Michigan school district, DOJ reach agreement to end seclusion, restraints for disability students

The Justice Department has reached an agreement with a Michigan school district to reform its use of seclusion and restraint practices for students with disabilities.

The department said last week that under the agreement, the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District will "end the use of seclusion, reform its restraint practices, and improve special education services for students with disabilities.”

“Students with disabilities should never be discriminated against by experiencing the trauma of seclusion or improper restraint,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “Parents have the right to expect that the school systems they entrust with educating their children do not instead punish their children for having a disability.”

In March of 2023, the department notified the district that it had opened an investigation into the matter. 

“Restraint” is defined as “any physical contact between any district employee or contractor and a student in which the student involuntarily participates and that immobilizes a student or reduces the ability of that student to move the student’s torso, arms, legs, or head freely,” according to settlement documentation.

The same documents recognize “seclusion” as “the involuntary confinement of a student in any room or area, from which the student may not leave or [is] blocked from leaving (including if they are told they may not leave) regardless of its name”

The department found that students with disabilities were secluded and/or restrained over 2,400 times during the period of investigation. It was also found that seclusion and restraint practices were used improperly, in some cases using crisis responses as punishment for normal discipline issues. 

The settlement agreement also states the goal of this investigation was to determine whether the district’s seclusion and restraint practices deny students with disabilities access to district programs in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The agreement also noted the district denied any allegations of discrimination, but agreed to the settlement to avoid the burden of further legal proceedings. 

The result of the investigation found that the district “discriminated against students on the basis of disability by denying them the opportunity to participate in or benefit from the District’s education program, and failing to make reasonable modifications to avoid disability discrimination in the District’s program,” according to the department.

Concerns regarding seclusion and restraint practices for children with disabilities have been raised around the country for years. 

The National Disability Rights Network published a federal policy update in February 2022 that detailed several instances in which such practices were used inappropriately. 

In Pennsylvania, a middle school student with autism was held in a seclusion room after school until 5:30 p.m.

In Massachusetts, a 7-year-old with ADHD reportedly had water poured on him as he was restrained by teachers; In Texas, a 12-year-old student with an IDD was restrained in a chair with electrician gloves taped to his arms as a form of behavioral intervention; and another Pennsylvanian student with ADHD was tased four times by a School Resource Officer before being held in a prone restraint, all according to the 10-page report.

Similar investigations to what happened in Michigan have also been seen throughout a number of states in recent years. 

In late 2021, Frederick County Public School District, in Maryland, agreed to end the use of seclusion rooms and discriminatory restraints after a similar investigation found that the district “discriminated against students on the basis of disability by denying them the opportunity to participate in or benefit from the District’s education program,” according to another Justice Department settlement agreement. 

Under this agreement, schools in the district are now also required to train their staff on proper behavioral intervention methods for students with disabilities. 

In the case, thousands of incidents of seclusion and restraint were discovered in two-and-a-half school years. All students involved in seclusion were students with disabilities. It was also found that these practices worsened stress levels, causing some to engage in self-harming behaviors. 

The Detroit Free Press reported that Texas had 17 districts and Florida had 12 districts under investigation for the same seclusion and restraint issues.