Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined

For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined

For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Maryland curbs use of seclusion, restraint for misbehaving students

Every day, Maryland schools lock up students for misbehaving, often keeping them in closet-sized, padded rooms monitored by an adult watching through a small window or by video camera.

Sometimes they lock up children as little as kindergarteners. And sometimes, those children, desperate and scared, try to harm themselves inside.

This long-standing practice of seclusion will be banned in the state’s public schools when a new state law takes effect on Friday. The practice will still be allowed in private schools funded with public tax dollars...

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/maryland-curbs-use-of-seclusion-restraint-for-misbehaving-students-RSOSMM3FQFENRPUB3AZ25CWDV4/?tag1=facebook&tag2=socialnewsdesk&fbclid=IwAR18Slu31mQWI17l2wqEdI4sZFIkyo7YhrP9I0oIlD__aGZtRRzEcSbcp8U

Maryland passes bill that bans seclusion in public schools. It takes effect July 1

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (7News) — Sebastian Hancock was just 8 years old and suffering from ADHD when his mother said educators at his Maryland school used seclusion to control his behavior.

"He was secluded four times in the span of two hours and each time he was secluded, his behavior in seclusion escalated," Beth Ann Hancock told 7News.

The practice of restraining special education students or isolating them in a closed room happens in school districts across the country...

https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/maryland-bill-legislation-seclusion-special-needs-adhd-schools-governor-larry-hogan-ban-july-1?fbclid=IwAR2hwUSjZiOcDZTLjmL5rIwB2t1arier2_0--8L4uSU66eYoVn9Hhe6s6ZE

Kids locked away, held down: It was surveillance video that revealed the horrifying truth about what a Maryland boy experienced within the walls of a place he should feel safe: his school.

Kids locked away, held down: Investigating 'seclusion & restraint' practices at schools

BALTIMORE (TND) — Across the United States, thousands of students are subjected to a set of controversial practices known as seclusion and restraint at school. It can involve young children locked in dark rooms, or pinned down by adults.

Generally, seclusion and restraint are supposed to be safety measures reserved for very specific scenarios but a Spotlight on America investigation found the practices being used for discipline of minor behavior problems, sometimes leading to injury and even death. The overwhelming majority of incidents involve students with disabilities.

It was surveillance video that revealed the horrifying truth about what a Maryland boy experienced within the walls of a place he should feel safe: his school. The 2015 video shows the 8-year old being dragged down a hallway by three school employees and dropped into a windowless room.

More than 10 minutes later, when the door was reopened, the little boy is seen face down, limp and lying in his own blood. His mother, Linda, who asked us not to use her last name or show her face on camera, says she learned he'd been hurt from a phone call...

https://wjla.com/news/spotlight-on-america/kids-locked-away-held-down-investigating-seclusion-restraint-practices-in-us-schools-special-education-needs-disabilities-maryland-disability-locking-children-away-at-school-rooms-dragged-child

'SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT' Trauma lingers for FCPS students who experienced repeated seclusion and restraint

 

It was the first day of third grade, and James had been in school for 19 minutes.

By 9:20 a.m., the 8-year-old was locked in a padded, closet-sized room. He’d remain there, alone, for nearly three hours.

Though Maryland law is clear that no child may be kept in seclusion for more than 30 minutes, Frederick County Public Schools seemed to have found a loophole. In their logbook, staff recorded James’ seclusion time that day in half-hour chunks, according to discipline records provided by his mother and examined by The Frederick News-Post: 9:20 to 9:50. Then 9:51 to 10:21. Then 10:22 to 10:52. On and on until 12:08 p.m...

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/seclusion_and_restraint_in_fcps/trauma-lingers-for-fcps-students-who-experienced-repeated-seclusion-and-restraint/article_4834bf96-d874-57e1-8793-a34b5a697228.html

Frederick, MD, Schools to Drop Seclusion Room Use Per DOJ Agreement

UPDATE: Justice Department finds FCPS violated federal law in restraining, secluding students with disabilities [Superintendent Terry Alban is former MCPS Administrator]

A Department of Justice investigation and subsequent settlement announced Wednesday found that Frederick County Public Schools “systematically and improperly” secluded and restrained students with disabilities in violation of federal law.

The investigation, opened in October 2020, “revealed thousands of incidents of seclusion and restraint in just two and a half school years,” according to a DOJ news release.

The department focused on school years 2017-18, 2018-19 and the first half of 2019-20. During that period, FCPS performed 7,253 seclusions and restraints on 125 students. Thirty-four individual students were secluded or restrained more than 50 times each.

“Although students with disabilities make up only 10.8% of students enrolled in the district, every single student the district secluded was a student with disabilities, as were 99% — all but one — of the students the district restrained,” the release said.

The district was found to be discriminating against students with disabilities in “pervasive noncompliance” with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition to analyzing system policy and data on behavioral interventions, DOJ investigators conducted interviews with teachers, administrators, support staff and guardians of four affected students...

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/doj-fcps-violated-federal-law-in-restraining-secluding-students-with-disabilities/article_9c3ac4db-75fd-5042-b61d-45a3a41f9726.html

After report, Illinois officials vow to stop punishing students with solitary confinement

Listening from outside, school staff reportedly did not intervene as children cried, injured themselves and begged to leave their small timeout rooms. But they did take meticulous notes.

“I’d rather die. You’re torturing me!” one student said, according to records obtained by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune as part of a broad investigation.

“Please someone respond to me,” notes document another child pleading. “I’m sorry I ripped the paper. I overreacted. … Please just let me out. Is anyone out there?”

A first-grader started banging his head against concrete and plywood walls, leading a staffer to write at one point, “Nurse filling out concussion form,” according to the investigation. But a month later, notes indicate, he was back in the room — hurting himself again and so dizzy when he stood up that he “almost fell over.”

These accounts and more, published Tuesday in ProPublica and the Tribune’s exposé of school practices across Illinois, have stirred an outcry from people shocked that a punishment found in prisons would be common in classrooms. Reporters reviewed notes from lockups that were triggered by misbehavior as minor as failing to complete work and using “raised voice tones,” in apparent violation of state law...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/11/20/illinois-officials-vow-stop-putting-students-solitary-confinement-after-damning-report/

The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up.

Even though school districts are required to report their use of seclusion and restraint to the U.S. Department of Education, it can be difficult for parents to see the full picture.

This investigation is a collaboration between ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

In fall 2015, Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Crystal Lake first used its Blue Room, a padded space that allows school workers to place students in “isolated timeout” for safety reasons.

Students were secluded in that room more than 120 times during the 2015-16 school year, according to records obtained by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune. Yet the district, in its required reporting to the federal government, said it hadn’t used seclusion at all that school year.

Crystal Lake District 47 is an example of how even with federal reporting requirements, it’s nearly impossible to know how often some Illinois schools seclude children. An investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois found widespread use of seclusion but little transparency.

All public school districts are required to report their use of seclusion and physical restraint to the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Civil Rights Data Collection, which the department uses to help investigate discrimination complaints and to ensure districts follow federal policies. The data is collected every other school year and published online.

Because the Illinois State Board of Education does not monitor the use of seclusion or restraint in public schools, the federal data is the only systematic way for communities to determine whether and how frequently those practices are being used in their schools...

https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-school-students-seclusion-rooms-federal-government-data

Parents sue Fairfax schools, allege improper seclusion and restraint of students with disabilities

Parents and disability rights groups are suing the largest school system in Virginia, alleging students with disabilities experience discrimination, trauma and physical harm through the excessive and improper use of seclusion and restraint in Fairfax County Public Schools.

The parents, Jennifer Tidd, Pamela Ononiwu and Ashley Thomas, are accusing the 189,000-student school system of using the practices to “silence, detain, segregate, and punish students with disabilities,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Fairfax school officials said they have completed a thorough and independent review of seclusion and restraint guidelines, and added staff, increased training and appointed an ombudsman for special education. The school system also created a task force to look at best practices for restraint and seclusion. The parents who filed the lawsuit lambasted that task force as a “public relations ploy.”

"We acknowledge that the use of restraint and seclusion is an especially sensitive and challenging issue and is appropriate only when less restrictive alternatives fail," Superintendent Scott Brabrand said in statement released late Tuesday. "We will continue to base our procedures and practices on that guiding principle."

Tidd’s son was secluded on at least 745 occasions and excluded from class several hundred more times over seven years, according to court papers. Tidd said she did not receive notice or documentation of the instances of seclusion within 24 hours, despite school system guidelines that say she should have been notified in that time frame.

“We have really no way of knowing what the total is,” Tidd said. “Our trust has been breached.”

The parents, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of four students, are asking the federal court to bar the school system from using either of the closely related practices on students with disabilities until an alternative system is implemented...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parents-sue-fairfax-schools-allege-improper-seclusion-and-restraint-of-students-with-disabilities/2019/10/08/066166dc-e9f8-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html?fbclid=IwAR2jBM7dYNR7fZZwflf3IaCf6xormBz2_s7KU7CkcsyAV_ekV1gNcbbbwC8

GAO: K-12 Education: Education Should Take Immediate Action to Address Inaccuracies in Federal Restraint and Seclusion Data

From Government Accounting Office:

As we reported in February 2019, the Department of Education’s (Education) data suggest that the restraint and seclusion of K-12 public school students is rare nationwide, though it disproportionately affects students with disabilities and boys in general.1 In broad terms, Education defines restraint as restricting a student’s ability to freely move his or her torso, arms, legs, or head, and defines seclusion as involuntarily confining a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving. Education’s 2012 resource document on the use of restraint and seclusion states that restraint or seclusion should never be used except when a child’s behavior poses imminent danger of serious physical harm to self or others...

2019 Government Accounting ... by Parents' Coalition of Montg... on Scribd

94% of the students #MCPS reports to have been subject to seclusion in 2017-18 were special education students, and most were between 5 and 10 years old. More than 450 of the reported seclusion incidents were black students and about 150 where white.

Among the nation’s 30 largest school districts, Montgomery County schools report the second-highest number of incidents where students are placed in isolation rooms for behavior problems, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The report, examining the quality of the data the U.S. Department of Education collects on school systems’ use of seclusion and physical restraint, showed the Montgomery school system reported 120 incidents of seclusion in the 2015-2016 school year and 332 cases of physical restraint, both among largest totals reported by school systems with more than 100,000 students.

Baltimore County Public Schools, with about 45,000 fewer students than Montgomery’s, reported the largest number of seclusion incidents with 157.

The practice of isolating a student to a confined area has come under fire from education activists who say doing so impedes a student’s education and can pose physical and mental health dangers. School system leaders across the country argue seclusion is a last resort intervention reserved for situations where children pose serious safety threats to themselves or others.

The GAO report was prompted by concerns that school districts have been underreporting incidents of seclusion. The most recent data showed 70% of the more than 17,000 school districts nationwide reported zero incidents of restraint and seclusion, according to the report from the congressional watchdog office, but its analysis found the data does not “accurately capture all incidents of restraint and seclusion in schools.”

Nine of the 10 school districts with more than 100,000 students that reported zero incidents of restraint and seclusion in the 2015-2016 school year later confirmed they either did not collect the data or did not correctly report their totals. It is unclear how many instances of restraint or seclusion those schools had...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-student-seclusion-incidents-among-the-highest-in-the-nation-federal-watchdog-finds/

VIDEO: This Is What ‘Seclusion’ Looks Like At One Fairfax County School

An exclusive video obtained by WAMU shows a student being forced into seclusion at a Fairfax County public school, then struggling to be let out. The footage offers a glimpse into how such interactions — especially with special needs students — can play out. The district is already under scrutiny for not fully reporting such incidents.

In the video, an unidentified student’s arm hangs out of a doorway while two adults appear to be talking to one another and to the student. After one adult walks away, another appears to push the student inside the room before slamming the door shut.

The student bangs against the door and screams continuously as the adult struggles to close it. The room is labeled as a “reflection room.” Also called a seclusion room, such facilities are used to isolate students as a means to manage behavior. Rooms like this are built into multiple Fairfax County special needs schools...

https://wamu.org/story/19/03/21/video-this-is-what-seclusion-looks-like-at-one-fairfax-county-school/?fbclid=IwAR1gqbH_4_5V15X0tcspwYny2eukL4p3Rzc6T09rdyT37fy2RdZ4t_vlKJg#.XJTuDZbVcvw.facebook

Children Are Routinely Isolated In Some Fairfax County Schools. The District Didn’t Report It.

https://wamu.org/story/19/03/13/children-are-routinely-isolated-in-some-fairfax-county-schools-the-district-didnt-report-it/#.XJUPXShKg2z

Thirteen-year-old activist with autism wants to close seclusion rooms at schools

POWHATAN, Virginia — Alex Campbell was just 7 years old when, he says, his principal dragged him down the hall to the school's "crisis room."

Administrators reserved the room, a converted storage closet, for children who acted out. He still remembers the black-painted walls. The small window he was too short to reach. The sound of a desk scraping across the floor, as it was pushed in front of the door to make sure he couldn't get out.

Alex, who has autism spectrum disorder, says he was taken there more than a half-dozen times in first grade, for behavior such as ripping up paper or refusing to follow instructions in class. The room was supposed to calm him down. Instead, it terrified him.

"When I asked for help or asked if anyone was still there, nobody would answer," Alex said. "I felt alone. I felt scared."

According to the latest data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, public school districts reported restraining or secluding over 120,000 students during the 2015-2016 school year, most of them children with disabilities. Families and advocates have documented cases of students being pinned down, strapped to their wheelchairs, handcuffed or restrained in other ways. Both practices, experts say, can traumatize children, and may lead to severe injuries, even death...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/thirteen-year-old-activist-autism-wants-close-seclusion-rooms-schools-n935356?fbclid=IwAR2kMZkQ2qSTs2hQn-po4g8YP5ueSEqSt5zoexWOE6zv7I8b9SzsAOCJBTQ

The Isolation Room: Loudoun County parents alarmed at treatment of students with special needs | LoudounTimes.com

The Isolation Room: Loudoun County parents alarmed at treatment of students with special needs | LoudounTimes.com

MCPS Teacher was alleged to have used physical and mechanical restraints inappropriately to manage the behavior of her special needs students.

PATRICIA SULLIVAN v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, ET AL.

By: Daily Record Staff March 21, 2017

Administrative law — Employment reprimand — Arbitrary or capricious
Patricia Sullivan (“Appellant”) was terminated from her job as a special education teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools (“MCPS”) on September 12, 2012, after receiving three reprimands for failing to comply with MCPS’s Regulation JGA-RA on Classroom Management and Student Behavior Interventions (“Behavior Interventions Regulation”). The termination centered on three incidents where Sullivan was alleged to have used physical and mechanical restraints inappropriately to manage the behavior of her special needs students.
Sullivan unsuccessfully sought administrative review of her termination with the Montgomery County Board of Education (“County Board”) and the Maryland State Board of Education (“State Board”) (collectively, “Appellees”). Sullivan sought judicial review of the State Board’s decision in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County.
On appeal from the circuit court’s May 4, 2015 opinion and order affirming the decision of the State Board, Sullivan presents three questions for our review, which we have reordered:..

http://thedailyrecord.com/2017/03/21/patricia-sullivan-v-montgomery-county-board-of-education-et-al/

Full text of opinion:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/appellate/unreportedopinions/2017/0692s15.pdf

FYI: Statement of Dr. Ursula A. Hermann, Director, Department of Student Services Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland NASP Briefing: Effective Discipline Policies and Practices Thursday, April 18, 2013

Presentation given to National Association of School Psychologists
by MCPS administrator on MCPS discipline policies. 

   MCPS District Overview Testimony by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

VA Gov. signed new law that reins in the use of seclusion and restraint as methods of controlling children in public schools.

...The measure was prompted by complaints from parents about their disabled children being restrained by several adults, strapped into chairs and locked away in segregated rooms, sometimes emerging with bruises and broken bones...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/governor-oks-regulating-seclusion-restraint-in-va-schools/2015/03/16/6858a4a2-cc27-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

Breaking News: Harkin Unveils Report and Bill Addressing Dangerous Use of Seclusion & Restraints in Schools

February 12, 2014
Today, Senator Tom Harkin—Chairman of the Senate Education Committee—unveiled new legislation calling for an end to the use of dangerous seclusion & restraints on students in schools. His investigation found that under current law, a family whose child has been injured, experienced trauma, or died as a result of the use of seclusion or restraints in school has little or no recourse through school procedures or the courts. To address the issue, Senator Harkin introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which would prohibit these outdated practices and support positive behavioral interventions in our nation’s schools. The bill would help to create positive learning environments to ensure every classroom is a safe and supportive place for students and teachers alike. Read more about Senator Harkin’s investigation and the bill here.