Three Iowa school district violated restraint rules, records show

State education records show teachers in three Iowa school districts have broken new rules that limit using physical force to discipline unruly students.

In 2008, the Iowa State Board of Education limited how and when teachers can use "timeout rooms" for students. The rules allow teachers to hold down or confine students who are a threat to themselves or others, but physical force and timeout rooms cannot be used as punishment.

The Des Moines Register reports three instances of Iowa school districts breaking the rules.

In one case, a Creston teacher strapped a 14-year-old mentally disabled boy into a chair with a seat belt when his two aides were absent.

Creston school officials have denied that the violations took place. No Creston school employees were disciplined.

The other two incidents were reported at Council Bluffs' Thomas Jefferson High School and at a school in a small Iowa district that state education officials declined to name because the student would be easily identifiable.