Bill Lichtenstein - New York Times Op-Ed

New York Times Op-Ed

On September 9, 2012, the Sunday New York Times published an op-ed in its Sunday Review section, by Bill Lichtenstein, entitled "A Terrifying Way to Discipline Children". The op-ed alleged the use of restraints and seclusion rooms nationwide, including with Lichtenstein's own then 5-year-old daughter in 2006. The publication of the op-ed received enormous national media and reader response. Since the op-ed appeared several other families have come forward with reports that their children had also been placed in isolation.

In the opinion article, Lichtenstein claims that he and his then-wife found their daughter in a basement closet at the child's local kindergarten school in Lexington, Mass. "standing alone on the cement floor of a basement mop closet, illuminated by a single light bulb. There was nothing in the closet for a child — no chair, no books, no crayons, nothing but our daughter standing naked in a pool of urine, looking frightened as she tried to cover herself with her hands."

On September 16, 2012, the Times published an "editor's note" written by newly appointed opinion page deputy editor Sewell Chan. In it, Chan raised questions about the facts in the op-ed piece. The Boston Globe later reported that the editor's note had been published "in response" to the New York Times being contacted by Lexington Public Schools. Lichtenstein's response in detail to the editor's note is on the website TerrifyingDiscipline.com "" In January 2012 the Times reported that it had an editor and fact checker re-report the issues that had been raised about the article, and that there were no errors found with the story.

As a result, the article has not been corrected or changed in any manner and remains online as originally published. The article was submitted for a Pulitzer Prize in January 2012, along with a letter to the Times detailing the errors, false facts and omissions that were included in the editor's note.