How to restrain unruly students
: In wake of 2003 deaths, state poised to adopt rules
December 10, 2006
By Judy Putnam
Tragedy struck twice in Michigan
schools in 2003, when two special education students died after
being restrained face down on the floor by staff members.
After 2 1/2 years of
sometimes-heated debate, holding students face-down or prone, or
using any restraint that restricts breathing, would be prohibited
under a policy coming before the State Board of Education on
Tuesday.
Some advocates for students with
disabilities want the state to go further, banning all types of
restraint and any use of seclusion where a child is placed alone in
a room and cannot leave, either because of a locked door or an adult
guarding the doorway.
In 2003, 15-year-old Michael
Renner-Lewis III, died on his first day of school at Parchment High
School. The youth, who was autistic but attending regular high
school, became combative after a seizure and four staff members held
him prone on the floor for an hour.
It was unclear whether restraint
contributed to the heart failure of 12-year-old Calvin Wade, who
died Dec. 5, 2003, after he was restrained by a staff member in a
school restroom at the Millet Learning Center in Bridgeport.
After the deaths, state Rep.
Alexander Lipsey, D-Kalamazoo, said he started checking into
guidelines for restraining students, particularly for general
education staff members like the ones at Parchment. He found none.
``I quite honestly assumed there
were some general guidelines available to teachers that said, yes,
this is appropriate, and no, this is not appropriate,'' he said.
Last year, Lipsey introduced
legislation that has since languished, calling for an emergency team
to be trained at each school. It also restricted the use of
seclusion and restraint. He said schools need guidelines.
The proposed policy allows the use
of seclusion and nonprone restraint as a last resort.
``There's no educational value to
these practices,'' said State Board of Education member Liz Bauer,
D-Birmingham, who works as an international human-rights consultant.
Bauer said some schools and institutions serving the most difficult
children are able to avoid using those techniques by substituting
good planning and positive intervention.
But teachers and administrators --
who say they risk being bitten, spit on, kicked or hit -- say they
don't want policies that cause staff members to hesitate to defend
themselves or others, including violent students themselves.
``Removing any tool you have to
protect students is not a good direction to go,'' said Jan Russell,
assistant superintendent for special education for the Genesee
Intermediate School District. ``We've got a lot of responsibility to
protect students from hurting themselves or others.''
Finding a middle ground that
protects students as well as staff has been difficult. Michigan
Department of Education officials are on at least the fourth draft
of a policy.
The latest requires that schools
track the use of restraint and seclusion, and for the first time
report it to the state. It also requires that school personnel who
respond to emergencies be trained in the restraint and seclusion
techniques and that the state department develop training for all
educators.
Although the policy applies to all
public school students, the debate has centered on families, groups
and educators involved in special education.
Mark McWilliams, director of
education advocacy for Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, a
nonprofit advocacy group for people with disabilities, said ideally,
seclusion and restraint would be banned.
``We think seclusion and restraint
are dangerous for everyone, but there are some children who are more
vulnerable to it,'' McWilliams said. In particular, sexually abused
children are traumatized by being restrained, he said.
Restraints also have been
controversial for adults. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen
last month ordered the Michigan Department of Corrections to stop
using four-point restraint after a 21-year-old mentally ill inmate
died after four days of restraint during an August heat wave.
Russell said the Genesee
Intermediate School District trains its special-education teachers
in de-escalating techniques and proper restraint techniques. His
district doesn't use prone restraint, although students may be face
down while being moved into a position to be restrained, he said.
``I have a duty to protect all kids
and even protect them from themselves. If I have a student
threatening to run out of the building, especially in a high-traffic
area, I do not want a staff member to think about whether that's a
proper use of restraint,'' Russell said.
Seclusion, however, is used in
three rooms in the district for students who need time to cool down.
One has a half-door to keep younger children from spitting on staff
and kicking them, he said. The others have no doors.
``You need to get the student to
calm down, not have a target to go to, and that's why seclusion can
be effective,'' he said.
An autopsy determined the death of
Michael Renner-Lewis in Parchment was caused by the restraint, along
with extreme mental and motor agitation. A previously undetected
heart abnormality also contributed to the death. His family sued the
school, and agreed to a $1.3 million settlement in May.
In the Bridgeport case, a report by
Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service found that Calvin Wade had
been placed in seclusion 17 times in the previous three months. The
day he died, Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service reported that
the youth was restrained for 25 to 55 minutes by a single staff
member at Millet Learning Center, in violation of local policy
calling for two members. The boy had Prader-Willi syndrome, a
condition that causes extreme hunger and obesity, cognitive
disabilities and behavioral problems.
``From my standpoint, in the last
three years two children have died because we didn't have
anything,'' Lipsey said of justification for a state restraint
policy. ``That's reason enough.''
©2006 Kalamazoo
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