ME. Schools critical of Maine DOE’s newly enacted restraint regulation

Another Maine school is voicing serious concerns about Maine’s newly enacted restraint policy.

Falmouth Board Member  Chris Murry said he  has concerns about Maine’s new restraint regulations and the higher threshold they establish before school staff can restrain or seclude a student in an emergency. He also called the documentation requirements under the state policy “exorbitant.”

Or, as another board member put it:

Maine’s regulation is modeled after a guidance document obtained from, but not endorsed by, the federal government and language for legislation currently proposed in Congress.  Nonetheless, this regulation contains a multitude of practical implementation problems that will make it extremely problematic for school districts to implement.

More students and staff will be injured, and there may be more serious property damage and significant disruption, than if schools continue under the reasonable restraint standard currently utilized in public schools.  Further, such changes will require public school districts  to spend more money for less effective interventions than are currently utilized, and many students will have to be placed in more restrictive learning environments in order to protect students, staff, and others from physical harm.  Also, under the regulation, that expense may have to totally be paid from State  financial coffers, as the  regulation does not allow for any planning on how to safely restrain or seclude special education students to be written into special education student programs (IEPs).

Further, we additionally are concerned that the prohibitions on planning for safe restraint and seclusion in an IEP document may violate federal law.  Historically, courts have held that in certain anticipated serious misbehavior situations, restraint of special education students should be planned by the same team of qualified professionals that plans for all of the child’s specialized education needs.

This is an example of good intention leading to bad choices that, unfortunately, will have a detrimental effect on both staff and student.

Other Schools Criticizing Maine’s Restraint Regulations

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