Michigan schools secluded or physically restrained students nearly 18,000 times during the 2024 to 2025 school year, almost a decade after state lawmakers passed a package of laws intended to limit both practices to genuine emergencies. The vast majority of those instances involved students with disabilities.
The figure is down from the previous two school years, which is the one piece of good news in the data. It is also far from what the 2016 legislation was meant to produce, and it has prompted a new legislative push. State Senator Stephanie Chang, a Detroit Democrat, says she plans to introduce a bill this fall that would prohibit seclusion outright, require districts that restrain students excessively to write reduction plans, and mandate staff training.
