{"id":1059,"date":"2009-08-04T13:50:46","date_gmt":"2009-08-04T18:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2009-08-04T14:08:11","modified_gmt":"2009-08-04T19:08:11","slug":"i-urge-you-to-ensure-that-every-student-in-every-school-is-safe-and-protected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/i-urge-you-to-ensure-that-every-student-in-every-school-is-safe-and-protected\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I Urge You to Ensure That Every Student in Every School is Safe and Protected&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"%22I%20Urge%20You%20to%20Ensure%20That%20Every%20Student%20in%20Every%20School%20is%20Safe%20and%20Protected%22%20\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ed.gov\/policy\/elsec\/guid\/secletter\/090731.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">July 31 letter<\/span><\/a>, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan described his reaction to testimony before Congress on the use of restraints and seclusion in public schools.<\/p>\n<p>He advised school officials to reform their seclusion and restraint procedures &#8220;to ensure that every student in every school is safe and protected&#8221;\u00a0 <strong>before the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year<\/strong>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On May 19, the Education and Labor Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing to examine the abusive and potentially deadly misapplication of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. . . . [and] testimony from the Government Accountability Office on \u201c<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gao.gov\/new.items\/d09719t.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Seclusions and Restraints:\u00a0 Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 The testimony is available on the Internet at the following Web address: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gao.gov\/new.items\/d09719t.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">http:\/\/www.gao.gov\/new.items\/d09719t.pdf<\/span><\/a>. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gao.gov\/htext\/d09719t.html\">(Accessible text format)<\/a><\/span>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was deeply troubled by the testimony . . . As education leaders, our first responsibility should be to make sure that schools foster learning in a safe environment for all of our children and teachers.\u00a0 Therefore, I am encouraging each State to review its current policies and guidelines regarding the use of restraints and seclusion in schools to ensure every student is safe and protected, and if appropriate, develop or revise its policies and guidelines &#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Secretary Duncan\u00a0 recommended that states use stimulus money to implement &#8220;a school-wide system of PBIS &#8230; with information and help from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbis.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports<\/span><\/a> . . . &#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I urge each of you to develop or review and, if appropriate, revise your State policies and guidelines to <strong>ensure that every student in every school under your jurisdiction is safe and protected from being unnecessarily or inappropriately restrained or secluded.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I also urge you to <strong>publicize these policies and guidelines so that administrators, teachers, and parents understand<\/strong> and consent to the limited circumstances under which these techniques may be used; ensure that parents are notified when these interventions do occur; and provide the resources needed to successfully implement the policies and <strong>hold school districts accountable for adhering to the guidelines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I encourage you to have your revised policies and guidance in place <strong>prior to the start of the 2009-2010 school year<\/strong> to help ensure that <strong>no child is subjected to the abusive or potentially deadly use of seclusion or restraint in a school<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have asked Fran Walter of our Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to work with staff from our regional Comprehensive Centers to <strong>contact your office by August 15,<\/strong> to discuss the status of your State\u2019s efforts with regard to limiting the use of seclusion and restraint to protect our students.&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ed.gov\/policy\/elsec\/guid\/secletter\/090731.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Full text of\u00a0 letter<\/span><\/a>.<br \/>\n~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n<p>We are relieved that Secretary Duncan is taking a\u00a0 stand on this issue. But the devil is in the details.<\/p>\n<p>The GAO stressed that there are no federal standards for restraints and seclusion in public schools. State laws and regulations vary. Nearly half of the states\u00a0 have no regulations about seclusion and restraints in schools. If federal standards are enacted, it should be easier to require states to enact similar standards.<\/p>\n<p>* Nineteen states have <strong>NO<\/strong> laws or regulations about the use of seclusion or restraints in schools.<br \/>\n[Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming]<\/p>\n<p>* Seven states place some restrictions on restraints, but do not regulate seclusion. [Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, and Virginia]<\/p>\n<p>* Nineteen states require parents to be notified <strong>after restraints<\/strong> have been used.<\/p>\n<p>* Four states collect and report information from school districts about their use of restraints and seclusion. [Kansas, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Rhode Island]<\/p>\n<p>* Two states require annual reporting on the use of restraints.[California and Connecticut]<\/p>\n<p>We need to educate the public about the use of restraints and seclusion in public schools, and the fact that children with disabilities are dying as a result.\u00a0 We also need to require our State Departments of Education to enact strong policies and procedures on restraints and seclusion until strong regulations can be implemented.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hat Tip to the<\/span><strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.edweek.org\/edweek\/speced\/\">Special Education Blog<\/a> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">by Christina Samuels and the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/jfactivist.typepad.com\/jfactivist\/2009\/08\/secretary-of-education-advises-school-officials-about-seclusion-and-restraint-reforms.html\"><strong>Justice For All Blog!<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a July 31 letter, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan described his reaction to testimony before Congress on the use of restraints and seclusion in public schools. He advised school <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/i-urge-you-to-ensure-that-every-student-in-every-school-is-safe-and-protected\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1368,1370,1363,224,7,1364,1276],"tags":[206,392,1315,338,393],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abuse-restraints","category-discipline-behavior","category-discrimination-section-504-adaa","category-education-policy","category-legal-news","category-school-administration-school-culture","category-seclusion","tag-abuse","tag-arne-duncan","tag-restraints","tag-seclusion","tag-stimulus-funds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}