Following a federal investigation that revealed an alarming number of seclusion and restraint incidents in one Maryland school district, parents and disability advocates are renewing their push to ban the use of seclusion in Maryland schools.
Del. Eric Ebersole (D-Baltimore County) is sponsoring a bill that would ban the practice of seclusion in public schools, which he equated to “putting a child in a prison cell,” during a Ways and Means committee meeting this month.
House Bill 1255 would still allow nonpublic schools to use seclusion, but with stricter limits such as requiring the person performing the seclusion to be a trained physician, psychologist, clinical social worker, registered nurse or clinical professional counselor who is “clinically familiar with the student.” It would also impose stricter reporting requirements by local school systems and the State Department of Education on restraint and seclusion incidents.
“The bottom line is — education has changed,” said Sen. Craig Zucker (D-Montgomery), the lead Senate sponsor of the bill. “Things that we might have done a hundred years ago or 50 years ago might not make sense in this current time — and one of those things that does not make sense is secluding children in public schools,” he said during a bill hearing before the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. Continue reading at Maryland Matters.
Photo: Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban the use of seclusion in public schools. Getty Images.
