The use of positive behavioral interventions and supports and aversive interventions in schools and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority

The bill also requires the department to establish a training program to provide instruction to school employees on the safe, effective, and appropriate use of physical restraint and timeout. The bill defines a "school employee" to include a person who is under a contract with a school. No school employee may use physical restraint or a timeout on a pupil unless the employee has completed the training and obtained certification under the program.

The bill prohibits a school employee from using seclusion on a pupil, using any physical restraint that poses certain identified risks to a pupil, or using any mechanical restraint on a pupil. The bill defines "mechanical restraint" as a device that restricts a pupil's freedom of movement or normal access to a portion of his or her body and that the pupil cannot easily remove. "Mechanical restraint" does not, however, include a protective or stabilizing device that is prescribed by a health care professional for a child with a disability. The bill also prohibits a school employee from intentionally releasing noxious, toxic, caustic, or otherwise unpleasant substances near a pupil. A school employee may use physical restraint or a timeout on a pupil only if certain requirements, established in the bill, are met.

The bill limits both the circumstances under which physical restraint or a timeout may be used on a pupil and also the period for which physical restraint or a timeout may be used on a pupil. Physical restraint may be used only in the case of an emergency, and only if other less intrusive interventions have failed and the school has provided the parent of the pupil with a description of any physical restraint that might be used. If the pupil is a child with a disability, the individualized education program (IEP) prepared for that child must have a behavioral intervention plan (BIP) and the BIP must authorize the use of physical restraint in order for physical restraint to be used. Unless the school employee obtains permission from the school principal, in the manner provided in the bill, to extend the use of physical restraint, the school employee must stop the use of physical restraint as soon as the purpose for which the physical restraint is used is achieved or within 15 minutes, whichever is sooner.

Except in the case of an emergency, a timeout may be used only if other less intrusive interventions have failed and only if the pupil's parent has seen the timeout room and consented to the use of a timeout in writing. If the pupil is a child with a disability, the child's IEP must have a BIP and the BIP must authorize the use of timeout in order for timeout to be used. In the case of an emergency, written consent of the pupil's parent is not required for the use of a timeout on a pupil, and, if the pupil is a child with a disability, the child need not have a BIP which authorizes the use of timeout. Unless the school employee obtains permission from the school principal, in the manner provided in the bill, to extend the use of timeout, the school employee must stop the use of timeout as soon as the purpose for which the timeout is used is achieved or within 15 minutes, whichever is sooner.

Before a room may be used as a timeout room, the room must be approved for that use by the school district if the room is located in a school operated by or a charter school established by the school district, or by the state superintendent if the room is located in an independent charter school or in a private school subject to the requirements of the bill. The bill establishes requirements which a proposed timeout room must satisfy in order to be approved for use as a timeout room.

The bill requires a school to orally notify the parent of a pupil on whom physical restraint or, in certain circumstances, a timeout is used as soon as practicable but in no event later than the end of the day in which the physical restraint or timeout is used. The bill requires each school to establish procedures for the review of the use of physical restraint and timeout in the school. The bill also requires each school, annually and upon the request of the department, to submit a written report containing a summary of each use of physical restraint and certain instances in which a timeout is used. The bill establishes procedures for the parent of a pupil, including a pupil who is a child with a disability, to seek a hearing on or file a written complaint regarding the use of physical restraint or a timeout on that pupil. The bill permits the parent to appeal a determination made at a hearing or in response to the written complaint to the state superintendent.

Finally, the bill requires a local educational agency to prepare a BIP for a child with a disability who has not responded to the behavioral approaches specified in the child's IEP or if the child exhibits any of the following behaviors: 1) assaultive or self-injurious behavior; 2) behavior that causes property damage; or 3) behavior that significantly interferes with the implementation of the child's IEP. The BIP must contain certain information derived from a functional behavioral assessment of the child, including a description of the specific behaviors underlying the need for the BIP, strategies to minimize these behaviors, and recommendations for teaching and reinforcing appropriate alternative and adaptive behaviors. A BIP may authorize the use of physical restraint or timeout on the child, but only if the parent consents in writing to the use of physical restraint or a timeout, and only if the use of physical restraint or timeout is consistent with the requirements established in this bill.