A Study of One State’s School District Physical Restraint and Seclusion Policies

Abstract

This descriptive analysis of policy content examined local school district policies on physical restraint and seclusion in one Midwestern state that did not have state legislation on these topics to determine whether districts had policies and, if so, whether their content included recommended principles from the U.S. Department of Education. No previous research has addressed district policies. A maximum variation sample of 90 districts was examined to determine whether policies were in place, whether recommended principles were included, and whether policies varied based on student enrollment. Although almost all districts had policies, many of the federally recommended principles were not addressed across the sample and less than 10% of the district policies indicated that these procedures should only be used in the case of imminent danger of serious injury to self or others. District enrollment size did not affect policy, but the substance of the policy was determined by the districts’ policy source from advising attorneys.

CCBD’s Position on Eliminating the Use of Seclusion in Educational Settings

“…In spite of the call in U.S. Department of Education guidelines for states and school districts to enact policies in accord with its 15 principles, a study of local district policies found widely varying degrees to which the principles have been incorporated (Gagnon et al, 2017). Often, the most important components, such as the requirement that these procedures be only used in crisis situations where injury is possible, are missing from these policies (Van Acker, 2020; Van Acker et al, 2020).…”

CCBD’s Position Summary on the Use of Physical Restraint Procedures in Educational Settings

“…Thus, attention needs to be paid to local policies and procedures, in addition to state and federal. For example, one recent study showed significant variation of local school district policies within one state (Van Acker et al., 2019).…”

Restraint and Seclusion: A Review of Practices and Policy

“…(National Disability Rights Network, 2009, p. 22) The report's authors recommended banning seclusion and prone restraints in educational settings (i.e., a student being restrained face down on their stomach), in addition to only using restraint in situations where there was immediate harm to the student or staff. These solutions have been suggested by other scholars (Gagnon et al, 2021;Marx & Baker, 2017;Simonsen et al, 2014;Van Acker et al, 2021) but have yet to be included in federal law or are not consistently applied within many state and district policies and regulations.…”