The new year brings new rules on how Massachusetts schools can physically restrain students considered at risk of harming themselves or others.
Schools will have to meet a higher standard before using restraint. Any restraint use must be reported to the state. Those are among the changes required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Tom Scott of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents says the group agrees student safety comes first, but the rules will require more training and paperwork.
“In the context of all the other issues we have going on in our schools today, it’s an additional requirement that no one is welcoming in the sense of the time and commitment that it takes,” Scott says.
Rick Glassman of the Disability Law Center says he supports the changes and says it’s about time the state takes action.
“These are longstanding problems,” Glassman says. “We’ve gotten many, many complaints from students and family members about excessive use of time out, restraint and seclusion.
The new rules were scheduled to take effect before Recent allegations of improper use of restraints, and other student mistreatment, at a Holyoke middle school.
