Emergency Use of Seclusion and Restraint
Emergency seclusion may not be used longer than necessary for a student to regain control.
- No longer than 15 minutes for elementary;
- No longer than 20 minutes for middle/high school;
- If longer than 15/20 minutes:
- Additional support may be required (eg. Substitute personnel, nurse, or additional key personnel.)
Local school districts are permitted to develop, adopt, and implement their own local policy consistent with state policy or use the state policy for the emergency use of seclusion and restraint. However, the Lansing School District follows the general guidance of the Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) Emergency Use of Seclusion and Physical Restraint as approved by the State Board of Education on March 14, 2017 and updated in July 2017.
The Lansing School District does not permit employees to use corporal punishment (the use of or threat of physical punishment to change behavior) on a student. Emergency Physical Restraint involves direct physical contact that prevents or significantly restricts a student’s movement. Emergency Physical Restraint is a last resort emergency safety intervention
Employees are permitted to use physical restraint (instead of ‘force’) upon a student to:
- Protect themselves or another person from physical attack
- Prevent the student from harming him/herself
- Stop a disturbance that may result in physical injury to any person
- Obtain possession of a weapon or other dangerous object
- Protect property: If the act of destructing property causes imminent risk to the safety of a pupil or staff member, emergency use of seclusion and physical restraint is permissible
- Physically escort a student who is engaging in behavior disruptive to the educational environment and who has failed to comply with verbal directions to stop such behavior. Physically escorting is the touching or holding of a student with a minimum use of contact for the purpose of directing movement from one place to another
- The school district reserves the right to talk with students to investigate an issue or issues arising at school, on the bus, and at school related activities.
The intervention shall be safe, appropriate, proportionate, and sensitive to the severity of the behavior, the age and developmental stage of student, physical size, gender, physical medical and psychological conditions, and personal history (physical or sexual abuse or trauma).
