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The Florida Senate

2015 Florida Statutes

Title XLVIII K-20 EDUCATION CODE
Chapter 1003 PUBLIC K-12 EDUCATION Entire Chapter
SECTION 573
Use of restraint and seclusion on students with disabilities.
F.S. 1003.573
1003.573 Use of restraint and seclusion on students with disabilities.—
(1) DOCUMENTATION AND REPORTING.—
(a) A school shall prepare an incident report within 24 hours after a student is released from restraint or seclusion. If the student’s release occurs on a day before the school closes for the weekend, a holiday, or another reason, the incident report must be completed by the end of the school day on the day the school reopens.
(b) The following must be included in the incident report:
1. The name of the student restrained or secluded.
2. The age, grade, ethnicity, and disability of the student restrained or secluded.
3. The date and time of the event and the duration of the restraint or seclusion.
4. The location at which the restraint or seclusion occurred.
5. A description of the type of restraint used in terms established by the Department of Education.
6. The name of the person using or assisting in the restraint or seclusion of the student.
7. The name of any nonstudent who was present to witness the restraint or seclusion.
8. A description of the incident, including:
a. The context in which the restraint or seclusion occurred.
b. The student’s behavior leading up to and precipitating the decision to use manual or physical restraint or seclusion, including an indication as to why there was an imminent risk of serious injury or death to the student or others.
c. The specific positive behavioral strategies used to prevent and deescalate the behavior.
d. What occurred with the student immediately after the termination of the restraint or seclusion.
e. Any injuries, visible marks, or possible medical emergencies that may have occurred during the restraint or seclusion, documented according to district policies.
f. Evidence of steps taken to notify the student’s parent or guardian.
(c) A school shall notify the parent or guardian of a student each time manual or physical restraint or seclusion is used. Such notification must be in writing and provided before the end of the school day on which the restraint or seclusion occurs. Reasonable efforts must also be taken to notify the parent or guardian by telephone or computer e-mail, or both, and these efforts must be documented. The school shall obtain, and keep in its records, the parent’s or guardian’s signed acknowledgment that he or she was notified of his or her child’s restraint or seclusion.
(d) A school shall also provide the parent or guardian with the completed incident report in writing by mail within 3 school days after a student was manually or physically restrained or secluded. The school shall obtain, and keep in its records, the parent’s or guardian’s signed acknowledgment that he or she received a copy of the incident report.
(2) MONITORING.—
(a) Monitoring of the use of manual or physical restraint or seclusion on students shall occur at the classroom, building, district, and state levels.
(b)  Documentation prepared as required in subsection (1) shall be provided to the school principal, the district director of Exceptional Student Education, and the bureau chief of the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services electronically each month that the school is in session.
(c) The department shall maintain aggregate data of incidents of manual or physical restraint and seclusion and disaggregate the data for analysis by county, school, student exceptionality, and other variables, including the type and method of restraint or seclusion used. This information shall be updated monthly.
(d) The department shall establish standards for documenting, reporting, and monitoring the use of manual or physical restraint or mechanical restraint, and occurrences of seclusion. These standards shall be provided to school districts by October 1, 2011.
(3) SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—
(a) Each school district shall develop policies and procedures that are consistent with this section and that govern the following:
1. Incident-reporting procedures.
2. Data collection and monitoring, including when, where, and why students are restrained or secluded; the frequency of occurrences of such restraint or seclusion; and the prone or mechanical restraint that is most used.
3. Monitoring and reporting of data collected.
4. Training programs relating to manual or physical restraint and seclusion.
5. The district’s plan for selecting personnel to be trained.
6. The district’s plan for reducing the use of restraint and seclusion particularly in settings in which it occurs frequently or with students who are restrained repeatedly, and for reducing the use of prone restraint and mechanical restraint. The plan must include a goal for reducing the use of restraint and seclusion and must include activities, skills, and resources needed to achieve that goal. Activities may include, but are not limited to:
a. Additional training in positive behavioral support and crisis management;
b. Parental involvement;
c. Data review;
d. Updates of students’ functional behavioral analysis and positive behavior intervention plans;
e. Additional student evaluations;
f. Debriefing with staff;
g. Use of schoolwide positive behavior support; and
h. Changes to the school environment.
(b) Any revisions to the district’s policies and procedures, which must be prepared as part of its special policies and procedures, must be filed with the bureau chief of the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services no later than January 31, 2012.
(4) PROHIBITED RESTRAINT.—School personnel may not use a mechanical restraint or a manual or physical restraint that restricts a student’s breathing.
(5) SECLUSION.—School personnel may not close, lock, or physically block a student in a room that is unlit and does not meet the rules of the State Fire Marshal for seclusion time-out rooms.
History.—s. 4, ch. 2010-224; s. 23, ch. 2011-175.