Pupil discipline: restraint and seclusion.

Existing law prohibits a person employed by or engaged in a public school to inflict, or cause to be inflicted, corporal punishment upon a pupil. This bill would authorize an educational provider, as defined, to use behavioral restraints, which includes physical and mechanical restraints, or seclusion, as defined, only to control behavior that poses a clear and present danger of serious physical harm to the pupil or others that cannot be immediately prevented by a response that is less restrictive, and if other specified conditions are met. The bill would prohibit an educational provider from using a behavioral restraint or seclusion in certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, using seclusion or a behavioral restraint for the purpose of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation, and would prohibit the use of certain restraint and seclusion techniques. The bill would require a local educational agency that meets a specified federal definition to collect and, no later than 3 months after the end of a school year, report to the State Department of Education annually on the use of behavioral restraints and seclusion for pupils enrolled in or served by the local educational agency for all or part of the prior school year, as specified. The bill would require that the data collection and reporting requirements be conducted in compliance with specified federal law, and would prohibit those requirements from being construed to impose a new program or higher level of service on local educational agencies or nonpublic schools or agencies. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.