Physically isolating or restraining a student is one of the most significant actions a school official can take to control that student’s behavior. But unlike their counterparts in Maryland and Virginia, officials in D.C. schools have no official local policy on when to use these controversial practices, or how to report when they have used them in public schools.
Federal guidelines instruct schools to only use seclusion and restraint as a last resort when students’ behavior makes them a danger to themselves or others. Across the country, these practices are most often used on students with disabilities.
Districts are required to report these cases to the federal government. And some school districts further require that schools to report the incidents to the state and to parents. D.C., however, only follows the federal rule for public schools. There are no regulations in place saying that schools should to tell parents or the city when students are secluded or restrained. There are policies governing private schools.
Special education advocates say that without these regulations, families have limited recourse if they feel their students have been unfairly restrained or secluded.
In public schools in D.C., there were 804 incidents of seclusion and restraint reported to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in the 2015-16 school year. But because of the lack of cohesive policies, it’s not clear how reliable these numbers are. Across the 115 D.C. public schools, just 14 instances of seclusion and restraint were reported. But the 16 KIPP charter schools in the District reported nearly 700 instances.
D.C. Public Schools officials say they set “clear expectations” that staff does not seclude and restrain students unless it’s necessary.
When education officials in the mayor’s office were asked if they suspected DCPS or other charter schools were underreporting incidents, they didn’t directly respond to the question. They did note that they were working on developing cohesive policies to use and report seclusion and restraint of special education students. Those policies have been in the works since 2016.
“We have spent several years looking at research and engaging with stakeholders specifically to improve the ways in which we serve our students with disabilities,” Deputy Mayor of Education Paul Kihn said in a statement, noting that the District has implemented such rules for private schools.
“We have previously published robust guidance and will soon publish regulations related to restraint and seclusion that are consistent with current requirements for nonpublic special education schools and programs,” Kihn says.
Officials say in the coming months they will issue a formal notice of proposed policies that will then be open for public comment. They hope to have finals rules and regulations go into effect in the 2020-2021 school year. They say that timeframe gives them the chance to train local school officials.
This story originally appeared on WAMU.
