New data from Washington state school districts show that, from January through June, thousands of students were involved in incidents that resulted in school employees’ use of restraints or isolation to get behavior under control.
The data, released last month by the state superintendent’s office for the first time under a 2015 law, also reveal that the procedures resulted in more than 300 injuries to students and nearly 1,000 injuries to school staff members. The new data include special-needs and general education students.
Nearly a fourth of the state’s districts did not comply with reporting requirements.
State Rep. Gerry Pollet, who sponsored the 2015 legislation, pointed to disparities between districts statewide, such as Spokane and Tacoma. Both are roughly the same size, with about 30,000 students. But Spokane reported 1,174 incidents of isolation, while Tacoma reported 840.
