Wisconsin has a law on the books to prevent inappropriate seclusion and restraint of students, but there is need for improvement. Parents need to receive a written report when restraint or seclusion happens to their child. In addition, school districts should be required to report to the state to ensure DPI can track which districts are doing well and which need additional support. Parents should be able to view statewide data of incidents to make choices about where they want to send their student to school.
If you agree we can do better in Wisconsin, make sure to tell your legislator to support SB 527 and AB 585.
Read The Arc Wisconsin’s testimony here
Here are the essential improvements this bill would make to Wisconsin’s current law:
- Require that restraint and seclusion data be reported to DPI as well as school boards (under current law, only school boards receive the data)
- Require schools to provide written incident report to parents, (current law only requires that parents be notified that the report exists)
- Change the requirement that IEP teams meet after the first incident to after the second incident.
- Require that the principal meet with the staff who participated in the incident to debrief to discuss ways to prevent in the future.
- Explicitly prohibit prone restraint, which has been deadly
- Specify that the restraint and seclusion law apply also to students who are district-placed into private schools
- Update the training requirements for an increased focus on de-escalation and remove the requirement (but not prohibit) the teaching of “hands-on” techniques.
