Iowa ACLU wants new rules on schools use of seclusion rooms

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 4:00 pm, Wednesday, June 28, 2017


IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa wants the state to change rules regarding public schools' use of padded seclusion rooms and physical restraints.

The ACLU and six outside attorneys recently filed a petition with the Iowa Education Department asking that it ensure seclusion and physical restraints are used only for emergencies and as a last resort, and are never used to punish children.

The request comes after a department review found that students were occasionally sent to seclusion rooms in at least one school district for minor infractions, such as stepping out of line.

"Iowa must update its rules to reflect growing consensus that seclusion and restraints should not be used to discipline or punish children," Daniel Zeno, policy counsel for the ACLU of Iowa, said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/ACLU-wants-new-rules-on-schools-use-of-seclusion-11252457.php

[Honeycombe8]

1. OMG.

Seclusion rooms? Restraints?

What the hell has happened to our schools, or at least the ones in Iowa? If a kid is THAT bad that he has to be kept apart from society or restrained, he shouldn't be in school at all.

[DK504]

2. WTF?

"seclusion rooms" .... restraints? What the hell are these people to the children? If the children are that bad they need to be taken away by the parents, it's not up to the school to lock them in a padded room. They aren't shrinks or allowed to make decisions for the parents.

Have we lost our minds? Kid is out of control, send it home, suspend them, expel them. That's how it works. WTF?

[EllieBC]

3. Yeah expel kids with things like ASD. Really?

My public school uses its medical room as a seclusion room because there's nothing in it for a child to destroy or hurt themselves with (it only has a bed in it).

When my daughter with autism spectrum disorder is in full on meltdown mode she's been brought there because she can be destructive and tried to bite her EA once. Her meltdowns are not frequent but they are powerful.

So yes, lets expel her instead. Great freaking idea.

[Bayard]

4. Solitary Confinement?

You haven't been able to paddle kids in school for many years, so how can they get away with this?