A bill that would limit Washington public schools restraining or isolating students is working its way through the state legislature, making it at least the fourth state to move to limit restraints in recent months.
Last year, an analysis of government data by ProPublica and NPR revealed that educators frequently pin down kids and isolate them. During the 2012 school year, these practices were used on students more than 267,000 times. Nearly three-quarters of the reported restraints involved children with disabilities. Hundreds of children are injured each year during restraints and at least 20 have died as a result.
Washington’s House of Representatives passed the restraints bill earlier this month and the state Senate is expected to vote on it in the coming weeks. It would prohibit pinning down kids or isolating them unless a student’s actions could lead to the harm of a person or property. Such interventions would also no longer be allowed in the pre-approved behavior plans of special needs students.
[For more of this story, written by Annie Waldman, go to http://www.psmag.com/politics-...n-and-isolating-kids]
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