OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Keeping All Students Safe Act

Floor Speech

Date: May 9, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: K-12 Education Education

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Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Keeping All Students Safe Act to protect schoolchildren from abusive seclusion and restraint practices. These practices are at best cruel and at worst deadly, and they continue to be used in schools on children across the country.

In Indiana, an 8-year-old girl with Down syndrome had her shoes duct-taped painfully to her ankles because she refused to put her shoes on. In North Carolina, a 14-year-old boy with a traumatic brain injury was confined inside a cardboard box as a form of time-out.

In Minnesota, a 10-year-old boy with autism was pinned face down on the floor for 57 minutes by three staff members at his school after a tantrum he had while working on a puzzle. And in Virginia, a 13-year-old boy was placed in solitary confinement for 3 hours after he threw his lunch.

In some cases, children have even died with these improper restraints. My bill would stop these abusive practices. Congress needs to act. There's no room for torture in America's schools.


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