The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating an Essex County school district to determine whether they discriminated on the basis of race and disability when placing African American students into a self-contained therapeutic behavior special education program, and in their use of restraints.
The investigation comes two years after OCR received a complaint with the allegations. In February 2022, a board-certified education advocate and civil rights education consultant alleged the use of “restraint, seclusion and racial bias of Black male students of class of disability of Montclair Public School District.”
During its investigation, OCR will collect and analyze evidence it needs to make a decision about the allegations.
What is Seclusion? What is Restraint?
The USDOE defines seclusion as “the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving.”
Physical restraint is defined as “a personal restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a student to move his or her torso, arms, legs or head freely.”
Data collected by the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) found seclusion and restraint are used disproportionately on students with disabilities and children of color. Data show that students with disabilities represent 12% of students in public schools but 58% of the students placed in seclusion. They also make up 75% of students physically restrained at school.
Seclusion and restraint are legal in New Jersey. A 2018 New Jersey state law stipulates that seclusion can only be used on a student with disabilities in an emergency, a situation in which a student’s behavior places self or others in immediate physical danger.
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