The routine restraint of an Arizona student with disabilities “highlights a chasm in state and federal law and regulations” on restraints, says an editorial in the Arizona Daily Star.  Arizona is among 19 states with no regulations or statutes governing restraining or secluding a child in school, according to a recent federal report.

An excerpt:

That Arizona is one of the states that offers no official guidance on restraining students is pitiful. As much as we’d like to rely on school employees to do the right thing by students, it’s clear that’s not a safeguard. The onus is on local and state leaders to work with parents, students and educators to put in writing what, evidently, cannot go without saying: every Arizona student must be safe at school.

We also have no doubt that if this student were not disabled and in need of assistance getting from the bus to his classroom, no one would, for even a moment, think it appropriate to tie him to a fence because a school employee wasn’t doing his or her job.

The fact that this particular student has some level of disability makes this even more of an outrage and the blame more potent. All parents entrust school officials to take good care of their children, but a child who may not be able to advocate on his or her own behalf requires extra vigilence from everyone.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 8:14 am and is filed under commentary, intellectual/developmental disabilities, restraints and seclusion. 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.