House Votes to Keep Students Safe from Restraint & Seclusion Abuse

For Immediate Release
March 3, 2010       

Bob Joondeph at DRO (503-243-2081, ext. 210 | bob@disabilityrightsoregon.org)
David Card at NDRN (202-408-9514 ext. 122 | press@ndrn.org)

            
WASHINGTON – The National Disability Rights Network and the fifty-seven Protection and Advocacy agencies we represent applaud the House of Representatives for passing the Keeping All Students Safe Act, H.R. 4247.

Curt Decker, executive director of NDRN, said: “Protection and Advocacy agencies across this country have reported that schoolchildren have been killed, confined, tied up, pinned down, and battered through the use of restraint and seclusion.  In just two states, California and Texas, it was found there were over 30,000 incidents of restraint or seclusion in one school year.

“The House of Representatives, in particular Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA), should be commended for taking action to end the abusive use of restraint and seclusion in schools.”
 
As documented in a report released last year by NDRN entitled School is Not Supposed to Hurt, and in an update to this report issued this year, a disturbing nationwide trend of the use of restraint and seclusion has emerged, denying students full and safe inclusion in the nation’s education system.  NDRN’s report was the catalyst for the GAO report that led Congress to take action.

The legislation addresses many of the problems documented in NDRN’s report: Inconsistent (and sometimes non-existent) standards in many states on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools; Parents and guardians not being informed of the use of restraint and seclusion on their children; Use of inherently dangerous restraint and seclusion techniques with little to no training or monitoring; Use of restraint and seclusion in situations that clearly do not call for the use of such extreme techniques (i.e. blowing bubbles in milk, fidgeting in a chair), and the lack of reporting of such incidents to help the proper authorities identify where problems may exist that could be addressed with additional training and technical assistance. 

“We urge the Senate to follow the House and pass this bill quickly.  It is time we end the misuse of restraint and seclusion on schoolchildren,” added Decker.