Congressman George
Miller (D-CA), ranking member of the House Education & Workforce Committee
and Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS) this week introduced the Keeping All
Students Safe Act, HR 1893, a bill to protect all students nationwide from
restraint and seclusion.
NDSC
was one of the founding organizations of APRAIS, the group whose mission is to
protect children from restraint, seclusion and aversives in schools, and who has
worked on development of this bill for several years.
Please contact
your members of Congress and ask them to Cosponsor and Support the Keeping
All Students Safe Act, HR 1893. Dial 202-224-3121; ask for your
Representative's Office, and then ask for the individual who deals with
education issues.
If
you are unable to call and need to use email, go to http://bit.ly/RepWrit.
The link to Congressman Miller's speech is
here.
Tell your Congressional
representative that:
- A 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that children were injured, traumatized, and even killed through restraint and seclusion in schools. The GAO documented 20 deaths of school children.
- The Civil Rights collection data shows that 40,000 children were physically restrained during the 2009-2010 school year.
- Restraint and seclusion are disproportionately used upon students with disabilities and minority students.
The Keeping All Students Safe Act
will protect children in the following ways:
·
ban
restraint/seclusion except in emergencies where someone is in danger of physical
harm.
·
require that parents
be informed if their child was restrained/secluded on the same day that the
event occurred.
·
ban restraints that
impede breathing, mechanical restraints, and chemical restraints.
·
prevent
restraint/seclusion from being used when less restrictive alternatives, like
positive supports and de-escalation, would eliminate any danger.
If you have questions, please
contact susan@ndsccenter.org.
