In Tennessee, new restraint rules for students in special ed
January 22nd, 2009From the [Nashville, TN] Tennessean:
A new Tennessee state law enacted this month establishes stricter rules for the use of restraint or isolation as discipline methods in special education classrooms. A report released last week by the National Disability Rights Network highlighted the use of plywood “seclusion boxes” in a Tennessee county.
In Sumner County, children were being isolated in 4-by-3½-foot plywood boxes that were placed in 12 schools. The boxes were dismantled after a parent notified the state’s Disability Law and Advocacy Center.
The new law specifies that restraints for students can only be used in emergency situations or when an IEP calls for it, and prohibits tie-down straps, use of locked or barricaded rooms, or any restraint that restricts air.
Earlier post here.
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January 25th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Tennessee has starved public education (and simply denied the needs of non-mainstream kids) for so long that we have a population that doesn’t think critically, doesn’t know how to protect its own health (check the obesity, smoking, infant mortality and heart attack stats), and tends to vote its emotions to the detriment of its welfare.
Those of us who either have a child in the system, or understand this as a vital part of the social contract must shine a bright light on this kind of institutional insensitivity.
Gnash, gnash . . .
January 25th, 2009 at 10:56 am
This is a great relief. The backwards ideas in parts of the state are frightening. Tennessee still permits corporal punishment by school authorities. Oy.