A school board in Milwaukee (WI, US) voted to develop a policy that would allow schools to permit the use of handcuffs on students. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commented on this issue in an editorial in late April. Here’s the beginning of that editorial:
Here are three facts to keep in mind when weighing whether security aides should be allowed to use plastic handcuffs on unruly students in Milwaukee Public Schools:
• The aides already are restraining students. The aides sit on them or otherwise hold them down until police arrive.
• Students already are leaving school in metal handcuffs. Police called to disturbances often use the restraints in making arrests.
• The need for the restraints is a symptom of a huge problem that exceeds the schools’ scope: the lack of mental health services for troubled children, whose ranks appear to be swelling.
I sure can agree with the last point. But, I have to wonder about the need for such measures in the first place. Are these schools using state-of-the-art disciplinary programs and still encountering the need to restrain students? If they are not, then those programs need to be put into place.
The editorial goes on to make several very important points. The writers call for training, an end to the disregard by other institutions of mental health needs of children, and early treatment to reduce the long-term impact of these problems.
Read the editorial.
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At one of the schools where I work, a student was legitimately out of control, all of 9 years old. The police officer said, “Calm down or I will taze you!” In spite of a 45 minute long outburst, the threat of tazing and parents that were clearly out of control as well, the police did NOT Baker Act the child. If a child is so dangerous that hand cuffs or tazers are necessary, I generally reach 2 conclusions: 1) The child needs mental health assistance and 2) Some preventative measures were missed and should be addressed.
Andrew, I’m with you. Some preventative measures must’ve been missed. Those school environments need some help. School-wide discipline policies (implemented with fidelity), screening procedures to identify students who have problems with compliance and early teaching of compliance skills, staff-development in de-escalation, etc.