PS, be sure to go below my signature in the email to see the correspondence that went to law enforcement (if you are interested that is)

 

 

 

Hi all, as you may or may not know Virginia passed legislation that will require the Board of Education to promulgate regs on the use of seclusion and restraint. The Virginia Council is one of the members of the Coalition that has been engaged in this for months.  The bills passed the legislature with bipartisan support and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.  We and the coalition have been in touch with the Governor’s office urging support without amendment and a letter writing campaign is also underway.  The organization below (which does training on restraint) is disseminating massive amounts of misinformation and looking to frighten folks but more importantly try to influence the Governor to not sign the bills.  At first we ignored them because they were way over the top but as a result of the last communications (2^nd attachment and below) the Coalition is going to develop a formal response.  HWC is relying on the 3^rd principle of the DOE principles on S&R, threat of serious physical harm to indicate that teachers will be helpless (see page 12) http://www2.ed.gov/policy/seclusion/restraints-and-seclusion-resources.pdf  This document of course does not define serious physical harm.

 

Virginia’s very simple bill http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?151+ful+SB782ER

 

 

As we work to develop a response (the attorneys will be drafting over the next few days) we hope to have out by Monday or Tuesday, I wanted to query NACCD all as to whether you know if USDOE has said what this “standard” is or is not, what the federal legislation does or doesn’t indicate with respect to physical harm standard,

 

and to my fellow DD Councils, whether your states have passed statute or regulations that have used the 15 principles, whether you have or have not defined serious physical harm whether you have experienced the type of fear tactics denoted in these communications, or… anything else that may be helpful. THANKS!  

 

From: Hilary Adler [mailto:xxxxxx@handlewithcare.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 6:38 PM
Cc: Braunlich, Christian (DOE); Luchau, Melissa (DOE); Staples, Steven (DOE); xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; xxxxxx@vsba.org; Subject: FW: New Restraint Law Ties Teachers' Hands - Call the Police

 

 

 

Dear Law Enforcement Official,

 

I am the president of Handle With Care.  HWC trains just over 10% of the public schools in Virginia in how to manage students who become physically agitated, assaultive and self-destructive.  Our underlying philosophy has been to empower teachers with the verbal and physical skills they need to manage children as young as 3 years old through older adolescents and juveniles, using the least amount of force possible. When schools and teachers are self-reliant, they do not have to depend on law enforcement to manage children who they should be able to manage themselves.  That is about to change in Virginia.

 

We write to appraise you of a new law that is about to be signed by your Governor and its likely consequences to your Department.  This new law imposes a "serious physical harm" threshold before teachers can intervene in an incident where the safety of teacher, student or visitor is threatened.  As you know, 'serious physical harm' is a legal standard which would include the loss of an eye, the loss of a limb or an organ.  A simple beating into unconsciousness , a broken nose, etc., does not meet this threshold.  This law is as unwise as it is unlawful.  It completely ignores the constellation of Federal and State laws, including U.S. Supreme Court, Appellate and Administrative Decisions and Virginia's right to self-defense laws. 

 

Attached are our comments to the House and Senate which we submitted, albeit too late to make a difference in the near unanimous vote by your Legislature.  The law is now before your Governor for signing.  Frankly, we are surprised he has not signed it yet because he has previously indicated that he would.  The situation is quite urgent if you want to change the Governor's mind about signing it into law.  It is going to have a serious impact on the role of the police in the public schools.

 

HWC cannot advise teachers to defy this law as it places them at risk of civil and administrative sanctions and the likely loss of a career as a teacher.  That said, we know of no teacher who will watch the beating of a student in her care without doing something nor will she assume the personal and professional risk of violating this law.  Teachers will begin calling local law enforcement whenever the threshold for injury falls short of permanent disfigurement, brain injury or death, which is why we write this notice to you.  This law was passed very quickly using an obscure reference to a Federal DOE guidance document.  It is possible that you are unaware of this new law.  We doubt that the Legislators fully understood what this law will mean to school safety and security or the impact it will have on law enforcement operations and allocation of resources.  You will be answering questions by the press when your Deputies, Troopers and Officers are captured on video using the tactics and methods of law enforcement to manage assaultive kindergarteners.

 

Teachers will be calling the cops for every special ed and mainstream student who is assaulting, kicking, biting and destroying property several times a day, which is how often some of these children erupt into violence on an average school day.  It will be a rare occasion to see a student so dangerous or at risk of killing someone that a teacher will be able to intervene without calling the cops.  Law enforcement will be performing virtually every restraint in Virginia schools because you will be the only people left with the authority to intervene for any assault below this new threshold.  This is not speculation.  This is a very real consequence that is being experienced in other States that have passed similar laws.  There’s even a name for it now; the “school to prison pipeline”.  Your Legislature just opened the spigot.

 

We are contemplating sending an invitation to every District and school in the State to attend a 'Webinar' that we might host to discuss this new law; what it means to their safety and what they should do when they fear for their own safety or the safety of any child whose injuries do not meet the threshold.   We would be happy to have you join us, so you can contribute to the discussion from a law enforcement standpoint.

 

Please feel free to contact me or Hilary Adler, my partner and an attorney, at 845-255-4031. 

 

Respectfully yours,

 

/s/ Bruce Chapman

Bruce Chapman, President

Handle With Care

184 McKinstry Road

Gardiner, NY 12525

Tel: 845-255-4031; Fax: 845-256-0094

Web Site: www.handlewithcare.com ; www.brucechapman.com  

Email: xxxxxx@handlewithcare.com or xxxxxx@aol.com

 

Cc: Sheriffs Offices, Virginia Department of Education, Virginia School Boards, Virginia School Associations, Virginia State Attorney General, Governor McAuliffe