ALBANY — The state Education Department has proposed “clarifying” and adding limits on how and when students can be physically restrained or placed in seclusion in school settings.
The changes are being implemented in response to a Times Union investigation that revealed a high number of instances in which physical restraints and “timeout” rooms have been used on school children, many times under questionable circumstances.
Among the newspaper’s findings that led to the proposal: State investigators knew that at schools serving children with disabilities, students were being physically restrained in violation of existing state rules, substantiating 214 such cases between 2016 and 2021.
The restraints were allowed on an “emergency basis,” but data obtained by the Times Union show they have been used regularly — often multiple times per school day — by private and state-operated schools approved to serve students with significant intellectual, developmental or emotional disabilities.
Some students were put in timeout rooms dozens of times a month. In a few cases, students were restrained more than 100 times per month.
The proposal focuses on reducing the usage of restraint and seclusion but emphasizes that corporal punishment is already prohibited. The Times Union, in a related investigation, also found that hundreds of cases of in-school corporal punishment have been substantiated in recent years, including cases in which students were spanked, slapped, choked, dragged and intimidated with a belt.
The state Board of Regents heard the proposal concerning restraint and seclusion changes on Monday. After a 60-day public comment period, the board will vote on July 23 whether to implement them. The new rules include banning prone restraint and seclusion but allowing restraint or a timeout if there is an “imminent” threat…
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