Student-restraint policy calls
for training, reporting
December 13, 2006
By Judy Putnam
Troubled students should only be
restrained or placed in seclusion as a last resort, and staff should
never hold them face-down on the floor, according to a policy
adopted Tuesday by the state board of education.
The policy was crafted three years
after two special-education students, including Parchment High
School student Michael Renner-Lewis III, died in Michigan schools
after being restrained by school staff.
``Seclusion and restraint are
currently being used and what people are crying out for is for us to
put some guidelines in place,'' said board member Reggie Turner,
D-Detroit.
Board member Eileen Weiser, R-Ann
Arbor, called for a report on how to tie training on ``positive
behavior support'' to teacher certification. That model seeks to
intervene before students get out of control.
The policy gives Michigan
Department of Education staff four months to study the feasibility
of putting it into teacher-certification requirements.
For the first time, schools will
have to collect data on the use of seclusion and restraint and
report them to the state.
The policy also calls for training
in seclusion and restraint for ``key personnel'' at all schools to
respond to emergencies. It also calls for general awareness training
of all educators.
Some parents and advocates for
students with disabilities called for elimination of the practices.
Elizabeth Johnson, of Kalamazoo,
whose 15-year-old autistic son, Michael, died on the first day of
school at Parchment High School in 2003, urged the board to forbid
such practices without parental permission.
Her son was restrained on the floor
for about an hour after he had a seizure and became combative.
Johnson, a nurse, said her son shouldn't have been held down.
But several educators working with
special-education students said such practices are needed to control
severely emotionally disturbed students and keep them in school.
The policy would not overturn the
state's corporal punishment statute. That law prohibits corporal
punishment but does allow a teacher or staff member to use
``reasonable physical force'' to maintain order in the classroom,
protect property or in self-defense or defense of another person.
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