Creating Safer Schools and Ending Restraint Use

By Ruby Moore and Eric Jacobson

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On Wednesday, Georgia’s State Board of Education will hold a public hearing on a provision that would limit the dangerous practices of restraint and seclusion in our public schools. Restraint and seclusion is neither therapeutic nor educational.

Currently, students in Georgia schools can be restrained or secluded for any reason, in any way, at any time. We applaud the Department of Education and the State Board of Education for their leadership and courage to move toward ending these harmful practices.

While this is progress, the proposed rule, as it currently stands, must be strengthened to prevent the tragic deaths of any more schoolchildren.

Seeking to free all students from restraint and seclusion, several organizations have formed a coalition to introduce the “Safe Schools Initiative.”

Together, Georgia Advocacy Office, Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, Center for Leadership in Disability at Georgia State University, Institute on Human Development and Disability at the University of Georgia, and Parent to Parent of Georgia are working to shift the culture of Georgia public schools so that all students can receive an appropriate education in a safe environment that fosters learning.

One key safeguard is conspicuously absent from the proposed rule: There are no provisions for reporting incidents of restraint, beyond informing parents. In the past, parents did not have to be told, either.

This rule does not apply only to children with behavioral issues or children with developmental disabilities; it affects the lives of all our children who are in the educational system.

Oversight, data collection and analysis are pivotal in identifying schools that need additional support to appropriately maintain a safe educational environment. This information can be used to offer training to schools needing improvement and as an incentive for schools supporting students well without resorting to restraint.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year, the use of seclusion and restraints led to the death of 13-year-old Jonathan King, who hung himself in 2004 after being put into a seclusion room at his Gainesville school. The Kings had no idea their child was being locked in a small room for hours on end on a regular basis. In another recent case, a 9-year-old student weighing just 82 pounds was locked in a plywood box and placed along a wall in, of all places, his principal’s office.

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