Schools Struggle with Protocols for Restraining Unruly Students
As emergency interventions soar, districts rely on a largely unregulated industry
Corporal punishment is illegal in California public schools, but physically restraining unruly students is not. As incidents of restraint, seclusion and other emergency interventions have soared in recent years, schools have relied on training programs and physical restraint protocols developed by private companies that in many cases appear to have few qualifications.
Although restraint training is directed at some of the most difficult and sensitive situations that school personnel encounter, the companies operate with little oversight. Federal law imposes strict rules on the use of restraints and seclusion in federally financed hospitals and treatment centers, but the laws do not address their use in schools.
Restraint companies now work with dozens of school districts across California and elsewhere, training teachers and counselors to use controversial restraint maneuvers. Students involved in restraint situations usually have serious behavioral problems or developmental disabilities. More than half the incidents reported statewide in the 2009-10 school year occurred in the Bay Area, most of them in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco Counties.
“We don’t know why this is happening,” said Fred Balcom, director of the California Department of
Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12OhG)