Virginia eyes future regulations on school restraints

From The Daily Press in Newport News, Va.:

At first glance, Virginia looked reasonably good in a scathing federal report on the use of restraints and seclusion rooms in public and private schools released this month by the Government Accountability Office.

In testimony before the U.S. House Education Committee, GAO officials said no federal laws govern the use of restraints and seclusion on students, but 17 states, including Virginia, had regulations. And none of the report's case studies originated in Virginia.

But Virginia's regulations govern only private institutions.

Julie Grimes, a state Department of Education spokeswoman, said there is no state law governing the use of restraints — methods used to immobilize or limit a student's ability to move — in the state's public elementary, middle and high schools. Fewer than one-third of the state's school districts have official rules related to restraints or have adopted state guidelines.

Among the districts with no School Board-adopted policies or regulations: Newport News, Poquoson, and Gloucester, Isle of Wight and Surry counties.

Restraints and seclusion rooms have been used by educators to control the behavior of students who are in danger of harming themselves or others in classrooms. But they are used most often with special-education students, typically those with emotional or behavioral disturbances, mental retardation or autism.

The GAO report shows thousands of allegations of abuse and misuse, with at least 20 documented deaths of such students.

Virginia's regulations for private schools require parental permission to use restraints and parent notification if restraints are used and stipulate that only trained personnel may use them. While there are no such laws for public schools, the state Education Department developed guidelines in 2005 to help districts develop policies.

But when the Department of Education checked on the progress toward such policies in April, only 38 districts had them. The rest have no official policies, though several use the state guidelines to guide action.

Michelle Mitchell, special-education director for Newport News Public Schools, has formed a committee to work on regulations after hearing from a resident.

"The woman knew of a child in another state who had died as a result of restraints," she said. "She was concerned."

Mitchell said Newport News has few students whose behavior would qualify for restraints, but teachers and staff are trained in crisis intervention tactics and avoid the use of restraints. The training program, Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, is used by several local districts.

"The goal is to de-escalate things so we don't have to use restraints. ... We know the student triggers, and we try to put behavior interventions in place," Mitchell said.

The district does not use seclusion at all, but does have "time-out" chairs in classrooms. No restraints are used for those, either.

Mitchell said she hopes having adopted regulations or guidelines for using restraints will mean that all employees who work with special-education students will have to follow them.