ACLU wants curb on restraints in schools

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/17/aclu-wants-curb-on-restraints.html

The shocking number of times that students were secluded or restrained in Ohio’s public schools last school year should be a call for schools to reduce their reliance on such interventions, the ACLU of Ohio said yesterday.

The Ohio Department of Education recently reported that children in Ohio’s public schools were secluded about 5,000 times last school year and were restrained about 9,000 times. It was the first time the department reported such data.

Columbus City Schools reported more instances of physical restraint — 2,188 — than any other district. Middletown schools near Cincinnati had the next-highest number of restraints, at 399. Cleveland, the district that is closest in size to Columbus, reported only 59.

Those children mostly were special-education students, and many were restrained or secluded over and over again.

The data brought to light what the ACLU calls “astonishing” rates of restraint and seclusion.

“It’s happening too often, and it’s happening to children with disabilities well above the national average. Folks should be concerned,” said Shakyra Diaz, policy manager for ACLU of Ohio. “ We’re at the phase where we have to evaluate the data being collected and make sure the culture is moving toward a change.”

Some educators say seclusion and restraint are needed for safety reasons and that many students choose to go inside seclusion rooms to calm down.

In 2013, the state board passed rules to prohibit schools from using seclusion rooms or physical restraint as a punishment for children or as a convenience for staff members. The policy also required the education department to collect aggregate data beginning last school year. Before, some districts considered the information private.

“This is the first year that we’ve collected data; we can do it again next year, and from there we can analyze how these new policies are impacting seclusion and restraint in our schools,” said John Charlton, spokesman for the department. “Our goal is to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion and to encourage the use of positive behavioral reinforcements.”

The Dispatch and StateImpact Ohio, which is a collaboration of NPR and Ohio public-radio stations, published an investigation called “Locked Away” in 2012 that showed how often public schools were using seclusion rooms, often to punish students or when teachers became overwhelmed with students’ behavior. At that time, the ACLU called for the use of seclusion rooms to be phased out in Ohio schools within three years.

That seems a challenge now, given that schools reported using seclusion so many times last school year. Seclusion rooms, often closetlike, windowless spaces with doors, are to be used only when a child poses an imminent physical threat under the new rules.

“We recognized that these reforms would be something that would take some time to take hold,” Diaz said.

Collecting and publicly reporting the numbers of seclusions and restraints was a good first step, Diaz said. But now, schools must become more introspective and should hold meetings each time the interventions are used to discuss whether changes are needed, she said.

jsmithrichards@dispatch.com

@jsmithrichards