Michigan schools use restraint and seclusion thousands of times a year

Critics seek clearer rules on what counts as an emergency

Michigan’s state policy makes clear that schools should only consider physically restraining a student or placing them in seclusion in emergency situations in which a student is considered a potential danger to themselves or others, according to a Bridge Michigan report published by the Associated Press.

Despite that standard, Michigan schools physically restrain students or place them in seclusion thousands of times a year, the report found. Many of the students affected are children with disabilities.

The practices continue despite an almost 10-year-old state law aimed at reducing them.

There is broad consensus that schools should do more to reduce reliance on these techniques, the report says, though disagreement remains over whether new legislation is needed.

Critics argue that schools still seclude and restrain students too often and that the state should “make more clear what actually constitutes an emergency.” The disagreement centers on whether new legislation is needed to define emergencies more clearly.