 |
| , U.S. Congressman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Representative George Miller, the ranking member of the House Education Committee reintroduced the Keep All Children Safe Act in the Congress on Thursday of last week. The bill had passed the House of Representatives last year with bipartisan support, but it died in the Senate.
The law would regulate the abuses and misuses of the seclusion and restraint techniques on schoolchildren. Abuses have been well documented including, but are by no means limited to, abuses involving children with disabilities. A GAO report in 2009 confirmed a previous study by the National Disability Rights Network entitled "School is Not Supposed to Hurt."
The Keeping All Students Safe Act would direct the Secretary of Education to establish minimum standards that would:
- prohibit elementary and secondary school personnel from managing any student behavior by using any mechanical or chemical restraint, physical restraint or escort that restricts breathing, or aversive behavioral intervention that compromises student health and safety;
- prohibit school personnel from using physical restraint or seclusion, unless such measures are required to eliminate an imminent danger of physical injury to the student or others and certain precautions are taken;
- require states and local educational agencies to ensure that a sufficient number of school personnel receive state-approved crisis intervention training and certification in first aid and certain safe and effective student management techniques; and
- require schools to establish procedures to notify parents in a timely manner if physical restraint or seclusion is imposed on their child.
You can view the press release here.A You-tube video of the introduction of the bill is available here. You can read the entire bill here.
I think it is sad that teachers and other staff need laws in place like this one. As a teacher, I feel that most of the tings in this bill are common sense and should never be used. We techniques like this are used, in part it is poor training and oversight by the school district that allow for abusive restraints to be used.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this information. I was unaware of this law and how it would keep more students safe. Not only are teachers but parents are unaware of how common misuses of child restraints occur at school. I too felt like this is common sense that teachers would not be using these abusive techniques. I feel more professional development needs to be available and mandatory for teachers. As an advocate for Early Childhood Special Needs I feel it is my duty to make others aware of this law. Thank you for sharing and I will help others become aware of this issue.
ReplyDeleteAnon and Anon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
JG