Fw: Keeping All Students Safe Act: Contact Your Senators!

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R. Green

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IMDSA.org

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Subject: Keeping All Students Safe Act: Contact Your Senators!

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February 23, 2012

National Down Syndrome Congress

Governmental Affairs Newsline 

 

In This Issue

Background

Sample Message

 

Share this information with 10 family members and friends and ask them to

contact their Senators, too!

 

 

 

 

National Down Syndrome Congress

30 Mansell Court

Suite 108

Roswell, GA 30076

ndsc@...

/

  Keeping All Students Safe Act

 

Tell Congress to prevent the dangerous restraint and seclusion of our school

children NOW!

Call Your Senator and Ask Him or Her to Co-Sponsor the Keeping All Students Safe

Act (S.2020).

  

The cost of waiting is being paid in injuries and lives. 

 On Friday, December 16, 2011, Senator Harkin (D-IA) introduced the

Keeping All Students Safe Act (S.2020). This bill would promote the use of safe,

effective intervention and prevent practices that do impose restraints and

seclusion. This bill represents a culmination of years of advocacy against

abusive behavioral interventions that dehumanize and harm students, and promotes

proactive, positive practices, and keeps parents appropriately informed. The

time to pass this bill is now - we can no longer endure harm to vulnerable

children as a result of abusive practices when decades of research equip

education professionals with positive, safe and effective alternatives.    

 

What can YOU do?

Call, write, and/or visit your Senators. You can e-mail your Senators through

their Senate website forms. Go to

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109377899040 & s=4414 & e=001buDUoyqaog7FvYqbRSfzgpVJZ\

9rCXzqyq3IOZrVQNCn81YX2cPHlntKk3NucUN9Hy3nKMqCs4YqCWCNPNoVJa_xQEhdgO0uzeTZg8KIbK\

wFHjKxZpqTBfA==. You can find your two Senators by choosing your state at the

top.  PLEASE EMAIL BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS.  Letters mailed through regular mail

to the U.S. Congress are delayed for anthrax screening.  So, please use E-MAIL.

 

You can find a sample message at the end of this e-mail.

BACKGROUND

 

 Why this bill?

  

S. 2020 addresses the " 4 P's " that parents and students nationwide have been

asking for:

* PROTECTION: The bill prohibits restraint as a planned intervention in

students' education plans, including behavior plans (BIPs) and Individual

Education Programs (IEPs). It prohibits the use of seclusion, and of aversive

behavioral interventions that compromise health and safety.  This means that

parents would no longer feel pressured to consent to the use of these

techniques, or unintentionally give consent when restraint is called by other

names.   It means that restraint would no longer be viewed as part of a

child's educational program.

* PREVENTION: Restraint may not be imposed for purposes of coercion, discipline

or convenience, or as a substitute for appropriate educational or positive

behavioral interventions and supports.  There must be " imminent danger of

serious bodily injury " and less intrusive methods must have failed before

restraint can be used. This means that restraint is clearly limited to emergency

use only, with the bar set high. " Imminent danger " would not refer to the

prospect of future " escalation " , the words used by an upset child, property

damage, or any bodily injury that is less than " serious. "           

* POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS:The bill calls for data-based decision-making and

evidence-based positive behavioral interventions and supports, debriefing,

conflict prevention, behavioral assessments, de-escalation of challenging

behaviors, and effective and safe conflict management. This means that IDEA

language will be taken seriously and schools must concentrate on proactive,

preventive, evidence-based practices. 

* PARENT PARTICIPATION:   Parental notification of any use of restraint would

be required within 24 hours. A debriefing after an incident, to which parents

and the student are invited, and data collection on these incidents by state,

are also mandatory.This means that parents will promptly receive vital

information which many school districts currently fail to share, and that school

staff must meet with parents and students to find ways of avoiding future

emergencies.    

 Why now?

Successful  restraint and seclusion prevention has already taken place in the

other systems where children are served, such as hospitals and psychiatric

care.  Now it is the turn of our schools to come in line with those

reforms.Parents need basic protections for their children as they move from

state to state for jobs, military service, etc.    The Government

Accountability Office issued a report in 2009 that found the current patchwork

of state protections to be confusing, inconsistent, and often threadbare.

Children and families are suffering even though decades of research offers safe,

effective alternatives.   Parents and advocates have been united in working

toward this goal since 2004.  Legislation was successfully introduced in the

House in 2009, but now the bill needs to be re-introduced and voted on in the

current Congress.  In the meantime, incredible abuses continue to make the

news.  Whose child will be next?

 

Sample Message

Dear Senator,

I am the (parent/grandparent/friend) of (son/daughter) who has a disability.

(Include other personal information, if you wish). 

 

Currently there is an epidemic of restraint, seclusion and other abusive

techniques being used across the country against students with disabilities.

Students are often locked in rooms or forced into rooms where the door is

otherwise blocked. 

 

Children have been restrained or secluded for behaviors that are not dangerous

or harmful; for not doing assignments, being noisy, behavioral control,

discipline, or punishment.  A Government Accountability Office study found

hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in

school.  They included a young teen who hanged himself in a seclusion room

while a teacher sat outside and a 7 year old who was restrained face down and

died because she could not breathe.  The GAO documented at least 20 stories of

children who died from restraint.  Other children suffered injuries, including

broken bones and bloody noses, or had post-traumatic stress syndrome.

 

The bill will:

* create minimum standards to protect all children nationwide from abusive

restraint and seclusion.

* ban physical restraint except in emergency situations when there is an

immediate threat of physical danger to a person.  Only 14 states require this

today.

* require schools to notify parents on the same day if a child has been

subjected to the techniques, and to follow up in writing within 24 hours. Too

many parents never find out what happened; 27 states have no parental

notification requirements at all, and others have no deadlines.

* ban life-threatening restraints, such as those that interfere with breathing.

* ban chemical and mechanical restraint, like locking children into devices and

chairs, and tying and duct-taping them to furniture. 

* require the collection of data to improve decision-making and provide the

public with information. 

Please co-sponsor the Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020).

 

 

Yours Truly, 

If you have questions, contact susan@...

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National Down Syndrome Congress| 30 Mansell Court| Suite 108| Roswell| GA| 30076