House gives initial approval to restrictions on seclusion and restraint in schools

The Missouri House gave initial approval Wednesday to a measure that would restrict the use of seclusion and restraint as disciplinary measures in schools.

The practice sparked controversy in 2016, when parents at Mill Creek Elementary School in Independence discovered that seclusion rooms were being used in disciplining their children.

The issue also emerged Wednesday at hearing of the House Special Committee on Regulatory Oversight and Reform, where lawmakers questioned the use of such rooms in Columbia Public Schools (CPS).

The hearing, not directly related to the bill approved by the House, focused on the relationship between CPS and Catapult Learning, a private contractor hired by the school district.

Angela Jolley, a learning specialist with the school system, described how some students who misbehaved were placed in a closet-sized room on the first day of school in 2019.

The committee chair, state Rep. Ron Hicks, a Dardenne Prairie Republican, said Columbia school leaders were invited to testify but declined, saying it was on too short a notice.

Catapult Learning introduced the seclusion rooms when the company was hired at the start of the 2019-2020 school year to support students with disabilities. Columbia Public Schools has since changed its seclusion policy, and now requires that parents are notified if their child is secluded.

Although the seclusion rooms were intended to be used only when a student posed a threat to themselves or others, Jolley said she knew of cases where students were put in seclusion for simply misbehaving.

Misuse of seclusion rooms is part of the reason behind for the House Bill, HB 1568.

It establishes a ban on seclusion and restraint in schools, except in cases where there is imminent danger to the student or others.

It requires that when the practice is used it must be monitored and reported to parents. The reports will be compiled and managed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a public database.

The bill also requires that teachers receive training in the practices.

“This is not a ban...,” St. Louis area Republican Rep. Dottie Bailey, the bill’s sponsor, said. “This is just putting safeguards around it.”

This is the second year the legislature has tried to control the use of seclusion and restraint in Missouri schools. A similar measure, filed last year, never made it to the House floor for a vote.

Proponents noted that while the practice is not a widespread problem in Missouri, it needs to be addressed.

“I wouldn’t say this is an issue in every school district in the state of Missouri, but we need to make sure that it’s not an issue in any school district in the state of Missouri,” Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, said.

The bill needs a vote of final approval in the House before it can move on to the Senate.