A teacher employed at a New York school district where “timeout boxes” were allegedly used to confine young students has been arrested, according to authorities and media reports.
Karrie Haverstock, 60, a special education teacher within the Salmon River Central School District, was arrested on Wednesday, March 18, on child endangerment charges, according to New York State Police, the Albany Times-Union reported.
Haverstock was taken into custody after a parent accused her of putting their nonverbal daughter in a closet by themselves and of using toothpicks to poke the girl’s forehead, according to the newspaper.
Franklin County District Attorney Elizabeth M. Crawford told the newspaper that Haverstock’s arrest is not related to the alleged “timeout boxes,” which are being investigated by police and the New York Department of Education.
New York State Police Trooper Brandi Ashley told the Times-Union that police learned in November that Haverstock “allegedly mistreated a student on or around May 16, 2025.”
Last year, Haverstock and several other staff members were put on leave after allegations emerged about special needs students being confined inside wooden boxes.
A former school board member, Chrissy Onientatahse Jacobs, initially shared the photos of the alleged wooden “timeout box” to Facebook in December, according to the New York Times.
In January, the mother of a non-verbal, autistic elementary student told Us Weekly that after seeing the Facebook post, she was informed it was built for her son, who was allegedly confined inside.
The woman, Rhonda Garrow, filed a notice of legal claim on January 15 against the Salmon River Central School District in which she alleged the district violated her 8-year-old son’s civil rights through the alleged use of the “box-shaped wooden dog cage.”
“He can’t speak, and he can’t fight back…he can’t tell his family or tell anybody that he was being placed into there,” Garrow previously told Us. “It’s heartbreaking,” she added.
After the Salmon River Central School District launched an independent investigation into the alleged timeout boxes, the district shared an update on the investigation’s findings on March 12.
“The investigation determined that two time-out boxes were used for a short period in November and December 2025 at Salmon River Elementary School,” the district said in a news release. “Investigators found no evidence of abuse, corporal punishment or intentional mistreatment of students. However, the report identified regulatory compliance issues related to how time-out procedures were implemented and documented under New York State regulations.”
The school district did not immediately return a request for comment from Us on Monday, March 23.
Haverstock, who worked at Salmon River Elementary School before she was transferred to the St. Regis Mohawk School, is set to appear in the Town of Fort Covington Court at a later date, the Times-Union reported.
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