Iowa City schools report use of seclusion, restraint reaches all-time low

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Community School District has seen a drastic decrease in the number of students reported restrained or secluded, reaching an all-time low in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported 144 incidents of seclusion and restraint during the 2021-22 school year, a decline of more than 600 from four years ago.

“No one takes seclusion and restraint lightly,” Ashley Reedy, the district’s director of special education, said at a school board meeting Tuesday. “We recognize the significant impact it has on our students when we have to use this strategy, and it’s a last measure when we need to keep people safe.”

The district reported 162 incidents during the 2020-21 school year, 556 incidents during the 2019-20 school year and 757 incidents during the 2018-19 school year.

The district is actively working toward its goal of zero uses of seclusion or restraint, Reedy said.

During the 2021-22 school year:

• 7 students were secluded in a total of 10 reported incidents.

• 48 students were restrained in a total of 109 reports.

• 10 students were both secluded and restrained in 25 incidents.

School board members asked for data to be broken down further to include grade levels and race or ethnicity. Reedy, however, said this might not be possible. With so few students experiencing seclusion and restraint, releasing that information could make them identifiable, she said.

Why the decline?

School leaders attribute the decrease to rethinking individualized education plans, which detail special education instruction, supports and services a student needs to succeed in school.

Educators are learning elements of culturally sensitive teaching, which takes into consideration a student’s cultural background, and creating an environment where everyone belongs. They also are being trained on trauma-informed care, which recognizes the role trauma might play in a student’s life; and in understanding neurodiversity, Reedy said.

Reedy also attributes the decline to mental health being “thrust into the spotlight” during the pandemic.

Superintendent Matt Degner said the decline in the use of seclusion and restraint is a direct result of district officials putting “better plans in place” to prevent seclusion and restraint.

If seclusion and/or restraint are used, a team of teachers, paras, building administrators and other educators come together to talk about what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future, Degner said. Educators are working hard to create individualized education plans that don’t include seclusion spaces.

The Iowa City district removed portable seclusion rooms in 2017 after a state investigation determined the district was violating federal law because many parents didn’t know about the rooms and because the rooms were being used more broadly than intended.

In 2021, the Iowa Department of Education set a statewide policy requiring that seclusion rooms be used only to prevent “an imminent threat of bodily injury,” to prevent serious property damage or when a student’s actions threaten to disrupt the learning environment.

Board praise

“What you’re doing now is pretty unbelievable, and it’s so impressive,” school board member Maka Pilcher Hayek said.

“Not only did you sustain the numbers from last year, but you improved upon them,” school board member Jayne Finch said. “I’m not sure how many people expected that. It’s so heartening to see. I want to thank everyone on the ground — teachers, paras, administrators, and parent advocates. I think everyone is responsible for this success. It shows what our district can do when we put our mind to it.”

About 9 percent of the students in the Iowa City district are in special education. About 49 percent of the students placed in seclusion were Black, according to data from 2017, the most recent data available from the Civil Rights Data Collection.

Earlier this year, the school board approved a classroom remodeling project at City High School that includes a seclusion room.

The district said the seclusion room was recommended in some of the individualized education plans created for special education students. The plan is created by teachers and administrators working with a student’s parent or guardian.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com