Rep. George Miller (D-CA) re-introduced in the House The All Students Safe Act, which would set for the first time minimum safety standards at schools to curb teacher and staff abuse in how they apply seclusion and restraint to students when dealing with emotional or behavioral outbursts.
Seclusion and restraint is generally used in the classroom to protect students with special needs from injuring themselves, other students or teachers. But, as STN contributor Peggy A. Burns, Esq., owner of Education Compliance Group, has previously noted, several lawsuits have been brought on districts that allege seclusion and restraint has been used on or around the school bus. For the most part, the suits have gone in favor of the districts — so far at least.
“False imprisonment is a term we’d never think about in terms of the school bus environment, but it’s a real claim,” Burns told STN last May. “School districts should continue to win, but it’s a stressful situation.”
Specifically, the legislation would provide a federal baseline to prohibit elementary and secondary school personnel from using any mechanical, chemical or physical restraint that restricts a student’s breathing. It would also require states and local educational agencies to provide school personnel with state-approved crisis intervention training and certification in first aid and other student management techniques. Schools would also be required to notify parents “in a timely manner” if physical restraint or seclusion is used on their child.
Special-needs expert Linda Bluth, the lead monitoring and quality assurance specialist with the Maryland Department of Education, told STN last year that transporters should discuss with special educators the implications for the use of child safety restraint systems (CSRS) on school buses. Additionally, educate parents on the difference between the restraint systems and restraint used for behavior intervention. Bluth added that the use of CSRS should only be made on a case-by-case basis and be included in the section documenting transportation as a related service of the student’s IEP.
TASH, a nonprofit adovcate group for people with disabilities, is an outspoken proponent of legislation to curb what it calls “aversive interventions” to control students who sometimes cause “unncessary trauma, injury and death.” The group added that it is “a moral imperative that Congress act now to keep our students safe in school.”
“This legislation upholds the right of every student to be free from harm in school, and we thank Rep. Miller for his continued leadership on the prevention of restraint and seclusion,” said Barb Trader, executive director of TASH, in a statement. “We ask now for the rest of Congress to own up to its responsibility to protect our children by ensuring full passage of this legislation.”
But the American Association for School Administrators said schools are doing all they can to responsibly use seclusion and restraint, and while under mounting budgetary concerns. A survey of members last summer indicated that 94 percent of school districts monitor students at all times while they are in seclusion, and 97 percent reported that school administrators end the use of seclusion and restraint as soon as the emegency or incident ends. Similarly, 97 percent responded that they do not use mechanical restraints on students under any circumstances, while eight in 10 said school staff was trained in the use of seclusion and restraint as well as in prevention techniques.
A report last April from the Autism National Committee, which also supports the legislation, found that state laws on restraint and seclusion vary widely. Thirty states have “meaningful protections” for the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, but the provisions vary. This, said Miller, leaves the safety of child largely dependent on the state they live.
TASH also pointed to data from the the Department of Education also indicates that seclusion and restraint also occurs more often to students of color than their white peers. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education published guidelines for schools when developing their own seclusion and restraint policies.
Miller first introduced the legislation in 2010, a year after a Government Accountability Office study, Miller said children will continue to suffer injuries or worse without congressional action.Miller originally introduced the bill in December 2009, and it was passed in the House but died in the Senate. He then reintroduced the legislation in April 2011 but it never got out of committee. That December, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a companion bill, which also died.
“This legislation would make practices such as duct-tapping children to chairs or restricting a child’s breathing illegal,” he said. “It makes it very clear that there is no room for torture and abuse in America’s schools.”
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