UCP unveils new rules for seclusion rooms
Education minister reveals guidelines as board calls for special support funds
The provincial government introduced new, permanent standards for the use of seclusion rooms and physical restraint in schools, but will not set a date to ban them, Education Minister Adriana Lagrange announced Wednesday.
“Education partners, including school boards, teachers, administrators and parents, have clearly indicated that a full ban on seclusion rooms limits a school’s ability to protect the safety of everyone. We listened, and worked with our partners to provide a measured approach for the use of these tools in schools,” said Lagrange at a news conference at the Centre for Education in Edmonton.
Taking effect Nov. 1, the rules require that school authorities have written policies that are developed with and shared with parents and guardians, and that positive behaviour supports are in place to prevent the use of seclusion or physical restraint.
The rooms must only be used in crisis situations, must be safe, abide by fire codes, be adequately lit, well-ventilated and at a suitable temperature. They are not to be used as punishment.
And they must only be used as a “last resort,” Lagrange reiterated.
“This is about preventing the misuse and ensuring the well-being, safety and dignity of all students and all staff in Alberta schools,” she said.
They are only to be used in cases in which a student is a risk of hurting themselves or others, said College of Alberta School Superintendents executive director Barry Litun.
“At that point there are very limited tools in the toolbox of the teacher,” said Lagrange.
School authorities will be required to report on the regular use of these rooms, and the minister will receive monthly reports, but they will not be publicized, she said.
Several dozen people gathered on the steps of the Alberta Legislature on Tuesday to protest the use of seclusion rooms in the province’s schools.
However, the new rules should provide confidence to parents, who will be “full partners” in the decisions around how seclusion rooms are used, said Edmonton Public Schools board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks at the news conference.
“We feel heard by this government. These standards are clear, and clarity is really what parents want to see. It’s also what staff in our district want to see,” said Estabrooks.
But school boards need increased funding for training and adequate funding for students who need special support, she said.
“Our board is working really hard to prevent the use of seclusion rooms in our district, but we need help to do that, and that’s why we have been advocating for better supports from the province so that these rooms are no longer needed or used,” said Estabrooks.
Education critic for the opposition NDP Sarah Hoffman said she did not think the guidelines went far enough.
“Making sure that we have enough staff in our schools, that they are well trained and they are well funded is probably the only way that we are ever going to get away from this practice,” said Hoffman.
Seclusion rooms at Edmonton public schools were used more than 700 times in September, according to a report presented to the school board in early October.
Interim standards for school use of isolation rooms and timeout procedures have been in place since August, when Lagrange reversed the previous provincial government’s ban in August at the urging of the province’s four largest school boards.
The new rules were finalized with the input of Inclusion Alberta, Autism Society of Alberta, the Alberta Teacher’s Association, the Alberta School Boards Association, the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta, the Alberta School Council’s Association, the College of Alberta School Superintendents and the province’s four metropolitan school boards.