At the January 22 meeting of Pennsylvania’s Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP), which advises the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) on the education of children with disabilities, public comment highlighted the troubling rise in the use of restraint across the Commonwealth’s schools. The day before, PDE presented its 2024–25 annual report on physical restraint, revealing nearly 29,000 instances of restraint in Pennsylvania’s schools and educational programs.
As data indicate a growing systemic problem affecting students with disabilities, the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint is launching the Pennsylvania Project, a new initiative to address the use of restraint and seclusion and advocate for safer, more compassionate learning environments. You can learn more about this effort and sign up to get involved.
The following is a public comment I presented during the public feedback session at the SEAP meeting, highlighting urgent concerns about student safety, accountability, and compliance with special education law across Pennsylvania schools.
I am here to speak about the continued and increasing use of restraint in Pennsylvania schools, particularly among students with disabilities, and the serious concerns this raises about student safety, accountability, and compliance with both the spirit and intent of special education law.
Despite decades of research, federal guidance, and lived experience from families, restraint continues to be used far too often in Pennsylvania classrooms. Even more troubling, available data show that the number of restraints reported has increased in recent years. This should be deeply alarming to all of us. Restraint is not a therapeutic intervention. It is a crisis measure that carries well-documented risks of physical injury, psychological trauma, and, in the worst cases, death. A study that came out in 2021 shows that Pennsylvania kills more kids with restraints than any other state besides Texas.
The PA Department of Education says that they address schools when they begin to report a large number of restraints. But what do they consider a large number? If that was the case, why did the situation in Central Bucks get so bad? Why do we call things an anomaly instead of calling it what it is, a complete failure of the system to keep students safe? If someone is actually following up with these school districts, then why was it allowed to get this bad?
So, when exactly does the state decide it is time to step in and address an overuse of restraints? We have several districts that in the 2024 to 2025 school year reported over 300 restraints. Central Bucks reported 6403, so how many thousands of restraints did it take before someone noticed?
The next thing I would like to address is the use of seclusion in Pennsylvania schools. Seclusion is not supposed to be used, yet it is happening. There is no way to report the use of seclusion. The belief that since it shouldn’t be happening, it’s not happening is flawed. Just because it cannot be reported, doesn’t mean it’s not occurring.
Finally, I would like to address the issue of the Approved Private Schools and their complete lack of accountability. I do not have enough time to fully address this issue, but I wanted to bring it to the panel’s attention. We have districts placing their most vulnerable children into these schools. When schools feel that they cannot handle a student’s behavior, the student is placed into an approved private school. These schools use the same positive behavior support tools as public schools. If schools in Pennsylvania are all using the same toolbox, how is placing a child in a specialized private school a solution?
The state puts the burden of holding these APS accountable on the LEAs. But a public school cannot force a private entity to do anything they do not want to do. So the best thing they can offer you is the option to move your child to another APS. But what happens when most of the APS options are terrible options? Instead of picking which school will give my child a better education, it is the choice of which school will do the least amount of harm to my child. Having no accountability to the same laws and standards that public schools are held to has led to exactly the type of environment you would expect.
Thank you for your time and attention.
