Proposed law would ban the controversial practice of isolation as punishment in Washington schools

OLYMPIA – In Washington schools, Black children and disabled children are disproportionately physically restrained and secluded more than children of other races or without disabilities, an advocate testified in a state hearing last week.

State law prohibits schools from restraining or isolating students unless there is an “imminent likelihood of serious harm.”

Yet some students and parents have reported educators used those tactics without a situation escalating to a dangerous threshold, inflicting pain on children.

A group of lawmakers and activists is pushing for a bill that would ultimately outlaw student isolation as a form of punishment in schools. The bill would still allow for restraint if the situation is immediately dangerous and a school staffer has no alternatives.

Physically restraining a child at school and leaving a child alone in a locked room as punishment have long been controversial topics in the world of education. Some argue the tactics only cause more trauma to children, while others argue there are times in which restraint is the only way to halt dangerous behavior.

Last week, legislators heard from panelists and discussed the issue of restraints and isolation in schools. The proposed bill would ban any use of isolation in schools starting Jan. 1, 2026. Its prime sponsor was Rep. Lisa Callan, D-Issaquah.

Jordan Marshelle Brown grew up in Washington. In high school, she reported a teacher would frequently pick on her and send her into an isolation room and shut the door, embarrassing her in front of her peers and making her lonely. Brown was in foster care, she said, and inhumane treatment from teachers made her feel isolated in both her school and home lives.

Brown testified Tuesday before the state House Education Committee, urging lawmakers to pass a bill that eliminates isolation as a punishment in schools.

“I’m 24, and I have problems still from high school from what happened to me,” Brown said through held-back tears.

Sarah Butcher is the co-founder and director of Roots of Inclusion, an organization with the goal of making schools safer and more equitable for students. She also spoke at Tuesday’s hearing in support of the bill to ban isolation in school punishment and limit restraint.

“The continued reliance on restraint and isolation is absolutely a systemic failure,” Butcher said. “The antidote to stress responses and escalating behavior and trauma is not punishment and more trauma. The antidote is relationship and connection and proactive systems of support and building capacity.”

Last year, Disability Rights Washington and the state American Civil Liberties Union released a report that found there were more than 24,000 restraint or isolation incidents in public schools during the 2019-2020 school year. From 2020-2021, there were upwards of 7,000 incidents – when many students weren’t attending school in-person during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also last year, a U.S. Department of Justice review found that, for years, Spokane Public Schools had used physical restraints and isolation in a way that broke state law, district policy and the civil rights of disabled students.

The district had begun to take steps to phase out illegal restraint and isolation prior to the report’s release. In the 2017-2018 school year, the district reported more than 6,000 instances of restraint and isolation, superintendent Adam Swinyard said.

On the hearing about the bill on Tuesday, Swinyard reported there has been a dramatic decrease in restraint and isolation.

In the 2019-20 school year, the district reported 1,200 instances.

From 2020-21, the district reported 390 such incidents with a “minimal” number of those including isolation, Swinyard testified at the hearing Tuesday.

By January 2021, Swinyard said the district had removed all of its isolation rooms.

From 2021-22, Spokane Public Schools reported 222 incidents of restraint. And from 2022-23, the district reported 226 such incidents.

When concerns from parents surfaced, Swinyard said the district contacted the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and underwent an external audit by the Urban Collaborative, a national organization that advocates for improved special education in schools.

The district went on to adopt mandatory trauma-informed de-escalation training and annual refresher courses on the topic for all special education staff.

“I believe that we are an example that progress on this particular topic can be made,” Swinyard told lawmakers.

Of the 10,800 students attending school in the Mead School District, 15% are accessing special education services, special education director KellieJo Timberlake said.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Timberlake told lawmakers that isolation and restraint are never planned intervention techniques in her school, but rather last-resort responses. The Mead teacher asked lawmakers not to remove isolation and restraint as an option, but rather add clarity to the existing laws that prohibit the use of isolation and restraints unless there is imminent danger to students or staff.

“There are still situations where student behaviors escalate to the point of imminent danger, whether it’s towards self or others,” Timberlake said. “In these situations, the only way to maintain safety is through isolation or restraint technique.”

Medical Lake Teachers Union President Ryan Grant echoed some of Timberlake’s concerns.

Unlike Timberlake, Grant said legally banning the isolation rooms would be the best decision for students. But Grant said restraint is occasionally necessary in the school where he works.

“One of our kids tends to run out of the building sometimes,” Grant said in a phone interview Friday. “On a nice spring day, that’s one thing. But on a day like today, that could be deadly. What do we do to prevent a child from doing something that might lead to harm?”

Renton School Board Director and psychiatrist Avanti Bergquist was another speaker Tuesday. She said evidence shows children and staff are more likely to be physically hurt during seclusion or restraint incidents than without the use of seclusion or restraint.

She added, “If the tiny, tiny percentage of Washington’s children that require inpatient psychiatric hospitalization don’t need seclusion or restraint, why would our million children in schools need it?”