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House Passes Bill to Stop Forcible Discipline in Schools
Filed under: In The News
The reports coming out of these places are horrific.
People are held against their will, even though they haven't committed any crimes. If they fail to cooperate, they're held down or tossed into solitary confinement. Sometimes they are physically restrained.
Some of them have developmental disabilities or other special needs and are not mentally or emotionally equipped to withstand such treatment. Some literally die as a result.
These are not psychotics, criminals or terrorism suspects. They are not being held at Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib.
This is school. And the victims are children.Congress is thinking the Ninth Amendment and its prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment might just apply to school children, as well.
Members of the House passed a bill on March 3 to restrict the use of forcible restraint and seclusion on children at schools that receive federal funding. That ticks off some of the nation's private schools.
It also raised some objections on the floor of the House.
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said during floor debate that discipline is more an art than a science, and Congress should think twice before tying schools' hands when it comes to, well, trying students' hands, ABC News reports.
"[T]he states and not the federal government should take the lead on developing and implementing these policies," he said during floor debate.
His fellow Republican, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, disagrees.
"This critical piece of legislation confronts the unimaginable situation in schools across the country whereby some of our nation's most vulnerable children are treated in an inhumane and degrading manner," McMorris Rodgers says in a prepared statement.
The New York Times reports the bill breezed through the House. A companion bill in the Senate is expected to be debated this year.
The bill passed 262 votes to 153, the Times reports, with a coalition of 238 Democrats and 24 Republicans already behind it. Dozens of groups that work with disabled children backed the bill along with the American Federation of Teachers.
According to the Times, the bill was inspired, in part, by a government report last year that found hundreds of children -- from preschool to high school -- were emotionally traumatized and physically harmed by being held down or locked up. Some of them were even allegedly tied to chairs.
The victims, the Times reports, were often children with developmental disabilities or were in special education classrooms.
Cedric Napoleon was a special education student in 2002, when he was smothered to death by his eighth-grade teacher.
"Cedric struggled as he was being held in his chair, so the teacher put him in a face down or in a prone restraint and sat on him," his foster mother, Toni Price, testified before the House Education and Labor Committee in May.
"He struggled and said repeatedly: 'I can't breathe.' 'If you can speak, you can breathe,' she snapped at him," Price continued. "Shortly after that, he stopped speaking and he stopped struggling. He stopped moving at all. The teacher continued to restrain him.
"Finally the teacher and aide put Cedric back in his chair," Price testified. "The aide wiped drool off his mouth and they sat him up. But he slumped over and slipped out of his chair."
Except in cases of imminent danger, the bill prohibits restraints that restrict breathing and any mechanical restraints such as straps, as well as drugs intended to control a child's behavior [other than ones prescribed by a child's doctor].
The bill allows for "time outs," but not for a child to be locked in a room away from supervision. It also requires states to keep careful records, any time children are restrained or secluded. School officials must promptly tell parents of such incidents.
Last May Price said she wants to make sure no other children die in the name of classroom discipline.
"It is awful the way Cedric died," she told committee members. "The morning Cedric died, as he was boarding the bus, he turned around and got a beaming smile on his face, and said to me, 'You know I love you, ma.'"
"He was a good kid."
Related: Corporal Punishment
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2010 @ 8:30PM
Concerned said...First and foremost, what happened to Cedric Napoleon was horribly wrong. No person should be treated that way.
However, please check your references. The 9th Amendment protects other rights that were not specifically listed in the Bill of Rights. It is the 8th Amendment that protects citizens from "cruel and unusual punishment."
This new law is misguided at best. It will cause schools to make a choice between increasing staff to sit in a room with a student who is on an in-school suspension - just watching them - or to externally suspend the child. With all the budget cuts in education I would expect to see more students being assigned out-of-school suspension. A child who is suspended out of school is being denied his/her constitutional rights (see the Goss v Lopez decision) and is missing important contact hours in the school setting.
This is just another example of Congress passing knee jerk legislation. The writers of the Constitution did not make provisions for federal regulation of the education of citizens. One must believe the intention was to allow the states to see schools established. (See the 10th Amendment - any power not specifically granted to the federal government is granted to the states.) Education is best left in the hands of state and local governments - close to the parents of the students being educated.
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3-06-2010 @ 11:29AM
Wendy said...Oh,PLEASE!, this is NOT new news. I have been fighting for my (children's) rights for 5 years.
I have 152 pages of "Title I--Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged, Final regulations," from December, 2002. It lists all the cans and cannots and all the safeguards in place to protect our children. What it does NOT list is how to get someone from the school board to 'respond to your concerns' or where to go when the board of education tells you that 'they HAVE to take what the school board presents as truth because they don't have the means to check it out'!
I have been threatened by DCF, treated like a chump by the courts, ignored by the school administrators and my children have continued to be abused by our system.
Will creating another law/rule change things? How about upholding the laws we have!
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7-07-2010 @ 5:01AM
Andrea Payne said...I'm hoping you'll stumble across my response to your comment from 4 months ago, much like I stumbled across this article. Below (#8 I believe) I mentioned some things regarding one of my four children (3 of whom I birthed) in regards to this specific law. I feel 'urged' to reach out to you in regards to your '5 year fight'. I am not a professional, just a Mom who has been navigating the 'system' for 10 years. One of mine has an IEP, one has a 504 - both of which are federally mandated but different counties and states approach things differently. If you'd like, you can email me (andi30312@aol.com) and I will do my very best to help you in any way that I can.
3-06-2010 @ 6:12PM
Steve said...This is only one thing that is wrong with the educational system in this country. Given, there are some very good and dedicated teachers out there, but many of them are so hand tied by beaurocratic school systems that they can do little good without risk of censure. The system has become a self serving, self preserving monolithic dinosaur that needs to be put to sleep. We need a new system for educating our young people that realistically addresses the problems our society is facing today. How to do it? I have some ideas that may help, but it would take too much space here to explain them.
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3-07-2010 @ 8:23AM
Wendy said...It deeply saddens me to see only 3 comments to this piece. Here is the perfect opportunity to voice our opinion on how our children (God's Greatest Gift) are mistreated and barely anyone bothered. It's little wonder we, as a society, are in a mess.
Kudos to Concerned and Steve and shame on the rest of you!
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3-07-2010 @ 4:20PM
RMM said...LOOK UP AMERICAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT LIKE OBAMA OR ANY OF HIS IDEAS WHICH ARE SOCIALISTIC. FEMA, SOME OF THE MILITARY ARE NOW PUTTING UP CAMPS LIKE THEY DID IN GERMANY IN WW2. IT COMES UNDER THE "PATROIT ACT". I SURE I'M ON THE SHIT LIST OF OBAMA BECAUSE I'VE EMAILED HIM SO MANY TIMES ABOUT WHAT BAD PRESIDENT HE IS, AND HAS ONLY ONE THING ON HIS MIND AND THATS TO DISMANTEL AMERICA AS WE KNOW AND LOVE HER. HE I THINK IS THE ANTI-CHRIST, OR THE FOR RUNNER OF HIM. AWAKE AMERICA, THE TIME IS COMMING WHEN HE, OBAMA, WILL TAKE HIS THRONE AND HIS FACE WILL CHANGE FROM THE SMILEING IDIOT, TO THE MOST EVIL THING YOU WILL EVER SEE. SO...THE BILL TO STOP FORCIBLE SICIPLINE WILL NOT BE FOR THOSE OF US WHO KNOW WHAT HE IS AND WHAT HE'S DOING.
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3-08-2010 @ 6:00PM
lauran said...I am not supporting what this teacher did but I work with children on a school bus who are regular ed and special needs and sometimes it is necessary to restrain a child in a harness or to put them in a seat all by themselves if they become a danger to themselves or the other kids. As much as a honestly hate to do it, sometimes there isn't anything else that can be done if a childs starts throwing a temper tantrum and becomes violent. I have been scratched, bruised, and bitten by children on the bus and there is not a thing I can do about it other than trying to protect the other kids, which often includes putting myself in danger. Harnesses are a necessity on school buses to protect the child, because they also could get injured or killed if they were to get unbuckled and out of their seat while the bus is moving and they cause no physical harm if they are used properly. I do understand where you guys are comming from I am a mom myself ( I have 2 children) but I also understand that sometimes, you gotta restrain a child to protect him or her.
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7-07-2010 @ 4:27AM
Andrea Payne said...So - first you should know that I drive my son to and from school because of his major issues with getting to the bus, much less being on one... So, don't think I'm jumping or anything, I'm hoping you'll happen back across this and that I may help you with the coming year.. :)
That said - I find it so hard to believe (the situation, not your statement) that you have children that are that prone to agressiveness but are without an aide, and even harder to believe that children with that severe of a reaction to being touched would be put on a bus with 'gen ed' children...
I don't know how different states - or even counties - handle this but I would urge you to speak with transportation and with the administrator at the student's school who is in charge of transportation, every single time an incident occurs. Also, if at all possible - notify the parents as well.
I know my child's a head banger and is apt to lash out when he's touched during a 'reactive moment' but I would want to know every incident.. so that I could follow it up and reinforce the inappropriate and appropriate reactions. There are lots of ways..
I could write a social story, use a personal rule card, make up a behavior goal with a reward for the number of stars you (the bus driver) gave him for every and any appropriate behavior... or even give you a stop/go card which you quietly hold up every time he's 'good to go' or 'someone needs to stop'... there's lots of behavior modification techniques that could be used, and furthermore could be modified to meet the child's ability or age.
7-07-2010 @ 4:13AM
Andrea Payne said...In the State of Georgia, this Bill has led to the re-writing of the State Standards by the Georgia Board of Education. Recently a request went out for parents (of students identified as having special needs) to weigh in - and boy, did I weigh in...
While I am well aware that there are times my child needs to be restrained for his own safety, and for the safety of those around him... I am just as aware that MOST of those times can be prevented if the adults responsible for him effectively communicate WITH him, not AT him...
There are buttons in every classroom and walkie-talkie's all over the building.. If my child is pacing, punching walls, walking away and not looking back, etc. don't even attempt to reason with him - he's already past the point of doing anything but being removed.
Just hit a button and get an Administrator down there. Someone he knows and he trusts (which thank God is all of them) and someone who knows his extreme medical - especially respiratory - issues... NONE of the Administrators have ever had to restrain him - they all always get him through it...
If you put your hands on my child, even to grab his arm and 'force' him to 'look at you' - you'd better be ready to take all 120 lbs of love to the floor - SAFELY - in less than two seconds. If you can't - then do not touch him.
Walk behind him. Do not talk to him. Get him to where he needs to be with one word commands. "door" then "hall" then "nurse" and so on. Don't keep repeating yourself. HE HEARS YOU he just can not respond as fast as you think he should.
And furthermore - TELL US WHAT IS GOING ON. (By us I don't mean just his parents - I mean the school staff too, just as long as someone who knows him - knows..)
If you are seeing something that we didn't tell you how to deal with - we most likely do not know he's doing it. If you wait until he's in the woods and off school property to tell us he's been running from you for two months - it's a little too late...
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