FL: HB 81 Introduced to the House of Representatives

HB 81 on the "Use, Prevention, and Reduction of Seclusion and Restraint on Students with Disabilities in Public Schools" has been introduced to the House of Representatives.

Included in the proposed bill are:

1. Provisions that manual restraints only be used in an emergency, as defined by an eminent risk of serious injury or death provide restrictions on the manual use of restraints
2. Prohibit the use of restraints by untrained staff
3. Prohibit certain restraint techniques
4. Require schools to medically evaluate the child as soon as possible after a manual restraint
5. Prohibit seclusion
6. Provide requirements for time out
7. Require reporting of training and certification to the Department of Education
8. Require personnel training and certification in manual restraints
9. Require student follow up in certain circumstances
10. Require parental notification of district policies for emergency procedures
11. Require preparation of incident reports after each restraint
12. Require certain monitoring and reporting
13. Require the development and revision of school policies and procedures
14. Provide and effective date

Full text can be found here:

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0081__.xml&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0081&Session=2010