ABC News Investigation: Students Hurt, Dying After Being Restrained, Miller Calls for Legislation

Last night, ABC News' "Nightline" aired an investigation into the usage of dangerous seclusion and restraint methods in schools across the country. The piece tells the stories of a number of students who are restrained, locked into isolation rooms, shocked, and even fatally suffocated by school staff. Watch the segment below:

Sadly, these are but a few cases of harmful seclusion and restraint methods being used in schools. Back in 2009, an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found hundreds of allegations that children have been abused, and some even died, as a result of misuses of seclusion and restraint in public and private schools, often at the hands of untrained staff. Many of these interventions were used disproportionately on some of our most vulnerable students -- children with disabilities.

Unlike in hospitals and other facilities that receive federal funding, there are no federal laws that address how and when restraint or seclusion can be used in schools. State regulations and oversight vary greatly and have often failed to protect children. It is also impossible to determine the full extent to which these interventions are used because there is currently no consistent reporting of data.   

The piece briefly touches upon efforts by Democratic lawmakers in Congress to pass legislation that would prohibit such dangerous interventions. In 2011, Rep. George Miller, the senior Democrat on the committee, re-introduced The Keeping All Students Safe Act (H.R. 1381).This bipartisan legislation would, for the first time, put in place minimum safety standards to prevent abusive seclusion and restraint in schools across the country and protect schoolchildren from inappropriate uses of seclusion and restraint. The bills would provide school personnel with the necessary tools, training, and support to ensure the safety of all students and school personnel. Opposition raised in the ABC piece to prohibitions on inappropriate uses of seclusion and restraint is baseless.  Sixteen states have recognized that standards similar to Rep. Miller’s proposed legislation are appropriate and have already passed statutes or regulation.

This legislation is crucial and long overdue. No parent should have to worry about the safety of their children when they’re at school. 

Read more about the dangerous pracitces of seclusion and restraint and the legislation meant to curtail them by clicking here.

Read more from ABC News on the issue by clicking here.