Over 200 incidents of physical restraint reported in Cedar Rapids schools in 2023-24

CEDAR RAPIDS — There were over 200 physical restraints of students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District during the 2023-24 school year, and suspensions have increased since the 2022-23 school year, according to new data presented this week to the school board.

Overrepresented in the physical restraint totals are students who are Black and students with an Individualized Education Plan, a legal document developed for children in special education, said Sandy Schmitz, the school district’s executive director of behavior supports.

The school district has been working to improve its practices after signing a settlement agreement in September 2022 with the U.S. Department of Justice, which required the district to end the use of student seclusion in all school buildings and programs. Seclusion rooms are used in many school districts as a last resort if students are at risk of harming themselves or others.

The agreement also required the district to make significant changes to limit the use of physical restraint and to rethink how student behavior is analyzed and responded to. The 200 physical restraint incidents, however, are not comparable with last academic year according to Schmitz as staff still are learning the new techniques.

The Justice Department set a target date for the agreement to expire June 30, 2026, when the district would have the practices in place.

There were more restraints in kindergarten than any other grade, according to the data presented Monday to the school board. Schmitz said that’s not surprising, as kindergarten is a huge transition time for children — especially those who did not attend preschool. Students in preschool to fifth grade made up 62 percent of all physical restraints, according to the data.

The highest number of restraints were at Washington High School with 24, followed by Jefferson High School with 20. Other schools with over 10 restraints during the academic year were Cedar River Academy, Johnson STEAM Academy, Cleveland Elementary School, Van Buren Elementary, Pierce Elementary, Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy, Franklin Middle School and Kenwood Leadership Academy.

Schools with no restraints were Metro High School, City View Community High School, Truman Early Learning Center and Madison Elementary School.

Other district schools not named had 10 or fewer restraints.

Black students also disproportionately represent the number of students being suspended in Cedar Rapids schools, Schmitz said.

There were 611 suspensions for all grade levels in the district in the 2022-23 academic tear. Since then, the number of suspensions in elementary schools has increased by more than nine times, the number of middle school suspensions has increased by more than five times and the number of high school suspensions has increased by almost four times, Schmitz said.

Last year, the Cedar Rapids school board approved new policies required by the Justice Department settlement. This included a crisis intervention protocol specifying proactive interactions and crises prevention and de-escalation techniques that should be used to prevent and, when necessary, respond to students experiencing behavioral challenges.

Only a few employees at each school — who are a part of “safety teams” that respond to behavior crises involving students in their building — have been trained in psychical restraint techniques in accordance with a national program on crisis intervention.

Physical restraint can be used only when students are engaging in behavior that presents an immediate and imminent risk of injury to themselves or others, according to district policy.

An investigation in to the use of physical restraint and seclusion in Cedar Rapids schools by the Justice Department began in October 2020. The investigation concluded that instead of meeting the needs of students with disabilities that affect their behavior, the district subdued them through unnecessary restraints and improper confinement in small seclusion rooms, sometimes multiple times in a day and often for excessive periods. As a result, some students lost hundreds of hours of instructional time.

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