Time to pass The Keeping All Students Safe Act

I am writing today to ask you to support the Keeping All Students Safe Act (KASSA). Unfortunately, many children are traumatized, injured, and even killed in schools designed to help them, including public and private schools. Most children who are restrained and secluded are children with disabilities.  Black, Brown, and very young children are also disproportionately restrained and secluded, a true civil rights crisis. However, this is not a new problem. In 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report titled “Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers.” The report concluded that there were no federal laws restricting the use of seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level. GAO found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death related to the use of these methods on children during the prior two decades. Today, over a decade later, children continue to be traumatized, injured, and even killed.   Restraint and seclusion are dangerous and can lead to significant trauma and injuries to students, teachers, and staff. Understanding the impact of trauma is critical for several reasons. Many children who are being restrained and secluded already have a trauma history, and the use of restraint and seclusion is itself traumatic. Children who have been traumatized may not feel safe and may enter a hypervigilant state, which can lead to distress behaviors when the child becomes overwhelmed or triggered. When demands are placed on the child that they cannot meet, the situation may escalate, leading to fight, flight or freeze behavior and a cycle of restraint and seclusion. The resulting traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas and lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  There are far better ways to work with children and avoid the need for crisis management. Our schools should be moving towards trauma-informed, neuroscience-aligned, neurodiversity-affirming, relationship-driven, and collaborative ways of understanding and supporting all children. Unfortunately, schools, left to their own devices, have often continued to mistreat children within their charge. Without data and oversight, children continue to pay the price and The Keeping All Students Safe Act is needed to protect children across the nation from these dangerous and abusive practices.  It should be illegal for any school to seclude children and use dangerous restraint practices that restrict children’s breathing, such as prone or supine restraint.  I believe it is essential to better equip school personnel with the training they need to address trauma and stress behaviors.  I also think that it is vital for parents to have a right to take legal action when unlawful restraint or seclusion occurs. KASSA is a critical step towards protecting all students' civil, disability, and human rights.