Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 7 - Education K-12 › Part 3 - Board Policies › Chapter 38 - Healthy and Safe Schools › Rule 7-3-38.13 - Restraint and Seclusion

Current through June 25, 2024
1. Introduction
The Mississippi Department of Education and the State Board
				  of Education supports a positive approach to behavior that uses proactive
				  strategies to create a safe school climate that promotes dignity, creates
				  authentic student engagement, and improves student achievement for all
				  students. When teachers and administrators implement evidence-based positive
				  behavior supports with fidelity, a safe and orderly school environment is
				  created that is conducive to learning and students are able to achieve without
				  the constant interruptions that occur when teachers are required to address
				  discipline in the classroom.
Research indicates that the most effective response to school
				  violence is to establish a school culture that emphasizes prevention, early
				  identification, teaching, reinforcement of appropriate behavior and continuous
				  data-based problem solving. One primary method is to structure the environment
				  using a non-aversive effective behavioral system, such as Positive Behavior
				  Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Effective positive behavioral systems are
				  comprehensive, in that they are comprised of a framework or approach for
				  assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral
				  interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social
				  behavioral outcomes for all students. The PBIS prevention-oriented framework or
				  approach applies to all students, all staff, and all settings. When integrated
				  with effective academic instruction, such systems can help provide the supports
				  children need to become actively engaged in their own learning and academic
				  success. Schools successfully implementing comprehensive behavioral systems
				  create school-wide environments that reinforce appropriate behaviors while
				  reducing instances of dangerous behaviors that may lead to the need to use
				  restraint or seclusion. In schools implementing comprehensive behavioral
				  systems, trained school staff use preventive assessments to identify where,
				  under what conditions, with whom, and why specific inappropriate behavior may
				  occur, as well as implement de-escalation techniques to defuse potentially
				  violent dangerous behavior. Preventive assessments should include (1) a review
				  of existing records; (2) interviews with parents, family members, and students;
				  and (3) examination of previous and existing behavioral intervention plans.
				  Using these data from such assessments helps schools identify the conditions
				  when inappropriate behavior is likely to occur and the factors that lead to the
				  occurrence of these behaviors; and develop and implement preventive behavioral
				  interventions that teach appropriate behavior and modify the environmental
				  factors that escalate the inappropriate behavior. The use of comprehensive
				  behavioral systems significantly decreases the likelihood that restraint or
				  seclusion would be used, supports the attainment of more appropriate behavior,
				  and, when implemented as described, can help to improve academic achievement
				  and behavior. In order to reduce the use of aversive techniques in response to
				  student behavior, restraint and seclusion, school wide behavior systems should
				  include a comprehensive behavior management system that includes:
(a) socially valued and measurable
				outcomes,
(b) empirically validated
				and practical practices
(c) systems
				that efficiently and effectively support the implementation of these practices,
				and
(d) continuous collection and
				use of data for decision making.
However, at times, some students exhibit behaviors which
				  place themselves and others in imminent danger. Schools shall implement
				  proactive strategies and interventions to reduce the likelihood of these
				  situations, and they shall have clearly identified responses to address such
				  situations when they occur. Additionally, schools shall have policies in place
				  that address the responses needed to ensure the safety of all students and
				  staff.