SACO — An agreement has been reached between the Saco public school district and federal government regarding restraint or seclusion of students with disabilities.
The school district recently entered a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) “to take steps necessary to ensure students with disabilities receive the free appropriate public education (FAPE) to which they are entitled without unnecessary restraint or seclusion or reducing their school days.”
“The agreement calls for identifying ways to minimize the involvement of a school resource officer in student misconduct that can be safely and appropriately handled by school personnel,” according to the OCR. In addition, “the agreement includes a requirement to report accurate data to the Department as part of the Civil Rights Data Collection.”
According to The Associated Press, Saco Superintendent Jeremy Ray said in a statement that the catalyst for the review “appeared to be an unfortunate spike in the use of restraints and seclusions to address student behavior incidents during the 2017-2018 school year.” He said the district had already made several changes to school practices before the federal review began.
In a Nov. 5 letter to Ray from the OCR it states that “the OCR observed that there were significantly more incidents of restraint and/or seclusion during the 2017-2018 school year (Redacted), than in the following years (Redacted) in 2018-2019; (Redacted) in 2019-2020) and that the incidents at (Redacted) in 2017-2018 accounted for nearly 40% of all incidents Districtwide through the entire Review Period (Redacted) of 524 total incidents.” Redacted information is to protect the privacy of students and staff.
The AP stated that according to Ray, one of the changes is increased training for staff in safety training and de-escalation. Another change is increased availability of behavioral consultants, social workers, psychologists and behavior analysts to work with students with disabilities, Ray said.
“The OCR notes that the District has made significant changes, including the hiring of additional behavior staff and the development of a new in-District day treatment program, which has contributed to a significant decline in the number of incidents of restraint and seclusion,” according to the letter.
In addition, it states that, both a teacher and SRO officer who had been involved in a high number of restraints during the 2017-2018 school year are no longer with the district, and the SRO officer is no longer with the Saco Police Department.
“I thank Saco Public Schools for its leadership in addressing crucial issues for students with disabilities, ensuring that these students will learn in the full school day with appropriate supports from trained school personnel and for the commitment to ensure accurate and complete data reporting to the Office for Civil Rights,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights. “Saco Public Schools’ important actions — including through focusing on de-escalation practices and using less restrictive responses to students — during the course of this review have already contributed to a notable decline in the use of restraint and seclusion while maintaining safe and appropriate learning environments for students.”
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