Wake restrained or secluded students 1,400 times last year. Is it really a ‘last resort?’
Wake County students were physically held down or locked alone in rooms 1,408 times last school year — a total that the district says needs to be reduced.
Data presented Tuesday shows that 403 Wake County students were physically restrained 1,120 times, secluded in a room alone 264 times or mechanically restrained 24 times during the 2023-24 school year. “In order to foster positive classrooms,” seclusion and restraint are not allowed to be used as a disciplinary tool, according to Paul Walker, Wake’s senior director of student due process.
“There are certain permissive aspects of it ... to ensure safety of students and staff,” Walker told the school board’s student achievement committee. “But it’s something we really need to use as the last resort and sometimes it’s misused for non-compliance with staff demands, disruption or punishment. And again that’s not the goal.”
The new data comes after Wake hadn’t reported any cases of restraint and seclusion to the federal government in the 2017-18 school year.
As part of an August 2023 legal settlement, Wake agreed to change how it handles and reports cases of restraint and seclusion. In that case, Wake agreed to pay $450,000 to a family who said it wasn’t notified that their disabled elementary school child was confined in a closet more than 20 times.
Wake settled another lawsuit in 2020 when it agreed to pay $450,000 to the family of a high school special-education student who said he was illegally physically restrained and secluded.
Looking at reducing restraint and seclusion
Schools can restrain students and seclude them in another room for several reasons, such as stopping a fight or preventing injury to themselves or others, according to Disability Rights NC. But the group says schools can’t use the practice solely for disciplinary reasons.
Walker said permitted uses include restraining a student in self-defense or to search them for a weapon.
Physical restraint involves a school employee personally restricting the ability of a student to move their torso, arms, legs or head freely. Mechanical restraint is less common but can involve using devices such as handcuffs and zip ties to tie, tape down or strap a student.
“We’re looking at reducing restraint and seclusion,” Walker said. “The question is how do we do that.”
Seclusion involves involuntarily confining a student alone in a room from which they’re physically prevented from leaving.
“We want to avoid any situation where a student is involuntarily confined in a room by themselves and prevented from leaving,” Walker said. “That is the absolute goal.”
Wake is now required to report to parents the same day that restraint or seclusion is used on their child.
‘Not just a statistic’
Less than 1% of Wake’s 160,000 students were restrained or secluded last school year. But Black students and special-education students account for the majority of the 403 students who were secluded or restrained.
Elementary school students accounted for the majority of students who were secluded or restrained.
“Seclusion and restraint is the absolute last option for our students to reduce the level of harm and trauma that our students face,” said school board member Tyler Swanson, the chair of the student achievement committee and a former special-education teacher.
School board member Wing Ng, who has children with special needs, said adults need to think about seclusion and restraint from the eyes of the children.
“When it happens to that child, it’s not just a statistic,” Ng said. “It’s actually reality for them. The experience of undergoing that can be affecting them for a long time.”
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email [email protected]
