School seclusion bill proposed at Iowa Statehouse

Rep. Mary Mascher, a retired teacher, is asking the Iowa Legislature to create a task force to study how Iowa school districts are using restraints and seclusion on K-12 students.

The Behavioral Interventions Task Force proposed in House File 598 would review Iowa's administrative rules allowing restraint and seclusion.

Restraints and seclusion are considered a last resort when agitated children are at risk of harming themselves or others.

The task force, which would include at least two parents - one of which has a child in special education - along with educators and non-voting lawmakers, would study data from Iowa school districts showing how often and in what circumstances restraints and seclusion are used.

The group would report back to the Iowa Legislature in January with possible recommendations for changes.

Seclusion rooms are used in many Iowa school districts, although parents whose kids never have spent time in the rooms are unlikely to know about them.

Mascher, D-Iowa City, was alerted to the Iowa City school district's use of seclusion rooms last spring by a parent who had seen the rooms as part of a tour of Grant Wood Elementary. That tour, given by Stephanie Van Housen, who was a district liaison to homeless families at the time, contributed to Van Housen's firing.

In the 2015-16 school year, Iowa City students were placed in seclusion rooms 698 times, the district reported. Iowa City has 16 seclusion rooms with 13 in elementary schools.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District had 729 seclusion room incidents in 2015-16. The district has 11 seclusion rooms, including eight in elementary schools.

The Iowa City school board asked the district in December to form a committee to recommend whether to keep, eliminate or modify seclusion rooms. The group is expected to report back to the board in April.

The Waterloo school district is paying a Florida-based consultant to review behavioral focus programs in the district with the goal of reducing out-of-school suspensions, student restraint and seclusion, as well as lessening the disproportionate number of black students enrolled in the behavior program.

Mascher's bill isn't likely to gain traction in the Iowa Legislature, now dominated by Republicans.

Education Committee Chairman Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, said Mascher has not talked to him about the bill and he had not seen it.

'At this point in the session, I'm not inclined to take it up,” he said, 'but I'll drill down on it.”

The proposal would need to be approved by one chamber of the Legislature and a committee in the other by March 31.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, proposed a bill in February that would have required the state to develop a training curriculum and certification that emphasizes avoiding restraint and seclusion. Senate File 204 also set limits on time spent in the rooms and would bar officials from writing seclusion into Individualized Education Programs.

Bolkcom said the legislation was driven by Iowa City families, but he thinks sharing best practices across the state would help students and educators. 'It's good to have this kind of specialized guidance and training on what kind of approaches will be used,” he said.

The proposal did not survive the first funnel deadline of the session.

Kathrina Litchfield, the Iowa City parent whose concern over the Grant Wood seclusion rooms reached Mascher last year, said she's glad to see Iowa City lawmakers bring these issues to the Statehouse. 'Any additional pressure on the Iowa DOE (Department of Education) to do the right thing concerning restraint and seclusion is a step in the right direction,” Litchfield said.

Gazette Reporter James Q. Lynch contributed to this report.

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