Keeping All Students Safe Act

Bill: 117-hr-3474
Sponsor: Rep. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. [D-VA-8]
Introduced: 2021-05-25 in the House
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Child health
Child safety and welfare
Civil actions and liability
Congressional oversight
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of the Interior
Disability and paralysis
Education of the disadvantaged
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Employment and training programs
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Law enforcement officers
Mental health
Military personnel and dependents
Minority education
Performance measurement
Preschool education
Prescription drugs
School administration
Special education
State and local government operations
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2021-05-25
text: 

Keeping All Students Safe Act

 
This bill prohibits the use of seclusion and limits the use of physical restraint in schools and Head Start programs that receive federal funding.
 
Specifically, the bill prohibits the use of seclusion, which is the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving. The term does not include a time out, which may involve separating the student from others in a non-locked setting.
 
The bill prohibits the use of mechanical or chemical restraints or physical restraints that restrict breathing or are life threatening.
 
The bill outlines the requirements for the use of physical restraint, including that the student's behavior must pose an imminent danger of serious physical injury to the student or other individual. Each state must ensure that a sufficient number of program personnel are trained and certified by a state-approved crisis intervention training program. Additionally, each program must establish procedures to follow after an incident involving physical restraint.
 
Further, the bill establishes enforcement provisions, including a private right of action for a student who has been subjected to unlawful seclusion or restraint. The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services must withhold payments from a program for unlawful seclusion or restraint.
 
Finally, the bill requires each state educational agency (SEA) to establish, implement, and enforce policies and procedures required by the bill. It also creates a grant program to assist SEAs with these activities.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2021-05-25
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2021-05-25
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2021-05-25
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2021-05-25
text: Introduced in House