Date: 2012-05-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. last year. I reintroduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act. to protect children from abusive seclusion and restraint practices in school. Two years ago. this legislation passed the House with bipartisan support. Unfortunately. it never became law. and the incidents of students who are being abused or inappropriately restrained while in school continue to occur. We cannot sit idly by. Congress must step up to the plate and protect our Nations children. In recent months. weve been hearing more disturbing stories of students who are being dangerously restrained by teachers and staff while in school. In several of these cases. students have suffered serious injuries or have even died as a result of their injuries. In December. in Kentucky. 9yearold Christopher Baker. who has autism. was stuffed into a duffel bag at school as punishment. In Connecticut. children have been afraid to go to school because theyve heard other students screaming in small. windowless rooms. The students in these elementary schools refer to these rooms as "scream rooms." In Texas. 10yearold Lukas Hines. who suffers from seizures. dyslexia. and ADHD. was put in a choke hold while riding home on a Texas school bus. For 4 minutes. the school supervisor refused to release him into the care of his mother. and instead kept him in the dangerous choke hold. Then. on April 18. at the Leake and Watts School in New York. 16yearold Corey Foster was restrained by the school staff. who were trying to remove him from a basketball court. Witnesses reported that several staff members piled on top of him. Corey told the staff he could not breathe. Tragically. while he was being restrained. he went into cardiac arrest and died. Coreys story is far too similar to a story I learned of several years ago. That was the story of Cedric. a 14yearold in Texas. Cedric was restrained. facedown. with his teacher sitting on top of him. He yelled out that he couldnt breathe. Minutes later. Cedric died on the floor of his classroom. Tragedies like Corys and Cedrics need to stop. In March. the Department of Education released nationwide data showing that tens of thousands of children are subject to restraint and seclusion in school each year. This map shows that 31 States have had reports of abusive incidents since the last time that we tried to enact the Keeping All Students Safe Act. No corner of the country is immune from abuse. It is widespread. and it has gone on far too long. This map shows that we need a nationally driven reform. because where States have enacted. students are still subject to the worst practices in these educational settings. According to the report released last month. only 30 States have any meaningful protection for the use of seclusion and restraint in school. Only 18 States prohibit restraint that restricts breathing. Only 16 States limit the use of restraining to emergencies involving immediate risk or harm. Only 16 States ban the use of mechanical restraints. And only 24 States have any requirement that their parents be notified that their child was restrained or secluded in school. In fact. children can go to school day after day. be restrained. be secluded. be locked in dark rooms. kept in those rooms where they urinate on themselves. and their parents are never notified. When parents are excluded from the information about their students. where is that a matter of good public policy? The child and their safety should not depend upon what State they live in. The Federal Government. this Congress. needs to set minimum standards and model standards. We have the Federal laws in place to prevent seclusion and restraint abuses that happen in hospitals and other health facilities. but children do not have any Federal protection against these potentially dangerous and torturous practices when theyre in school. Schools are supposed to be a safe place. a place for children to learn. a place for children to socialize. and parents should never have to worry about the safety of their children when theyre at school. No child should be forced to suffer abuse. neglect. injury. or even death while theyre trying to learn. The Keeping All Students Safe Act would set minimum safety standards for the use of restraint and seclusion in schools and provide training and support for school personnel to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint. It makes it illegal to strap children to chairs. put children in duffle bags. or restrict their breathing. Seclusion restraint practices should only be used in emergency situations by trained staff and should end as soon as the emergency has passed. This legislation makes it clear that theres no room for torture and abuse in Americas schools. News reports showing children being tied up with duct tape. sat on by staff. locked in rooms for hours at a time is unacceptable. Our children deserve better. This legislation wont bring back Corey or Cedric. but it can prevent future abuses from occurring. Ive called upon the chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce to mark up this important legislation so we can move forward on passing this critical legislation into law. Our children deserve nothing less.