Student safety focus of new bill
Assemblywoman wants to restrict restraints, ban seclusion in N.Y. schools
ALBANY — Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages has introduced legislation to restrict the use of physical restraints and ban seclusion in schools following a Times Union investigation that uncovered overuse and abuse of these methods in some public and private schools.
“It’s horrifying that these applications are being used as a means,” Solages, D -Elmont, said. “I think there is widespread support to make sure this is highly regulated and almost discouraged.”
Called the “Keeping All New York Students Safe Act,” the bill would limit the use of physical restraints by school personnel on students to situations where “the student’s behavior poses an imminent danger of serious physical injury” to the student or others. Current regulations say in emergency situations, teachers can restrain students “to protect the property of the school, school district or others” or to deal with a student “whose behavior is interfering with the orderly exercise and performance of school or school district functions, powers and duties.”
The legislation would also ban chemical, mechanical, prone and supine restraints. The majority of states already ban chemical, mechanical and prone restraints.
The bill would explicitly ban “seclusion” by clarifying that “the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving ” is unlawful. State regulations now permit students to be confined alone in “time out rooms” as long as those rooms are unlocked and the child is continuously monitored while inside. Ten other states ban all seclusion of students.
The bill as written only applies to public schools and Headstart programs, but Solages said she intends to apply the proposed regulations to private schools and will be making edits to the legislation. As chair of the Assembly’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, Solages said
she was motivated to act to protect students, particularly students of color and with disabilities, who are disproportionately subject to the methods.
In a yearlong investigation, the Times Union found thousands of New York students have been physically restrained by staff members in schools in recent years, sometimes multiple times per day. The practices can cause trauma, injuries and, in rare cases, death.
Some New York schools used prone, or face-down restraints, on children as young as 3 years old; the U.S. Department of Education recommends prone restraints should never be used.
The Times Union also found some New York students have been confined in time out rooms for more than an hour at a time.
Restraints and time out rooms are typically considered to be emergency measures to respond to a student whose behavior is dangerous and cannot be controlled by other means. The Times Union uncovered incidents in school records where schools used these methods to deal with non-emergency scenarios like students failing to follow instructions or running and yelling.
The New York State Education Department collects no data on how often public schools use restraints or time out rooms, unlike 38 states. The Times Union found the department conducts a limited annual survey asking private and state-run schools serving students with disabilities how often they used the methods, but the agency never made the results public. The survey data, obtained by the Times Union, showed some of those schools reported using restraint and time out rooms up to hundreds of time or more than 1,000 times per month.
Solages said she intends to revise the bill to require regular state data collection on the incidents, although the legislation as written does not include that.
The bill would require the techniques only be used by school personnel, security guards and law enforcement who are trained and certified in a state-approved program. It would mandate more prompt notification of parents by schools of the incidents and mandate meetings to discuss what happened.
It would award grants so schools
can improve their practices and allow the Education Department to revoke state money from schools that don’t comply. It would also give parents and students the right to sue schools that unlawfully use restraint and seclusion.
The legislation is modeled after a federal bill by the same name that has gained increasing support in Congress, but has failed to pass either congressional chamber for years.
Other lawmakers also expressed concern about the use of the methods in schools.
“Right now, we in the Assembly are looking at the regulations as they exist and we are contemplating possibly doing some legislation,” Assembly Education Chair Michael Benedetto, D-bronx, said last week. “Crafting legislation that is flexible enough and not too constraining upon a school is difficult.”
Senate Education Chair Shelley Mayer, a Democrat from Westchester County, said she’s been disturbed by reports of excessive restraint and seclusion since the Times Union investigated the issue.
“I became, and remain, dedicated to ending these abuses and making the classroom a safe and welcoming space for all children,” she said. “I have met with and discussed this issue with the state Education Department, am reviewing the bill submitted by Assembly (woman) Solages, and will be working with my colleagues on legislative action to address wrongful restraint and seclusion.”
Sen. Pete Harckham, D -Westchester, said the measures should be an extraordinary occurrence, but instead reporting shows they’re regularly employed.
“Without total transparency and accountability on this issue from all schools statewide, we are putting our students at risk for injury and trauma,” he said.
Sen. John Liu, a Democrat who leads the New York City Education Committee, said he is working on legislation to codify prohibitions against corporal punishment in schools in the law and would also examine additional measures to minimize the use of restraint and seclusion.