We are concerned about the misuse and overuse of seclusion and restraint in Michigan schools.

Please revisit Michigan’s seclusion and restraint law (MCL 380.1307-1307h) and sponsor legislation that helps create safer schools for all students and staff by introducing healthier and more effective approaches that prevent the crisis situations that lead to seclusion and restraint.

Please look at seclusion and restraint data from your district and from center-based programs that your district works with. Please refuse to allow students from your district to be sent to center based programs that use seclusion and overuse restraint. Please take a look at Michigan’s seclusion and restraint law (MCL 380.1307-1307h) to make sure that schools in your district are properly implementing the requirements of the law.

Michigan schools reported using seclusion 12,552 times during the 2022-23 school year; the highest in recorded history! 94.5% of seclusions were used on students with known disabilities. The use of restraint is up 24% from last year to over 10,010 restraints. That’s over 22,562 times seclusion or restraint were used in Michigan schools just this past school year. There are more than 35 districts in Michigan that reported using seclusion or restraint an average of every single school day last school year!

Michigan data clearly show that either schools are using seclusion and restraint unlawfully or educators lack the training and resources to effectively prevent the crisis situations that tend to lead to the use of seclusion and restraint.

Seclusion and restraint are outdated techniques from a time when much less was known about behavior and the nervous system. We now have access to healthier and more effective approaches to meeting the needs of students and staff members in order to prevent crisis situations. Schools that have implemented trauma informed, neuroscience aligned, relationship based, collaborative approaches have reported an increase in staff job satisfaction rates and a decrease in both injuries and costs, as well as happier and mentally healthier students. All educators deserve access to the training and resources required to implement these approaches.

There is ample evidence that being secluded or restrained are dangerous and often traumatic experiences both for students and for staff members. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “There is no evidence that using seclusion or restraint is effective in reducing the occurrence of behavior problems.” In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that, “Some studies indicate that seclusion and restraint use leads to an increase in the behaviors that staff members are attempting to eliminate.” The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights reminds us that “A school’s use of restraint or seclusion may have a traumatic impact on a student, such that if she were never again restrained or secluded, she might nevertheless have new academic or behavioral difficulties that, if not addressed properly could constitute a denial of FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education).”

Many of the components of Michigan Seclusion and Restraint Law (MCL 380.1307 – 1307h) are simply not being followed. With no oversight, no funding, and the absence of detailed guidance, many districts are misusing and overusing seclusion and restraint, often without reporting or following the requirements detailed in the law.

Please help us to create safer schools for students and staff by supporting an update to Michigan’s Seclusion and Restraint laws and by ensuring that students from your district attend schools that use healthy and effective alternatives to seclusion and restraint.