Restraints and Seclusion in Schools
Please tell us your personal stories on the use of physical restraints and seclusion on your student in special education so that we can strengthen state law next year. While it would be great if you could name your school and town, we understand that some of you may wish to remain anonymous.
New state law regulates the use of physical restraints and seclusion on students receiving special education in schools beginning October 1, 2007. The legislation requires schools to (1) notify parents of each incident, (2) keep records on each instance, (3) compile annual reports and (4) report serious injury to the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education must notify the Office of Protection and Advocacy and the Child Advocate about these reports. The Office of Protection and Advocacy and the Child Advocate are authorized to investigate incidents involving serious injury.
While this is better than it was, schools are not required to report all instances of the use of physical restraints and seclusion and the State Board of Edcuation is not required to review each school's annual report. Also, the State Board of Educaiton is not required to issue a yearly summary on the use of physical restraint and seclusion.
Since the use of physical restraint or seclusion on your special education student may not be reported to the State Board of Edcuation, and the State Board of Eduation may not review your school's report or report on the use of physical restraints and seclusion by schools, we thought our blog would be a good place to collect your stories so that we can use them in a report to strengthen the legislation in 2008.
Thank you in advance.