Tell Congress to Pass The Keeping All Students Safe Act TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

Cornelious Fredrick was a 16-year-old Black student who was killed for throwing a sandwich at another student. Frederick was thrown to the ground by staff and held down for 10 minutes. Frederick repeatedly said he could not breathe until he lost consciousness and died of cardiac arrest¹. He should still be here and leave behind family and loved ones who are devastated.

Every child should be safe and protected while in school. Yet hundreds of incidents of child abuse, some resulting in death, are due to the use of seclusion and restraint practices that continue in schools unchecked. Restraint and seclusion are practices used in public schools as a response to student behavior that limits their movement and aims to de-escalate them, by either physically limiting their movement (restraint) or isolating them from others (seclusion). They are meant to be used as a last resort but are used much more frequently.

Protect Our Children! Pass The Keeping All Students Safe Act!

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) has found that students with disabilities and students of color are disproportionately targeted for the use of physical and seclusion practices. Students with disabilities make up 80.2% of students subjected to physical restraints and 77% of students subjected to isolation. Overall, students with disabilities make up only 13% of the student population²

Anthony Corona, an 18-year-old with autism, died of asphyxiation from being held down by a bus aide. He struggled, as his upper body was restrained, but eventually fell limp and died. During his time at Bright Futures Academy in Riverside, California, Corona was restrained 20 times during his 11 years at the school. Not a single incident was reported to his family¹.

These are just a glimpse into the numerous stories of abuse occurring in our schools. 

We can and should do better. Tell Congress to Pass the Keeping All Kids Safe Act!

In 2017-2018, it was reported that over 100,000 students had endured physical restraints and isolation practices by educators.

That was just in a single year.

The Keeping All Students Safe Act would make it illegal for any school receiving federal funds to seclude a child or use dangerous restraint practices that restrict breathing, such as prone or supine restraint. The bill would also prohibit schools from physically restraining children, except when necessary to protect the safety of students and staff. Lastly, the bill would better equip school personnel with the training to address school-expected behavior with evidence-based proactive strategies.

The Keeping All Students Safe Act would:

• Establish requirements in schools by:

• Prohibiting seclusion, mechanical restraints, chemical restraints, and physical restraint that restricts breathing or is life-threatening including prone and supine restraint;
• Requiring certification of staff conducting physical restraint that meets the additional requirements;
• Prohibiting physical restraint as a planned intervention; and 
• Requiring parental notification and follow-up meetings if a physical restraint occurs.

•  Support states to provide training to better ensure students’ and staffs’ safety and to establish monitoring and enforcement systems by: 

• Requiring each state to have its own policies, procedures, monitoring, and enforcement systems in place to meet the requirements within two years of the law’s enactment;
• Allowing states to apply for competitive grants for support in establishing, implementing, and enforcing the policies and procedures required by the law; and
• Improving state and local capacity to analyze the data and improving school climate and culture.

• Increase transparency, oversight, and enforcement to prevent future abuse and death by:

• Requiring states to collect and report data on the use of seclusion and restraint annually;
• Making data about restraint and seclusion publicly available while protecting student privacy, including data on the number of incidents, injuries, cases of death, and the demographic breakdown.

Tell Congress to Pass The Keeping All Students Safe Act, NOW!

Together we can create safer schools for students, teachers, and staff while reducing and eliminating the use of restraint and seclusion. The Keeping All Students Safe Act is the first step in building safer and more inclusive schools for vulnerable students. We can and must do better!

Thanks for all you do,

--Beatriz, Kelsey, Monifa, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

P.S.–Please also consider taking action to tell Congress to pass the Counselors Not Criminalization Act!

References:

[1] The stories of 13 young people who died after restraint or seclusion

[2] What Is Restraint and Seclusion? An Explainer

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