Report: Disabled, Black kids more often restrained

Rights advocates cite inadequate training in schools

Schools across Texas physically restrain disabled and Black students disproportionately, according to a new report from Disability Rights Texas.

The report states that of nearly 45,000 incidents in which students were restrained during the 2018-19 school year, 91 percent involved students with disabilities even as those kids account for about 9.8 percent of students statewide. Similarly, Black students accounted for 26.1 percent of those restrained despite making up 12.6 percent of the student population.

“Moreover, students with disabilities served in separate behavior classrooms and campuses are often victims of underqualified and undertrained staffs’ overreliance on using harmful and improper restraints as disciplinary practices rather than implementing widely accepted de-escalation and evidence-based behavior management techniques to address disruptive classroom behavior,” the report says.

Restricting students’ physical movements by holding them or using straps to impede their ability to move is among the more controversial tactics employed by school staff when a child acts out. Federal guidance states that restraining a child should be an emergency measure to stop them from harming themselves or others, but disability advocates say schools sometimes use it inappropriately as a means to address student misbehavior.

Restraining students also can lead to injuries. In Illinois, school staff had to call an ambulance for students who were restrained at least two dozen times over the course of 16 months, according to a 2019 ProPublica and Chicago Tribune investigation. A 2009 U.S.

Government Accountability Office investigation found hundreds of cases of abuse, including at least 20 deaths.

Statutes about restraining students vary from state to state. Texas lawmakers in 2001 codified policies about when and how to restrain students, which preceded the similar federal guidance states now use. Texas' regulations say restraint must be limited to the amount of force necessary to address an emergency and must be discontinued once the emergency no longer exists.

But, the Disability Rights Texas report argues that state law and Texas Education Agency regulations fall short. They do not require teachers and staff to receive “regular and adequate training,” and staff are not required to participate in deescalation training.

Disability Rights officials also took issue with how restraint data is collected by the TEA. Through a records request, the nonprofit found that only 478 of roughly 1,200 school districts reported restraint data to the TEA. Among some of those that did report data to TEA there appeared to be issues with underreporting instances in which students' movements were restricted, according to Disability Rights.

Disability Rights Texas' report also highlights racial disparities in the use of restraints, especially among Black students. They were restrained at 2.5 times the rate that they attend Texas schools, according to the report's authors.

In response to its findings, Disability Rights Texas called for requiring districts report the use of restraints and more training for school staff on de-escalation techniques.

The group also called on the TEA or lawmakers to ban the use of two types of restraining techniques — known as prone and supine restraints — in which staff pin a student to the ground face up or face down. Those restraints can make it difficult for students to breathe, the report said.