Report: Training, data needed to limit use of restraint and seclusion in schools
Jul. 26—In her work as New Mexico's special education ombud, Michelle Tregembo often hears from families whose children were restrained or placed in seclusion at school.
Sometimes, the incident of restraint or seclusion isn't even the family's main reason for calling the ombud's office, Tregembo told members of the Legislative Education Study Committee on Wednesday.
"It's just a part of their story — that they expect their child to be restrained," Tregembo said.
On Wednesday, the Restraint and Seclusion in New Mexico Public Schools Working Group — a team of parents, disability advocates, attorneys and school administrators who have spent the last year confronting the extreme measures with the ultimate goal of reducing and eliminating their use — presented its recommendations to the committee.
The group called for additional state funds to be directed toward the collection of reliable data on the prevalence of restraint and seclusion in public schools and training for all school personnel — teachers to cafeteria workers, janitors to administrators — on how to prevent and respond to circumstances that may require either technique.
"Even under the current limitations that are placed on restraint and seclusion — our law and rules — both practices continue to be used too broadly," Laurel Nesbitt, an attorney for Disability Rights New Mexico, told lawmakers.
"They should be in reality what they are on paper: emergency interventions of last resort," she added.
Restraint is the restriction of all or part of a student's body, using physical force by staff members or a device. New Mexico law defines seclusion as "the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room" from which they cannot leave.
Both techniques represent a draconian side of New Mexico's public education system. Under state statute, they should only be used as a last resort in emergency circumstances, as a tool some school administrators defend as a necessary crisis intervention.
But no one can say for certain how often students are restrained or secluded in New Mexico public schools. As Marit Andrews, the committee's senior policy analyst, told lawmakers on Wednesday, the state doesn't have reliable data on the prevalence of the practices, even though the law requires such incidents be reported to the student's family and the Public Education Department.
"We understand that the data is not where it should be and that we need to do a better job of determining prevalence in order to address this issue," Miguel Lozano, chief counsel for Public Education Department's Office of Special Education, said during the meeting.
What is clear from U.S. Department of Education data, Nesbitt said, is that students with disabilities and students of color experience restraint and seclusion at rates far higher than their peers.
The working group recommended that the Legislature allocate funds to the Public Education Department to ensure they have the technological and personnel resources to collect — and publicly publish — adequate data on incidences of seclusion and restraint.
In addition to better data collection, members of the working group advocated for widespread, funded training to ensure everyone on campus is aware of de-escalation techniques and the follow-up that must accompany seclusion or restraint.
Lawmakers' responses to the presentation betrayed that lack of training. Committee chairman and high school social studies teacher Rep. Andrés Romero, D-Albuquerque, said he hasn't received training on how to reintegrate students into the classroom after an incident requiring restraint or seclusion. A regular substitute teacher for Albuquerque Public Schools, Sen. Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque, said he'd been told not to intervene in some circumstances due to lack of training.
Such training would ensure uniform conformity with state requirements during and after instances of seclusion and restraint, which include notification of the student's family, follow-up incident reviews and discontinuation of prone restraint, or facedown restraint.
"Substitutes, nurses, custodial staff, food service workers — I feel like everybody should go through that training," Alamogordo Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Steven Starkovich told lawmakers.
Lozano assured lawmakers the Public Education Department is taking the working group's recommendations seriously. But implementing all 31 of them via legislation may be a challenge, said Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo.
"This is excruciating work, and it's deeply appreciated," Herrera said. "Having said that, whenever I see a [report] with 31 recommendations, I get a little scared. I get a little scared because it's hard to do one of these things."
