Federal investigations of restraint and seclusion of children in schools confirm abuse levels that are prompting new California bill

Sacramento, CA - On May 19, Congressman George Miller (D-California), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, held a hearing to examine abusive and deadly uses of seclusion and restraint of children in U.S. schools. His opening statement summarized reports on these dangerous practices: "Recent news reports document appalling stories of teachers tying children to chairs, taping their mouths shut, using handcuffs, denying them food, fracturing bones, locking them in small, dark places and sitting on them until they turn blue...Every year in schools in the U.S., hundreds and hundreds of children are the victims of abuse and in some cases...almost torture."

The packed hearings included testimony by parents of children who had died or were severely traumatized by restraint and seclusion at their schools. The hearing followed the release of a report by the General Accounting Office which confirmed allegations of widespread deadly and abusive seclusion and restraint practices in public and private schools. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09719t.pdf

GAO found no federal laws restricting the use of seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level. Congressman Miller called for Congress to enact a federal policy governing the use of seclusion and restraint in schools.

California poised to prevent harm to children with new bill

California has the chance to be among the states to protect students from these dangerous practices. A bill authored by Assembly members Fiona Ma and Wesley Chesbro sets new standards for the use of the restraint in schools.

AB 1538, proposed by Disability Rights California, carefully balances the need for special education staff to use appropriate behavioral interventions with disabled students while limiting the use of those interventions likely to cause serious harm or death.

Specifically, AB 1538:

Establishes minimally safe practice standards for the use of restraint of children with disabilities in special education programs in schools;
Prohibits the use of physical restraint for the purpose of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff;
Limits the use of physical restraint to:
- emergency situations where there is an imminent risk of serious physical harm, or
- as part of a student's behavioral intervention plan to prevent a targeted and imminently dangerous behavior that poses serious physical harm to the pupil, staff, or others;
Requires a staff member to be continuously present throughout the restraint, observing the pupil for signs of distress or difficulty breathing;
Prohibits the use of improvised restraint devices, restraint techniques that endanger students, and the use of drugs to manage a pupil's behavior other than drugs prescribed as treatment of the pupil's disability; and
Requires that staff authorized to use restraint be trained consistent with current California Department of Education policy.

The AB 1538 restrictions are consistent with prohibitions on the unsafe restraint techniques used in all other settings and are necessary to better protect students and staff from the serious risks when using these emergency interventions. Concerning the use of seclusion, stakeholders are still searching for common ground to ensure that schools are safe environments that nurture learning and do not traumatize children.

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