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Palm Beach County mother cheers GAO
report on dangers of child restraint in schools
May 19, 2009
By Laura Green
Read overview of Federal and State laws: (PDF)
Special education advocates,
including a Palm Beach County mother, are a step closer to federal
legislation governing the use of seclusion and restraint in schools.
Both practices have resulted in the
death of children, according to a U.S. Government Accountability
Office report released Tuesday.
The report documented hundreds of
allegations that children have been abused by school staff who
physically restrained them or put them in isolation.
U.S. Rep. George Miller,
D-California, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee,
held a committee hearing Tuesday to discuss the findings and to hear
from victims. The Obama administration has also indicated plans to
address abuses.
Miller said restraint can be viewed
as a form of torture.
"When you start to think here,
you're losing your breath you're losing your ability to breath ..
.so you're creating that same physiological impact on that child
that they're going to suffocate, and in fact, in cases they
suffocated, they died," he said.
Miller requested the GAO
investigation after attending a January press conference that
featured a local mother and special education advocate, Phyllis
Musumeci.
Musumeci, founder of the national
Families Against Restraint and Seclusion, had been invited to the
release of a report by The National Disability Rights Network, which
documented widespread use, and some say abuse, of restraint and
seclusion.
"It was powerful for me because
this is the first time that anybody has accepted the fact that
schools are doing harm to our children," Musumeci said of Tuesday's
hearing.
"We haven't been listened to
before. I have a list a mile long of groups, agencies, organizations
that parents have contacted all over Florida and not one, not even
one has helped, including our own governor.
Musumeci, of Boynton Beach, has
been fighting against the practices since she learned about two
years ago that her son, Christian, had been restrained by Palm Beach
County school staff at least 89 times in a period of 14 months. She
has been working with Florida's Advocacy Center for Persons with
Disabilities to get a state law passed banning the use of seclusion
and face-down restraint in public schools.
State laws and regulations vary. In
Florida, there is no law addressing either practice in public
schools.
Some school officials, including
those in Palm Beach County, say the use of face-down or prone
restraint is not dangerous if done properly. They say it is a
necessary tool for school staff when a child is a danger to himself
or others.
But the GAO report found evidence
of improperly trained staff and instances when the technique cut off
a child's air supply.
Tuesday's Congressional hearing
included testimony from Texas foster mother Toni Price, whose son
Cedric suffocated to death after a teacher restrained him and laid
on top of him after he tried to leave the classroom.
Miller's spokeswoman Rachel Racusen
indicated that his committee will have additional hearings on the
issue because it's important to craft legislation to address the
full range of issues. But she said Miller wants to move quickly.
"What we heard in today's hearing
and in the findings of the GAO report, is it's an urgent problem,"
she said. "For some children, it's literally a matter of life or
death."
~'laura_green@pbpost.com
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