. N.G.’s behavior did not pose a danger of serious physical harm, however, and there were substantially less restrictive alternatives to accommodate N.G.’s behavior,” the lawsuit states.
Goldstone previously filed a complaint last year with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding the district’s use of isolation rooms. In December, investigators visited several schools in the district and conducted dozens of interviews.
However, the investigation and many others like it throughout the United States have been stalled since President Donald Trump targeted several Education Department programs. In the meantime, Goldstone said she decided to seek accountability through the local justice system.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to go this route. Suing a school district, a public entity, that’s not a happy thing, but unfortunately that’s where we had to go,” she said.
Attorney Kimberly Hutchison, who represents Goldstone and her daughter, stated that the district has also failed to report instances of using seclusion rooms to the state, as required by California law.
Restraint and seclusion data from the California Department of Education confirms that Del Mar reported zero instances of placing students in seclusion in the 2023-24 school year.
“A concern we noticed in this case is how accepted this seemed to be among the teachers,” Hutchison said. “One of the overarching hopes is … this lawsuit can serve as education for other teachers and districts.”
As of Tuesday, the lawsuit has been filed in San Diego County Superior Court but still needs to be officially processed, Hutchison said.
Leslie Montoro, executive director of student services at Del Mar Union, stated that the district could not comment on the litigation or the pending investigation by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). However, she noted that an internal review by the district found the allegations to be unsubstantiated and that no instances of seclusion had ever taken place.
“I want to stress that the Del Mar Union School District is deeply committed to protecting all individuals from discrimination and to ensuring a safe, supportive learning environment for students. We are resolute in our commitment to student well-being. To this point, we take any allegation of mistreatment seriously and have robust procedures in place to investigate concerns thoroughly and in accordance with applicable laws,” Montoro said.
The district is currently awaiting the outcome of the OCR investigation, Montoro added.
“I can confirm that we provided OCR full access to the district, participating in over a dozen interviews with OCR’s attorney investigator over a series of days and opening our doors to answer all questions OCR had as a part of the investigation. In addition, it is accurate to state that no instances of seclusion took place as alleged. We, too, are eager to receive any report from OCR and are confident in its commitment to finding the truth of this matter,” Montoro said.
