AP/New York Times:

Saying that he was “deeply disturbed” by recent testimony about the abuse of restraints and confinement of children in the nation’s schools, education secretary Arne Duncan called on state school chiefs around the country to develop plans to assure student safety.

”Children’s safety has to be our number one concern before we begin to think about educating them and doing other things,” Duncan told the House Education and Labor Committee.

The committee received a report from federal investigators yesterday about hundreds of cases of alleged abuse of children, particularly those with disabilities, arising from school practices of restraint and seclusion. At least 20 deaths were reported.

Duncan praised the use of positive behavioral intervention and support in his home state of Illinois, and directed legislators to www.pbis.org. Illinois also prohibits the use of seclusion and restraint for punishment, provides teacher training in the use of positive behavior supports, and requires documentation of all uses of seclusion and restraints.

Video of Duncan’s remarks is here.

UPDATE: Report prompts call for rules for restraining students — Washington Post

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, restraints and seclusion, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.