A lawsuit brought against the County of Fairfax in northern Virginia that addressed the county’s use of “Seclusion and Restraint” practices when disciplining students has been settled, according to a joint statement issued by both the defendant and plaintiffs. The suit was initially filed back in October of 2019 by the families of six students with disabilities and several disability rights groups including the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), and CommunicationFIRST. With Fairfax County being one of the largest school districts in the nation, sitting right outside Washington, D.C., and serving as a suburb to our nation’s capital, the suit and subsequent settlement could have consequences nationwide, trickling down to other school districts where a vacuum of guidance exists federally.
The suit was filed as a result of investigative work of local public radio station WAMU in early 2019. The WAMU investigation found that the school district used “Seclusion and Restraint” techniques hundreds of times a year, but often didn’t report it to federal authorities, as required by law. The report went on to allege that in some cases, children as young as six were confined and isolated to a room alone as many as 100 times in a year, again with no reporting as legally required. The lawsuit alleges that FCPS broke federal and state disability rights laws—including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—by isolating and restraining students, and it suggested that FCPS had put students and staff in danger by not adequately training staff.
Following the WAMU report, the district conducted its own investigation into “Seclusion and Restraint” and admitted to discovering 1,679 incidents of seclusion and restraint that affected 203 students in the 2017-2018 school year alone.
Specifically, the lawsuit states:
“Plaintiffs bring this action to hold Defendants accountable for the excessive and unjustified discrimination, psychological trauma, and physical harm inflicted by their illicit use of restraints and seclusion to silence, detain, segregate, and punish students with disabilities. Defendants’ deployment of techniques more in tune with incarcerated prisoners than students with disabilities is not only egregious standing alone, but even more deplorable because Defendants’ actions violate state and federal law, Defendants’ own state guidelines, and evidence-based practices on how to address students with disabilities.”
What Is “Seclusion and Restraint?”
When a person in a hospital or care facility exhibits behavior that indicates a risk to themselves or others, a common method employed of mitigating the situation and calming the individual is called “Seclusion and Restraint.” At first blush, Seclusion and Restraint seem to be exactly what it sounds like. In the classroom context, it would mean secluding children by isolating them in a room or space from which they cannot willfully escape and restricting their movement.
The techniques and conditions for using Seclusion and Restraint are regulated in hospitals, but not in public schools, where the practice is often used on students with special needs, as was the case in Fairfax County. This practice puts children’s safety in danger as evidenced by Seclusion and Restraint’s use in hospitals. In hospitals, when it is successful, the restrained individual gets the space they need to calm down and everyone stays safe. But when Seclusion and Restraint goes wrong, even in regulated situations, the situation can end in trauma, injury, or even death for the restrained individual.
According to one parent within the FCPS system whose autistic child was subjected to Seclusion and Restraint:
“There is a direct correlation between him starting school and watching him mentally collapse.”
And unfortunately, due to legislative haggling and feet-dragging, there are no clear federal guidelines regarding Seclusion and Restraint within our public schools. What exists instead is a patchwork of policies and soft guidelines that differ from district to district, making it difficult for school administrators and parents to understand when, why, and how often students are secluded and restrained in schools.
With settlement, there is progress
The settlement of the lawsuit, as agreed upon by both parties, affirms that:
- Seclusion has already been banned in the district’s base schools as of January 2021
- Seclusion will be completely phased out in the district’s school buildings and private schools by the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year
- Restraint will be prohibited unless there is an imminent risk of harm to the student or others
- Certain methods of restraint that are likely to result in serious injury—including forcing children into prone and supine positions, floor restraints, and chokeholds—are prohibited
Additionally, the school district reports to be working with behavioral experts to adopt alternative techniques and to retrain staff properly in an effort to eradicate the practice from FCPS altogether.
Parents and disability advocacy groups are hopeful
Parents and plaintiffs welcomed the progressive changes the settlement promises but also acknowledged that any and all changes will only come if staff can be adequately retrained on more effective and humane techniques. One parent, teacher, and advocate said:
“This paradigm shift—if FCPS manages to do it effectively and universally—could really, really change lives for literally hundreds of thousands of students and teachers, because it’s traumatizing for teachers too.”
FCPS has indeed indicated that the school district is on track to meet the court-mandated deadlines for staff training. More than 25,000 staff members have undergone a 90-minute de-escalation training from the Virginia Department of Education with additional training to begin in January 2022.
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