Children at Risk IN Georgia’s Schools – the use of restraint & seclusion

“The cell was dark inside and had a small, square window. It was the kind of set-up you saw in a mental institution, not a school.”

I attended a meeting earlier this week, one of many in fact. That alone is nothing out of the ordinary for me, nor is it alone anything worthy of a blog post. What made this meeting different were two of the attendees – parents of a then 13-year-old child who hung himself while in a seclusion room in a Georgia public school. Several days later as I try to write about it, the agony in that mother’s voice, still echoes in my head. It’s been more than five years since Jonathan King’s death and it is still painful to hear his mother speak of her loss. Maybe even more painful is the fact that this practice of seclusion continues to this day in Georgia’s schools. Fortunately that may be about to change.

The Georgia Department of Education is in the process of promulgating a new rule that protects all students from seclusion and restraint and public input is needed. There are many ways to take action and to ensure Georgia’s children are safe:

• Read the draft rule
• Read comments on the rule submitted to the DOE by the Georgia Advocacy Office
• To learn more attend a public meeting hosted by the Safe Schools Initiative
• Can’t make it to a meeting, watch a webinar – the first one is Tuesday January 19^th at noon
• Read and sign-on to the Declaration on Ending Restraint and Seclusion in Georgia Schools
• Write a letter to the DOE telling them you support the ban on seclusion and restraint in Georgia’s schools. See a sample letter on the GAO website.

Every child has a right to feel safe in school. Take action today to help enforce that right.

beth