BOISE, Idaho — Idaho schools will no longer be permitted to use restraint and seclusion as forms of discipline.
Gov. Brad Little has signed a bill that bars teachers and school staff from using the aversive techniques as forms of discipline and corporal punishment. Restraint, a practice that reduces students’ ability to move, and seclusion, which involuntarily places children in isolation, can now only be used if a student or staff member is in imminent danger.
The bill followed an Idaho Statesman investigation into schools’ practices around restraint and seclusion last year. Families told the Statesman their children returned home from school with physical injuries and long-lasting trauma. More than a decade ago, efforts to change the state law went nowhere.
