House Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats
The report features DREDF’s August 2014 state compliance complaint against the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. DREDF filed the complaint on behalf of two second-grade students subjected to repeated restraint and seclusion at the Sunrise Elementary School, a special education school serving 45 students. The state’s investigation of Sunrise revealed over 300 instances of restraint in 2013-2014 alone:
One Sunrise Elementary student was restrained 57 times that year, according to the investigation report. In one of those incidents, four staff members held him facedown on the floor for 57 minutes, and eight days later, staff members restrained him for 63 minutes, 40 minutes of that facedown. Another student was restrained 44 times and a third student 32 times, the report states.
The state found Mt. Diablo Unified out of compliance with several state laws regarding the use of behavioral interventions. Specifically, CDE cited the District for failing to refer incidents to the IEP team to consider a behavior plan change; failing to use restraint for the briefest time possible; failing to use less restrictive measures to address behaviors; and failing to notify families that their child had been restrained or secluded.
DREDF applauds EdSource for bringing this important issue to light and echoes its call for tightened oversight of restraint and seclusion—from the training of special education staff to the filing of behavioral emergency reports and the analysis of data.
However, DREDF believes CDE must also improve its monitoring and enforcement of the IDEA’s Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) mandate. Restraint and seclusion remains in the shadows because it usually occurs in segregated special education classrooms—out of sight, out of mind. For example, in its aforementioned investigation of Mt. Diablo Unified, CDE found that the District failed to first consider “whether the student could have been successfully educated in a less restrictive placement with appropriate supports” each time it placed a student at Sunrise.
In other words, restraint and seclusion is a symptom of the continued needless and shameful segregation of students with disabilities. CDE must ensure that students remain in the general education environment with supports and services to the maximum extent appropriate. And if a student with a disability is placed in segregated classroom, there must be a plan in place to transition that student back to the less restrictive environment as soon as practicable.
If you would like more information about how to address restraint and seclusion policies in your school, please read DREDF’s April 2015 Special Edition.
I have been disabled for almost 20 years. I was. a
teacher. I don’t like the idea of restrainting any child.
I am about to give disabled children and all kids hope
with my book of my paintings along with children’s stories they inspire called ” What Happens Next”.