Photo courtesy Stockvault
Special education is one of the most complicated, misunderstood, and underreported facets of K-12 education. And for journalists, the factors that make special education topics so compellingthe emotions, the politics, and the money (lots of money)are the same issues that give school board members angst.
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Keeping All Students Safe Act (formerly the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act),
H.R. 4247, a bill that would mandate states and districts to monitor the use of restraints and seclusion or isolation in all classrooms, report actions to parents, and provide better training for teachers.
The bill is strongly supported by the disability community, but also by education groups including NSBA and the American Federation of Teachers, who typically advocate for local control for school officials on such issues. In spite of this endorsement, quite a few school board members are concernedand rightly so–that this bill would lead to another unfunded mandate and paperwork for their districts.
The real problem, though, is that there is very little reliable data on the acts of seclusion and restrainttwo completely separate forms of discipline or acts to control disruptive or violent students, who are often but not always placed in special education.
What the flawed data that does exist shows is that in quite a few schools teachers are misusing these tactics, and in a few documented cases, students have ended up dead, suicidal, or severely traumatized.
When I spoke with researchers for a story on this topic in the March issue of ASBJ, I found out that many teachers are using restraints and long periods of isolation on seemingly minor offenses (one student who was killed was reportedly placed in a sometimes dangerous prone restraint for blowing bubbles in her milk).
But while some advocacy groups would ban the use of these techniques altogether, the measure would allow such procedures to still be used in emergency situations, an important note that NSBA worked to ensure would be included. Without the ability to restrain violent students, staff and other students could be injured.
Given the growing and wide-ranging list of supporters, ”NSBA believes that the legislation is strategic and balanced in dealing with such factors as training, prohibiting the use of certain practices, and promoting positive learning supports,” according to a legislative update sent last week.
It may be a peripheral issue in many or nearly all school districts, as sometimes happens with special education issues that get the most play. But there is evidence that these incidents at least need to be reported, and there is a good bit of research that shows how these situations can be handled with more positive outcomes for the student and the schools. If passed, this measure could have a much greaterand more positiveimpact than I originally believed.
Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor
