Proposal would explicitly prohibit schools from using seclusion as a disciplinary practice

A lack of clarity around the use of seclusion in schools has led to the practice being used inappropriately, Maren Hulden, a staff attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, told the House Education Policy Committee Tuesday.  

Geared toward eliminating that confusion, HF3482, as amended, would expressly prohibit public school teachers and administrators from secluding a student. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Alice Mann (DFL-Lakeville), was approved on a split-voice vote by the committee and now heads to the House Floor. There is no Senate companion.

“Seclusions are traumatizing and they strain the relationship between the student and the school or the student and the teacher. And we know that seclusions are historically disproportionately used on children of color and Indigenous children,” Mann said.  

Rep. Alice Mann

The bill would define seclusion as confining a student alone in a room from which egress is barred by an adult locking or closing the door in the room, or preventing the student from leaving the room. It specifies that removing a student from an activity, to restrict participation or observation, is not considered seclusion. It would not change the authorization that seclusion can be used in emergency situations on children with disabilities.

Currently, seclusion is only allowed to be used with children who have disabilities, in emergency situations, or where an immediate intervention is needed to protect the child or someone else from physical injury.

Advocates of the proposal, including Hulden, say there’s a lack of clarity on the practice because current law doesn’t expressly prohibit it from being used in other situations. This is resulting in students being isolated for non-emergency situations, or being kept in isolation even after the emergency has ended.

“I handled lots of cases where those protections in current law weren’t followed, cases where seclusion was used and it wasn’t an emergency for things like pounding on a window, taking things off desks,” Hulden said. “Certainly that kind of behavior is unacceptable, but it doesn’t meet the definition of emergency in statue.”  

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) opposes the bill, saying that it’s overly prescriptive and could interfere with school administrators and staff being able to do their jobs effectively.

“We’re second guessing our administrators and superintendents in some cases,” he said. “Every administrator and superintendent I know, their primary goal was to maintain a disciplined learning environment for the students.”

Mann agreed that, “discipline is not a perfect science,” but contended that the potential trauma incurred through seclusion makes it an unacceptable form of discipline.