Update on Restraint Video

I have emails out to interested parties and am awaiting their responses, but while we wait, I wanted to share some information.


In addition to the video, there is this story on Magnolia School. They have engaged in 448 incidents of restraint in the first two and a half months of the year. A comparable school has engaged in 11 during the same time period.


The restraint shown in the video appears to be this restraint: Ultimate Restraint System.



Go back to the video. The restraint is demonstrated incorrectly. The person should go face up. Note that the grown woman is too small for the restraint. Note the potential for suffocation. However, the school is putting them in FACE DOWN; the news story notes that: "These are padded mats with a stiff board inside. Students are immobilized while standing up, then laid facedown on the device. Thick flaps are placed over their shoulders, midsection and legs to hold them in place."


Now, back to the story:

 "Several times this year, students at Magnolia were held in these devices more than two hours.
Magnolia staff said they follow a strict protocol, bringing in a nurse after 15 minutes to watch the student's breathing and focusing a fan on the child's upper body. If the child is restrained for more than an hour, an administrator must sign off on it."

Again, there's no justification for this. And the fact that they are using the device wrong, may be using it on children too small for it, and are using it for hours ought to give reasonable people pause. Especially given that a similar school in the district somehow manages to deal with the issues in a different way that does not involve restraint.