The Senate Education Committee is holding a hearing on Nov. 19th at 10 am in Room 411 S at the Capitol on SB 527- Changes to the Seclusion and Restraint Law. Please join advocacy organizations and families to testify at the hearing on the important common-sense changes that will require better parent notification when an incident happens and greater transparency on the use of use in school districts across the state. These are simple changes to the already existing 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
- 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.
Help us by testifying on these important changes that may help reduce the use of seclusion and restraint on students in Wisconsin schools. If you aren’t able to attend you can send your testimony to the committee clerk, Jenna.Zantow@legis.wisconsin.gov